If you're looking for the best possible protection, our top recommendation is Avira AntiVir Personal Edition. Although its detection rate is outstanding, there are some reservations. First, it lacks the email scanning feature that is only available in the paid version. This means that AntiVir won't warn you of infected emails before you open them. However, should you open an infected email, AntiVir will still spring into action, so the absence of an email scanner doesn't mean that you're not protected from email-based infections. Our second reservation is that AntiVir is quite an intrusive product - you will certainly be well aware of its presence, especially with the advertisements that appear with every update. Finally, AntiVir Personal Edition Classic has a time-limited license. It is renewable, but be aware that you'll have to periodically go through the hoops. The latest version is very light on resources, and includes anti-rootkit and a faster scan rate.
If you're not prepared to accept the drawbacks of AntiVir, we would suggest either AVG Antivirus Free Edition or the Avast! scanner. Neither is quite as effective in detection as AntiVir, but both are more complete products, and less intrusive in use.
AVG Free has been continuously refined since it was initially released in 1991. The latest version makes further improvements to an already solid product. It now includes spyware, phishing, and email scam protection. Although it has grown considerably in size and is very heavy on resources, its detection rate is also excellent. Regular automatic updates come quickly as before and, despite rumors, the new email scanning feature is not trial limited to 30 days. Free and pro versions are available; the only difference is that the free version has anti-rootkit disabled, provides Linkscanner Lite instead of Linkscanner Pro and has no technical support other than a free user forum .
Fractionally less effective is the free Avast! scanner, although its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast now has built-in anti-rootkit and anti-spyware capabilities. It also has full real-time capabilities, including a web scanner, an e-mail scanner and IM and P2P protection. Avast also requires periodic re-registration, whereas AVG Free does not. However, Avast does not seem to suffer the signature-file update problems that plague some AVG users.
AVG and Avast are excellent free products that provide a real alternative to the major anti-viruses.
Some slight improvement is possible if you run regular on-demand scans with an additional separate anti-virus product, though this is not necessary.
On-demand scans can be run regularly (at least weekly), to check for viruses and other malware that may have been missed by your main scanner.
If you're not using AntiVir then your best option is to install Antivir Personal Edition without the guard. You can do this when you custom install it. If you are already using AntiVir, there's no real need for an on-demand anti-virus, as the overlap is too great.
A good option for on-demand scanning is the free version of the commercial AV product BitDefender. It's a good product with very good detection rates, but because the free version lacks an email scanner and a resident virus guard, it's only suitable for use as an on-demand scanner, not as your main AV program. There are some other limitations as well. It has an annoying habit of detecting malware products that have been quarantined by other security products, and you can't exclude these areas from subsequent scans. The program itself is using an old version of the engine, so the detection is slightly weaker. And it's only available with a one year non-renewable license.
AntiVirWebsite:
http://www.free-av.com
Author: Avira
Date: 06/30/2008
Version: 8.0
Download File size: 21.28MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 2000 - Vista 64bit
64 Bit Capable: yes
Portable version available: no
Other languages supported: yes
Additional Software Required: no
AVG Anti Virus
Website: http://free.grisoft.com/
Author: Grisoft
Date: 06/30/2008
Version: 8.0
Download File size:47.1MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 2000 - Vista X64
64 Bit Capable: no
Portable version available: no
Other languages supported: no
Additional Software Required: no
Avast 4!
Website: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
Author: Alwil Software
Date: 06/30/2008
Version: 4.8.1201
Download File size: 23.11MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 95 - Vista 64bit
64 Bit Capable: yes
Portable version available: no
Other languages supported: yes
Additional Software Required: no
Website: http://www.bitdefender.com/
Author: Softwin
Date: 06/30/2008
Version: 10.0
Download File size: 13.18MB
License: Freeware with registration
Operating systems supported: Windows 2000 - Vista 32bit
64 Bit Capable: yes
Portable version available: yes
Other languages supported: yes
Additional Software Required: None
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