Security Essentials
Malwarebytes
SuperAntispyware
Threatfire
Your Brain

The brain is.

I believe Avira (free edition) is lean and mean. Using it now after coming from AVG and Avast and am happy.

Avira runs fine in XP on a P3 1.4ghz rig with 1gb ram too.

I am also using a firewall called ZoneAlarm (free edition). Seems to do its job.

@dosfreak
they are antimalware though

avg
avast
avira

are all free any of those will do the job

remember to choose custom install as some of them try to install a toolbar or other stuff you dont need

Avast is good yup. You can't expect most people to use a PC without AV, unless you want to deal with the perhaps inevitable phone call regarding a seriously fubar Windows.

Alternatively you can force Linux down their throat, but that comes with its own baggage to say the least...

I know that Norton might rock

Dunno where you got that idea. Norton is the worst thing you could possibly use... worse, IMO, than half the malware it's supposed to protect against.

I wouldn't touch AVG anymore either, it's been going downhill since about version 7.5, and 9.0 is epic fail. Avast works OK, but it can still be a bit irritating. Avira or MSE are the ones I'd recommend currently, in that order.

The downside to Avira is the 'buy me' ad that pops up when you update, but denying system execute permissions to avnotify.exe will kill that easily enough.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

I like F-prot. It has one of the lowest profile clients I have ever seen. The cost is $30 a year and they give you a license for 5 computers.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

Norton is the worst thing you could possibly use... worse, IMO, than half the malware it's supposed to protect against.

Norton had a bit of a turnaround last year. They reworked the app considerably to reduce its overhead. The reviewers actually found the improvements tangible so I tried it out of curiosity. It is definitely better than 2008 and earlier, similar to the other AVs that I've used in the past few years including Nod32, Avast and Bitdefender.

A german magazine (c't issue of today 😀) had a rundown of a couple of antivirus programs. The bottom line is that none of them are 100% perfect, mostly around 70%. McAfee was the worst since it doesn't allow to exclude files it falsely detects as bad programs from future scans, so it will find them again and again and...
They also found Norton to be much better than in the past (though they did find the settings to be badly placed over all and they didn't like at all their "current threats" map and ads for nortons online storage).
Their most important advice is to stay clear of any of the security suites that offer AV+firewall+antispam... - since all except AV is covered better through the Windows firewall and antispam measures in the mail programs.

Although, for most users, I usually recommend an A/V proggie that is always running in the background (especially for people with broadband, and a fast enough PC: a dual or quad core really helps speed up background A/V proggies);

I myself use McAfee VirusScan Command-Line for Windows v6.0.3. I only scan when needed (e.g. on a file I've just downloaded, suspicions of infections, whenever I get the notion, etc...).

Been using one version or another of McAfee commandline since 1995 or so... and it has never let me down 😀

Quite handy, too... no installation required; burn to a bootable CD, boot under DOS/Windows ME (or earlier) and scan from a sterile environment. Or, under NTFS, simply scan from a command shell (or Safe Mode).

As a power user, I have never; and I repeat NEVER; been infected with a virus with the above (although, I removed/cleaned many on customers' PCs) 😀

I fix computers as a side job and most of the time clients request some sort of an antivirus installed. So I've been installing them per their request. The thing is, most of them don't know what's good and what's not, so over the years I've tried them all (just because I could get them free after mail in rebates).

As of 2010/2011 I would rate them as such (based on system usage and detection/features)

1. Kaspersky (although the 2011 for some reason starts to bug me with random system scans once in a while)
2. Nod32 (used to be my best, but has fallen a little behind Kaspersky)
3. AVG (honestly, i'm not sure why people complain about this one, seems to work fine for me, I'm talking about the paid version)
4. Webroot (interface is kinda cheesy, but program itself does not use a lot of resources)
5. BitDefender (small and not complicated)
6. TrendMicro (I was actually surprised by this one. I thought it was a lot worse)
7. Avira
8. Avast (I know some might disagree but I've had several instances where it wouldn't update and so forth, it started to become annoying)
9. Norton (2009 and up only. They really reworked the whole application. At this point it's comparable to the ones above)
10. Panda (ok, but a little too much overhead for my taste)

And now, something to stay away from (bad experience)
CA Security Suite (had many instances where it would block several ports, even access to computers on the same workgroup for no reason)
McAfee (someone already mentioned)
ZoneAlarm (don't even get me started on that one)

There are many others and they might perform equally well, or equally terrible, but those are the only ones I've used over the last couple of years. All installed on clean OS's.

Also, as other's have said, stay away from Security suites. Some of them try to block/filter things and it just leaves you pissed off. Some don't even give you the option to "unblock." If possible, just buy the Antivirus/anti-spyware, but not the whole security suite.

I want an anti-virus that does one job and then, only when told to.

I started out using AVG. I dropped it when they added some sort of internet filter thing. If I didn't allow it through the firewall I couldn't access the internet. If I did allow it browsing became slowed to a 3rd normal speed. It was far too intrusive.

I tried Avast and didn't like it. I don't specifically recall why now. Possibly it kept harassing me to buy it which I consider just as bad as being a virus itself.

I now use Avira and for the most part it does what I want, scan files and delete them if told too. I do have one complaint though. It scans files even if just being copied to another hadrdrive. There have been a few false detections which result in an access denied error.

buckrogers wrote:

Avira runs fine in XP on a P3 1.4ghz rig with 1gb ram too.

I am also using a firewall called ZoneAlarm (free edition). Seems to do its job.

I'm curious, why have you chosen Zone Alarm instead of XP's (SP3) built in firewall?

built in firewall does not have any output or per application filtering...although I don't use anything else myself sometimes it would be useful to find and block all the crap that connects to the internet nowadays.

My AV license is going off, so I'm considering changing that thing. I've got Kaspersky Internet Security, but it seems more buggering now than when I bought the thing.

I won't buy Panda Antivirus, McAfee or Norton (Panda is even worst than anything you could imagine, McAfee is very heavy and Norton is heavy and intrusive).

My main options are:
- Going to the "free" side: Avast! 5 and Comodo Firewall.
- "Degrading" Kaspersky to a Kaspersky Antivirus with Comodo Firewall.
- Buying a license extension for Kaspersky Internet Security.

What would you do? What about other options (BitDefender, Comodo Antivirus)?

I really hate these modern antivirus nowadays. They are clumsy and a resource hog. And what annoys me the most is that they are always running in the background without giving you the option to run only when invoked (manual scan). Also, they tend to hog the system too much with some extra useless shit.

I am using AVG mostly as of late, but I find it really cumbersome. I should give Security Essentials another whirl though.

Panda is the WORST antivirus I have ever used. Period. Too annoying and intrusive.

I think the best antivirus is common sense (the brain mentioned earlier). A good anti-ads proxy program or Firefox no-script extension PLUS disabling frigging autorun feature, should suffice to not being infected.

I just use Kaspersky (only bought licenses for the antivirus program, not the whole security deal...) and the last 2011 version works VERY nice...! it is lightweight (atleast on my E6750 and E8500 pc's that I use it) and works.... though I hate it when it finds some old game cracks (yeah I DO use cracks for my games, I don't imagine taking out nowdays manuals to enter codes....)

Stay away from internet security, too. Plain AV or it's better avoided. And don't use Zone Alarm, I don't have the article handy, but Zone Alarm actually makes your PC less secure ( actually most software firewalls do - yes, you do see outgoing traffic but at the cost of lesser security). You can compare it to setting your wireless router to be hidden - that also makes your system less secure and worse, gives you the false feeling of being more secure...