What is the best of the free antivirus programs?

I plan to go out and buy Kaspersky (sp?) at some point, but for now I would like to try a free AV. I have never used a free AV. I have always been of the opinion that if it's free it probably sucks.

 

i'm using microsoft security essential been pretty good.

 

AVG Free edition

 

Microsoft Security Essentials. main reason? = very low resource usage.
Im a 5 year Norton convert and never thought I would do that.

 

I'll put in my vote for Microsoft Security Essentials, main reason it's free other is it's just as good as the paid ones.
Bonus is it's not a resource hog.

 

I hate resource hogging programs. There's nothing that ticks me off more. MSE FTW

 

I use avast as it doesnt take up much and ive never has a virus since i started using it.

It's free!!!

 

I have tried all the free anti-virus , but the detection rates are poor , files that virus total says that are infected come up clean.

Now i have started using the free "comodo internet security and firewall" , and it`s detection rates are very good, I just hope they are not false positives, though comodo is quite cpu intensive and my cpu is frequently are 70-100% when scanning.

 

Detection rates for free av's like MSE, Avira and Avast 5 are on the level (if not surpassing in some cases) of most paid and 'quality' programs.

I see no reason to invest money in a security suite since it's an overkill and entirely unnecessary due to available quality free av's (plus, Kapersky in latest versions slows the system down a lot - evidenced on several computers).

 

I've been using and recommending free antivirus for years. Most paid for programs are resource hogs and the free ones are just as good. This last 6 months I used Panda that is a paid for program and I had all kinds of problems. I just switched it over to Comodo and it detected a butload that passed Panda and now everything is running fine. I'm glad There's people that still believe in free programming. I thought I'd try but I'm back to my free stuff and very satisfied. By the way, In 5 years the only time I had a virus trojan problem was with the Panda software. i use Avira, Comodo, Avast. Which ever I feel like installing on that build or laptop I'm working on. You'll be glad you did.

 

+1! (10 chars)

 

I use Avast, MSE, and Private firewall with malwarebytes as a scanner. They work together well with no slowdowns or conflicts. All the paid programs I have used on an installed trial basis do not.

 

You do realize of course that running 2 antivirus programs at the same time is not needed and that conflicts could theoretically arise?

I run only MSE with MBAM (plus native windows firewall) and have 0 issues.

 

How do you run MBAM and MSE at the same time? Does not MBAM have an active program that would conflict with MSE?

 

Avast ang AVG. I run AVG Pro, but really don't need it. Got avg free on an old Dell Inspiron 100 and Avast on my home desktop. Both are nice. Never checked MSE. Will have to do that.....

 

Not at the same time.
My wording was poor and for that I apologize.
What I meant was that I keep MSE as active in the background with real-time protection at all times, while running MBAM once per month (or less frequently), and usually only if I suspect a spyware got through that MSE missed (so for the most part, I keep MBAM on my computer in an inert state and update it occasionally).

Furthermore, I would dare say you can run several antivirus and antispyware programs at the same time without any conflicts whatsoever (I think most conflicts stem from the older days).
However, today, you only need your antivirus as an active protection really with antispypware to be run only if you suspect a spyware your av missed.

 

K! That makes more sense =)

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/190538-best-free-security-software.html