Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection from
viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers, and
rootkits. Don't let the name antivirus confuse you. These days every
good antivirus has good detection rates for all forms of malware, not
just viruses. The term malware includes viruses, trojans, worms,
spyware, adware, dialers, keyloggers, rootkits, and any other software
which performs malicious activities on a computer.
Sadly, the amount of malware currently in circulation is so large
that no antivirus could possibly detect all of it. Despite vendor's
claims, no single antivirus solution can detect nearly all new malware.
There are some products out there, including some in this review, which
include technologies which are able to adequately protect a computer,
but any product which relies mainly on detection is statistically doomed
to fail at some time. Also, using more than one real-time antivirus at
the same time uses much more system resources, can cause system errors,
and can even reduce protection. For my advice on how to compensate for
these weakness of antivirus products, to a large extent, please see my
other article about how to stay free while online.
Having a good antivirus product does go a large way towards adequately
protecting your computer, but in this day I would highly recommend that
you add additional layers to your security.
Below I have reviewed some of the most effective Free Antivirus
products currently on the market. In order to make this review more
unbiased, although of course my own intuition and experience does affect
my judgment as well, I came up with a particular methodology for
comparing these products. This methodology is described in the following
section.
Avast !Free antivirus is
has very good protection rates. Avast has many different protection
shields, boot-time scanning, a behavioral blocker, an internet site
ratings plugin, script malware protection, and access to cloud-based
protection. It's arguable whether their ratings plugin offers comparable
levels to WOT, but the script malware protection can prevent certain
browser exploits, a feature not available in any of the other free AV's
reviewed.
Avast is also relatively light on resources. However, do note that
Avast requires a free registration to function after 30 days, and the
default installation installs the Chrome browser unless you uncheck it.
Panda Cloud Antivirus is
another excellent choice for average users, who may find both Comodo
Antivirus and Avast too confusing. It has a simple interface, completely
automated features, access to cloud-based protection, and has been
shown to be very good at protecting a computer. Panda Cloud Antivirus
has a behavioral blocker, web protection, and access to cloud-based
protection, all of which will help increase your security.
AVG Antivirus free version is
also a decent choice for average users. My analysis of the results, as
discussed in the methodology section, does show that it does a decent
job of protecting your computer. However, it appears that the above
Antivirus products tend to do better. Also, it comes with advertisements
(but they can be
disabled).
Avira Antivirus personal edition is
another product which has a very good reputation. However, the free
version was not tested by any of the three testing organizations I
referenced in my methodology. Therefore, I cannot currently recommend it
above any of the previously mentioned products.
However, other comparative tests do show that it has very high
detection rates for malware. Also, many users have used it and found
that it is very effective. Also, users have access to cloud-based
protection. AntiVir is certainly a good choice for a free antivirus, but
due to the lack of real-world testing, at this time I cannot recommend
it above the other products in this review. Hopefully in the future they
will have the free version tested by these organizations as well.
Bitedefender Antivirus free edition is another free antivirus product which has a very good reputation.
However, the free version was not tested by any of the three testing
organizations I referenced in my methodology. Therefore, I cannot
recommend it above any of the previously mentioned products.
The engine for this product appears to be the same as for the
commercial product. However, the level of protection provided has not
been shown identical with the paid version, which is why I did not use
the results for the paid version in my analysis. The user interface for
this product is very minimalist. Thus, it may be attractive for novice
users, though more advanced users may be frustrated at the lack of
customization. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a good choice for a
free antivirus, but due to the lack of real-world testing, at this time
I cannot recommend it above the other products in this review.
Hopefully in the future they will have the free version tested by these
organizations as well.
I hope this information will be helpful to choose right Antivirus ..All credit goes to http://www.techsupportalert.com
