Introduction
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Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection from a multitude of virus, trojan, worm, spyware, adware, dialer, keylogger and rootkit infections. Traditionally antivirus programs just detected viruses and spyware removers just detected spyware but nowadays the boundary between antivirus and spyware removers is unclear. Most current antiviruses have at least reasonably good detection rates of all forms of malware.
Malware includes viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers and rootkit threats that perform malicious activities on a computer. With the huge increase in malware, antivirus software cannot keep up with detecting all of it. But using more than one real-time antivirus uses much more system resources, can cause conflicts and even reduce protection. So I recommend you only choose one antivirus for real-time protection. Instead, you can increase your protection using other security software.
I looked at several free antivirus programs which are vital in protecting your computer from virus threats and other types of malware.
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Discussion
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 Avast! Free Antivirus is my new top pick for the best free antivirus software in light of recent developments. Avast has steadily been improving its detection rates over the past few years and now ranks with the some of the best. Avast has the most features of all the free antivirus with full real-time capabilities including web, e-mail, IM, P2P and network shields, boot-time scanning, and a behavioural blocker. The new version 6 brings even more features including an internet site ratings plugin, script malware protection and a limited (non-configurable) sandboxing feature. Although the sandbox is a very useful semi-automated security feature, the default settings involves a pop up to ask whether a software should be sandboxed for not - for the typical average user this can be slightly confusing though it can set to sandbox the software automatically. Lastly Avast is relatively light on resources. Microsoft Security Essentials is a favorite of mine with great detection rates, particularly for rootkits. Even more impressive is the fact that Microsoft Security Essentials has very few false positives, is light on resources and is good at removal of existing malware. MSE is a great choice for average users because of the minimal user interaction required. It automatically updates and removes threats. No registration is needed, apart from a quick validating of Windows, and there are no nag screens or advertisements.
The main downsides are the slow scan speeds and the lengthy amount of time it takes to quarantine malware, though in my opinion these are rather trivial concerns, as for example a scan just be run overnight. MSE also is not available in certain countries so users there will have to look elsewhere. Note that Microsoft Security Essentials requires a genuine copy of Windows to install.
 Panda Cloud Antivirus is Panda's successful attempt to jump on the free antivirus bandwagon. Along with MSE, it is an excellent choice for average users with a simple interface and completely automated features with automatic updating and removal of malware. The detection level is generally very high, but according to the latest test data, detection of zero day threats is slightly lower. PCA uses 'cloud' technology to provide for a much quicker release of updates as all definitions are stored in the cloud and thus the moment Panda updates their blacklist all users of PCA with an internet connection are protected from it.
Panda Cloud Antivirus has a behavioural blocker and web protection, which will certainly increase your security. However as you can simply use one of the other free AV's with a separate behavioural blocker (for further details see our Security Wizard) to achieve possibly even better protection, this is not necessarily an advantage.
One minor reservation I have is that PCA seems to erroneously detect certain browser/system-related applications, for example VideoCacheView, and because of the automatic quarantine this made it a fraction bothersome.
 Avira AntiVir Personal Edition is another high quality free antivirus, and formerly the Top Pick. The primary reason I removed it from its status involved the recent controversy of AntiVir including a re-branded Ask toolbar in their installer, and a temporary spate of advertisements promoting a possible 'scareware' company. In spite of the negative press though AntiVir is still a top notch antivirus scanner with outstanding detection rates of malware, higher than almost every other antivirus according to tests. AntiVir is still a good choice for a free antivirus scanner, particularly for high risk users.
However, there are some minor reservations. First, AntiVir does not include web or e-mail scanning capabilities; this is only available in the paid version. The lack of an e-mail scanner is not a disadvantage, it just means that AntiVir won't warn you of infected emails before you open them. But should you open an infected email, AntiVir will still spring into action, so it doesn't mean that you're not protected from email-based infections. Also, AntiVir contains a rather intrusive advertisement every time it updates. Although AntiVir had signature updating problems in the past, this issue seems to be fixed now.
 AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is also a decent choice for a free antivirus. Although this venerable antivirus has had some shaky results in detection in the recent past, it now offers a high level of protection. This is probably due to the inclusion of a fully-fledged behavioural blocker that is the "Identity Protection" protection. This provides a very important additional layer of protection, on the other hand though a similar protection level can be achieved by using one of the free antivirus above alongside a separate behavioural blocker. Unfortunately AVG free has grown considerably in size, has very slow scan speeds and also advertisements (but they can be disabled).
These free antivirus programs are excellent software that provide a real alternative to the major commercial antivirus products.
I'll just give a quick mention of several excellent on-demand antivirus scanners:
I'll also mention several popular free antivirus programs which I considered but did not include in the review because of low detection rates.
You can increase your protection if you run on-demand scans with another antivirus. On-demand scans can be run regularly to check for viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, keyloggers, rootkits and other malware that may have been missed by your main antivirus scanner. If you have a good preventive security strategy in place, however the extra protection an on-demand antivirus scanner offers is minimal.
Avast! Free Antivirus
Freeware award as the best product in its class!
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Top pick for best free antivirus program, full real-time capabilities, behavioural blocking features, sandboxing, low rate of false positives
default settings not certain user interaction
7.0.1407
71.45 MB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Feature limited freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 2000 - Windows 7, Mac OS
Microsoft Security Essentials
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Very low rate of false positives, easy to use
Detection rates slightly lower than AntiVir, slow scanning
4.1.1522
13 MB
32 and 64 bit versions available
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP - Windows 7
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Outstanding detection of malware
Nag screen
13.0.0.2832
101 MB
32 and 64 bit versions available
Free for private use only
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 2000 - Windows 7
Panda Cloud Antivirus
Combines a web service with a stand-alone program
High detection rate of malware, web protection, some behavioural blocker features
Detection rates of real-world malware is slightly lower
2.0
33.08 MB
32 and 64 bit versions available
Free for private use only
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP - Windows 7
AVG Anti-Virus Free
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Behavioural blocker
Slightly lower signature detection rates
2013.0.2667
118.78 MB
32 and 64 bit versions available
Free for private use only
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 2000 - Windows 7
Forum for support
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