Antivirus software provide a good layer of protection from a multitude of virus, trojan and rootkit threats. With the huge increase in malware, anti-viruses cannot fully keep up with all the viruses and other malware. This is why it's so important to use other security programs as well. Using more than one real-time antivirus can cause conflicts and uses much system resources, so in most cases it is recommended you only choose one antivirus software for real-time protection.
Avast! 4 Home Edition is my top pick for average users, although its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast is the least restricted product out of the three, with both 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. In my usage of it, Avast was fairly light on resources. Avast is also the only one out of these three to continue support for older Windows platforms. However, Avast has a relatively high rate of false postives. It also requires periodic re-registration, whereas AVG Free does not. The sharware version also includes a script blocker, PUSH updates and various other features.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 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. Its detection rate is still very good. Regular automatic updates come quickly as before and, despite rumors, the new email scanning feature is not trial limited to 30 days. It has grown considerably in size, is heavy on resources and has very slow scan speeds. The automatic updates occasionally did not work on my computer. By default, it installs the AVG Security Toolbar with Yahoo search. Free and paid versions are available; the differences are 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.
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition is my top recommendation if you're looking for the best protection against viruses. It is very light on resources and the detection rate of viruses and rootkits is outstanding, however, there are some reservations. First, it does not include antispyware protection or e-mail scanning, they are only available in the paid version. The lack of an e-mail scanner 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 it doesn't mean that you're not protected from email-based infections. Second, AntiVir's updates are usually slower than Avast and AVG, and occasionally stops updating for short periods of time due to server problems. Although AntiVir has advertisements that appear with every update, these ads can be disabled. 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. Neither Avast or AVG is as effective in detection of viruses as AntiVir, but both are more complete products, and less intrusive in use.
These are excellent free antivirus that provide a real alternative to the major antivirus software.
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 and other malware that may have been missed by your main scanner. If you have a good preventive security strategy in place, however, the extra protection this offers is minimal.
AntiVir or Avast can be used as an on demand scanner by choosing custom install when you are installin the product and disabling the real-time. AVG can be used as an on demand scanner by disabling the the real-time protection.
Another good option for on demand scanning is BitDefender 10 Free Edition, the free version of the commercial BitDefender Antivirus. It has 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 weaker. And it's only available with a one year non-renewable license.
Dr.Web CureIt! or the Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool can also be used as on demand scanners. Both of these are portable applications, and are also excellent for cleaning computers that are already infected with malware. However, they both require you downloading the whole file again if you want to update it. In recent tests, Dr.Web has not been scoring very high. Kaspersky AVP Tool uses version 7 of the Kaspersky engine, not the newer version 8, so the detection will be lower. Nevertheless, they are still good choices as a secondary on demand scanner.
Avast! 4 Home Edition
Website: www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
Download link: www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239_4-10019223.html
Author: Alwil Software
Version: 4.8.1296
Date: November 28, 2008
Download file size: 27.88MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
64 bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Yes
Additional software required: None
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
Website: free.avg.com/ww.download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition
Download link: www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html
Author: Grisoft
Version: 8.0.176
Date: November 28, 2008
Download file size: 51.20MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64 bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: No
Additional software required: None
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition
Website: www.free-av.com/en/products/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html
Download link: www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html
Author: Avira
Version: 8.2.00.337
Date: November 28, 2008
Download file size: 21.04MB
License: Free for personal use
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64 bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: German
Additional software required: None
BitDefender 10 Free Edition
Website: www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-Free-Edition.html
Download link: filehippo.com/download_bitdefender/
Author: SOFTWIN
Date: August 23, 2007
Version: 10
Download file size: 21.08MB
License: Free for one year, requires registration
Operating systems supported: 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
64 bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Yes
Additional software required: None
Dr.Web CureIt!
Website: www.freedrweb.com/cureit/
Download link: www.freedrweb.com/cureit/
Author: Dr.Web
Date: April 11, 2008
Version: 4.44
Download file size: ~11MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/2003 Server
64 bit capable: Unknown
Portable version available: Program is portable - does not require installation
Other languages supported: Arabic, Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Additional software required: None
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool
Website: avptool.virusinfo.info/en/
Download link: devbuilds.kaspersky-labs.com/devbuilds/AVPTool/
Author: Kaspersky
Date: April 11, 2008
Version: 7
Download file size: ~27MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64 bit capable: Unknown
Portable version available: Program is portable - does not require installation
Other languages supported: Unknown
Additional software required: None
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