Which Free Anti-virus Software?

Virus, malware, spyware, etc have been around for ages.And with the increase in the number of communicationchannels available for people to collaborate, interact andshare their data, these threats have become even more danger-ous. That's because hackers now find newer ways to steal yourcritical information and cause other damages. Quick on theirheels are the antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-spyware pro-grams. Today, you have a plethora of choices for both commer-cial as well as free anti-virus software to choose from. Moreover,it's not just small companies that are behind these free anti-virussoftware. Even the likes of Microsoft have entered the anti-virussoftware market with their free offerings. Here, we focus on the

freely available anti-virus software. They claim to provide con-stant virus protection, also called on-access or resident protec-tion, for free. They work on all versions of Windows, be it Win 7,Vista, XP, and 2000, etc.

We tested six of the most popular ones, on a Windows 7 (32-bit) based desktop with 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD and an AMDAthlon dual core processor. To gauge their protection level, webattered them with a host of viruses and spyware, to checkwhether they can scan & clean the drive which contains viruses.Also, to gauge the efficiency of these antivirus, we also noted thetime taken by each to scan the entire system. Here are our find-ings.

Panda Cloud Antivirus protects you from several kinds ofmalware threats -viruses, worms, Trojans, adware, andmore, just like all the other free antivirus programs in thislist.The interface of this antivirus is fairly simple and easy touse. The very basic interface of the antivirus has an optionof scan (full and specific), view reports and recover files tabs.These provide the necessary mode of operation for the an-tivirus. Since the antivirus is cloud based, it takes more timethen other antiviruses to scan the desired files. As opposedto other antiviruses, which took around 40 minutes for a fullsystem scan, Panda antivirus clocked 52 minutes. We alsoscanned a folder full of viruses, some of which were evencontained in zipped folders. Panda antivirus scanned andidentified 9476 affected files with a success ratio of around95%. It successfully cleaned all the files it detected.

BOTTOMLINE:Cloud based antivirus is a relatively newconcept and worth trying. The performance is decentenough but scan speed is a bit of worry.

Comodo Antivirus protects you from several threatsources, just like most other free antivirus programson this list do. Comodo Antivirus includes a full rangeof detection engines for viruses, spyware, rootkits, andother malware which are basically designed to protectfrom all infection sources such as email, games, IM, etc.The antivirus uses Defense+ technology that, by de-fault, assumes unknown files as threats.

This technology is more or less heuristics search whichbills a file as safe or not safe depending on its behavioramongst other things. Virus definitions are updated regu-larly in the background. The used version of the antivirus isa 32-bit installer but 64-bit versions are also available. Thereis an option of an online or an offline installer which wouldupdate.

Comodo antivirus took 43 minutes to scan the whole sys-tem. It scanned and identified 9076 affected files with a suc-cess ratio of around 91%, which is lower as compared tosome of the other antivirus on this list. It successfullycleaned all detected files.

BOTTOMLINE:The email and link scanner featureare nice, but overall protection was not that great.

Avast! Free Antivirus has fully functioning antivirusand antispyware engines protecting your PC fromthreats arising from Internet, files, emails, and even in-stant messages. Avast! deploys a heuristics enginewhich can detect previously unknown viruses and othermalware based on a variety of identity and behavioralpatterns. Avast! is one of the most installed free an-tivirus programs. Installing and using Avast! is fairlysimple. The initial installer installs it for 30 days, postwhich an online registration is required once per yearto keep the system protected. Avast includes real-timeprotection of files, email, web surfing, p2p transfers, in-stant messages, and even suspicious behavior.

The antivirus took 34 minutes to scan the whole system.We also scanned a folder full of viruses. It contained zippedfolders as well. It scanned and identified 9776 affected fileswith a success ratio of around 97% which is highest as com-pared to some of the other antivirus on this list. It success-fully cleaned all the files detected.

BOTTOMLINE:The feature set and protection levelsmake Avast! a highly recommended antivirus

AVG Anti-Virus Free is a full-fledged antivirus andantispyware tool, which includes email scanner,link scanner, scheduled scanning options, automaticupdates, etc. AVG Anti-Virus Free is one of the betterand more used free antivirus program available todaymainly due to the huge number of premium-level fea-tures, full antivirus and antispyware engines, and auto-matic background updating. AVG includes a linkscanner to protect from websites that host malicioussoftware. The e-mail scanner is included which scansthe mail and its attachments even before they are down-loaded so as to provide maximum protection against anyprobable attack. AVG Anti-Virus updates periodically tostay current with new threats.

The antivirus took 37 minutes to scan the whole system.We also scanned a folder full of viruses. It contained zippedfolders as well. It scanned and identified 9576 affected fileswith a success ratio of around 96% which is decent enoughas compared to some of the other antiviruses we reviewed.Only Avast! was able to perform better. It successfully cleanedall the files detected.

BOTTOMLINE:A very decent performer, slightly behindAvast!

Microsoft Security Essentials is a nice antivirusprogram that protects you from all sorts of mal-ware, updates automatically, and is easy to use. Mi-crosoft is a fairly recent entry to the free antivirus listof providers and the product holds good in terms offeatures that it brings to the table. A couple of thingsin Microsoft Security Essentials's favour include colorcoded virus indicators. It resides in your system tray,and the color of its icon indicates virus activity. If theicon is green, you're in good, and if it's red, somethingis wrong. This is extremely helpful as it makes it reallyeasy to see if the program is protecting you as itshould be. Microsoft Security Essentials updates reg-ularly to keep its malware knowledge current.

MSE antivirus took 40 minutes to scan the whole sys-tem. We also scanned a folder full of viruses. It containedzipped folders as well. Microsoft Security Essentials an-tivirus scanned and identified 9397 affected files with asuccess ratio of around 94 % which is decent considering the fact that Microsoft Security Essentials is a fairly newplayer to the free antivirus race. It successfully cleaned allthe files detected.

BOTTOMLINE:The first free antivirus from Microsoftis more than decent. Although a couple of othersprovide better overall protection.

Avira AntiVir Personal protects you from viruses,Trojans, worms, spyware, adware, and variousother kinds of malware, making it a fully functionalanti-malware tool. The interface does not allow muchuser control and customization is minimal. The setupengine asks for registration of the product but it is im-portant to note that registration for Avira is optionaland can be delayed for later. Post install, configurationfor Avira is required. Avira has a heuristics engine muchlike some of the other products and scans and removes/block files based on their behavioural patterns. Fre-quent pop up ads informing the user of the company'sother products, etc seems to be a major pain point of the system.

The antivirus took 39 minutes to scan the whole system.We also scanned a folder full of viruses. It contained zippedfolders as well. Avira Antivir Antivirus scanned and identi-fied 9108 affected files with a success ratio of around 91 %which is on the lower side. It successfully cleaned all the files detected.

BOTTOMLINE: Annoying pop up ads, not so userfriendly interface and average performance drag thisantivirus down.

Eset NOD32 Antivirus is proactive security system thatkeeps you in safe zone by killing viruses, Trojans,worms, adware, spyware, phishing, rootkits and other Internet threats. The installation process as well as configuring the options are very straight forward. Eset NOD32design takes less resource leaving you enough room for fast web browsing, and emailing and gaming. ESETNOD32 antivirus 4 can be toggled between standard fea-tures and more advanced features. Eset NOD 32 deploys aheuristics engine which it calls the ThreatSense technol-ogy much like most other antivirus on the list to scan and block a file based on its behavioral pattern.

Eset NOD32 Antivirus took 46 minutes to scan the whole sys-tem. We also scanned a folder full of virus. It contained zipped folders as well. Eset NOD 32 Antivirus scanned and identified 9612 affected files with a success ratio of around 96 % whichis decent. It successfully cleaned all the files detected.

BOTTOMLINE: Decent all round protection keeps this an-tivirus in good company, scan speed, though, is on thelower side.

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