The Top 10 Best Free Antivirus Programs 2012
As summer 2011 comes around the security vendors cast their eyes to the following year and start releasing the paid for versions of their products. For most people I would definitely recommend handing over a few dollars to get a good level of protection but, for some people, that may not be necessary.
With that in mind it is time once again for me to look at what free alternatives are available.
Over the next couple of months I will be writing some new reviews for what I believe are the best quality antivirus programs you can get in 2012 without parting with your cash. I’ll be looking at programs from the usual suspects, including -
- AVG
- Avira
- Avast!
- Comodo
- and, assuming no fingers have just fallen off, 6 others.
This is the one I’m sure all of you are familiar with as AVG Free is arguably the most popular AV program available today.
Its quick, its free, its low on system resources. Well worth checking out.
Made by the company that makes your Windows operating system so its bound to be good, right? Lets hope so as MSE is (rightly or wrongly) likely to be the most used security program next year when it comes as standard in Windows 8.
Capped CPU usage and its free. Might not be well suited to business users though.
A few false positives take the shine off but otherwise its pretty good.
Quick, accurate and good detection rates.
Low memory usage but high CPU usage – strange!
If you are someone who schedules scans rather than using them on demand then this may be a good choice.
Detection rates with this program aren’t the best available this year.
However, it does boast the lowest memory and CPU usage I’ve seen yet which is good news if you have an older PC.
I’ve hated previous versions of this program due to some insane resource usage but this year’s offering is much, much better.
Offers excellent malware detection and cleanup rates.
High CPU usage may pose problems for some users though.
A bit of a mixed bag this one – spotted problems other programs missed but are virus definitions updating properly?
The previous version I looked at left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed but Hitman now offers a viable “2nd opinion” scan.
Upsell, upsell, upsell
If you can can get past the in-program marketing you’ll find a capable AV program.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
what kind of trojanvirus do you have??? i just downloaded avg. im worried
Sorry Lorraine, I don’t understand what you mean?
Best free is avast for me. or you have Microsoft Security Essentials 2012
From what I have read so far, Avira has the best detection rates out there compared to all other ones out there, however (assuming we are comparing only free versions only), Avast comes with more features. Honestly, out of the three I have had experience with MSE, Avira, and Avast, I would go for Avira because of the higher detection rate. Avast is still awesome though, especially if you do a lot of things that can utilize those features. MSE, the only reason why it is so special is that because it is an official Microsoft product, it integrates really well with the system and is extremely simplistic. I have heard some good things about Panda, though I don’t have any information beyond that. O, and by the way, those that are reading this thinking, “Hmm… Avira it is….” just be warned, Avira has this annoying pop up that comes everyday (because it updates everyday) that shows you an ad to buy their full version. There are some things out there saying how you can go to the security tab (assuming if you have vista/7, XP users have to go safe mode and what not), and deny execution on the applications avnotify and ipmgui, and that should hopefully reduce the amount from once a day to maybe once or twice a week. Other than that, I am very satisfied by Avira’s performance. Time and time again it has excelled.
So just a recap:
Avira has great detection rates/realtime scanning
Avast has slightly lower detection rates but has even more features than just realtime scanning
MSE has slightly lower (than Avast possibly?) but integrates very well into a Windows environment and is good for the technologically handicapped.
This is a review of FREE antiviruses. The reviewer does not own any of the programs mentioned. Try to other antivirus programs to get rid of your trojan virus.
i have a trojan virus
And your AV/security program isn’t getting rid of it?
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