Free Antivirus Options

 

If you'd like to save some money, here are seven free antivirus suites, the top four you might consider using: AVG is the one i've used since graduating BCTI(Business Computer Training Institute)  in 2004. It has never failed me!

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition was the highest-ranked of the seven free antivirus programs we assessed earlier this year.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition: Though it had the lowest detection rate of the top four free antivirus programs with a 98.7 percent detection rate against known malware (Avast, Panda, and Avira finished with rates of 99.1 percent, 99.9 percent, and 99.7 percent, respectively), it handily outperformed Security Essentials (which finished with a detection rate of 97 percent). And though it wasn't as good at completely removing malware as Security Essentials (66.7 percent versus 80 percent), it was the only antivirus to disable 100 percent of detected malware; Security Essentials finished at 93 percent on this measure. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition also tied Panda Cloud Antivirus for the top rate of blocking brand-new threats, at 85.7 percent, whereas Security Essentials was at 71.4 percent.
Avast Free Antivirus: Avast's freebie provided strong detection of known malware samples, at 99.1 percent. Its rate of completely removing malware (67 percent) fell short of Security Essentials' rate (80 percent) and the two programs delivered matching 93 percent rates for disabling active malware. Avast Free Antivirus did provide better blocking of real-world malware, achieving a 78.6 percent rate, compared to Security Essentials' 71.4 percent.
Panda Cloud Antivirus: This tool provided the second highest protection against known malware samples overall at 99.9 percent, compared to 97 percent by Security Essentials. Though Panda's malware repair percentage was among the lowest in the group of seven, it tied with AVG for the best performance at fully blocking brand-new threats, turning in a rate of 85.7 percent, versus Security Essentials' mark of 71.4 percent.
Avira Free Antivirus: Avira provided the third-highest detection rate (out of seven free antiviruses tested) for spotting known malware samples: 99.7 percent, compared to Security Essentials' rate of 97 percent. Though it scored lower than Security Essentials on AV-Test's remaining detection and repair tests, Avira did provide much faster scanning.