Top Ten Best Free Anti-Virus Programs

Debbie    Featured, Free Software     anti-virus, best, download, free, freeware, program, reviews, scam, software, spyware, threats, top

There are some excellent free anti-virus programs out there. If you are an average user, there is no need to buy one. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers in this market. So it pays to do some research before you download any one of them. We did that for you. I asked six computer techs their opinions, and added my own. So you will get an educated review of these products.

All the anti-virus programs on this list are totally free. I am well aware of all the scams going around- They have those annoying popups that make you think your computer is crashing- Sometimes it even looks like a legitimate Windows error- But when you click on it, you get a torrent of spam that tries to sell you an anti-virus program you never heard of. And if you buy it, the next day you’ll get a different error telling you that you now need to download a different product to clean that up. In other words, there are so-called anti-virus programs that actually give your computer a virus. I hate that crap.

No worries here about that. All of these products have been reviewed and tested by knowledgeable people. In today’s world, anti-virus protection is a must.

1. AVG Free Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011, by Grisoft is hands-down the best free anti-virus program out there. Others can be as good technically, but AVG is faster than most. It installs easy and is very self-explanatory and easy to understand and use. Not only does it scan your system and remove all threats, it protects you on the web and scans links for safety.

2. Avast! Free Antivirus is just as good as AVG for the most part, except you don’t get the browsing protection. Also, I found it to be a little slower to scan than AVG. Maybe it digs deeper though, hard to say. But it certainly does an outstanding job on viruses.

3. Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus is another top-notch virus butt-kicker. One of our techs says it’s the best pure anti-virus program. But like Avast, you won’t get any surfing protection.

4. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-virus program from Microsoft. One thing that separates them from all the other free anti-virus freeware is- they have free technical support. Of course, you must have a Windows operating system to use this product. Another plus is, Microsoft automatically updates it along with Windows update.

5. Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition is gaining in popularity, and all of our techs agree it is a highly rated anti-virus program, that installs quickly and is easy to operate. One tech said their licensing agreement requires that you agree to let Panda people into your home to check out your computer, if they so desire! Read the fine print. Editors’ Choice “Best Free Antivirus” November 2009 & June 2010, PC Magazine USA.

6. PC Tools AntiVirus Free is another great free program. Some say it uses a lot of memory. But it also protects you from spyware. So you really get two tools in one. PC Tools AntiVirus 7 has advanced functionality for detection and removal of boot sector viruses that infect Master Boot Record (MBR). (Note- one tech said it tried to make him pay to remove threats, after it found them. Another tech said, he must have downloaded the trial version of their paid product, instead of the free edition.) Plus, they have a Mac version too (iAntiVirus).

7. Ad-Aware Free Internet Security is a free anti-virus program by Lavasoft. For over a decade, Ad-Aware was the number one spyware removal tool. Now they’ve added anti-virus protection to their free spyware product. This should be huge! You get the best spyware program for safe browsing, and now anti-virus too- from a trusted name in PC protection.

8. ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition is probably the fastest growing anti-virus program from a relatively young company (since 2007). But if their claims are correct (and we have no reason to doubt them) their anti-virus program won’t clash with other anti-virus programs running at the same time- something I’ve never heard of- usually they’ll clash with each other. Threatfire claims they enhance the others.

9. For Mac users, there is Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac. And they have a Windows version too. However, they are a Mac security specialty company. It’s been said that Mac’s don’t get viruses. And they are certainly not as targeted as Windows PC’s. Maybe because there are a lot more Windows PC’s out there. None of us have actually tried this product (we all have Windows), but it is the highest rated Mac product, and worth mentioning.

10. Trial version hopping. I made that name up. But seriously, we couldn’t make up our mind about number ten, so we thought we’d share an old trade secret instead. One way to get great, free antvirus protection is to download trial versions of the top name paid products, one at a time. Use them until the trial runs out, then uninstall and download the next one with a free trial period.

Of course, every time you uninstall a program you leave fragments on your drive, so a defrag will be in order. But you can get paid-quality protection by hopping from one name brand antivirus to another like that. This used to be the way a lot of people got their protecion for free. But in reality, these days it is not really necessary. With so many great free products nowadays, it’s laughable what a lot of us used to do to get around the rules.

The top paid products for anti-virus protection are Norton, Mcafee, and Kapersky. They all offer a trial period.

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