Best Antivirus Software and Apps 2015 (Archive)

[musical marv]

i use Avast on my pc and samsung

Excellent choice.I use Sophos on my Mac Mini computer for almost 3 years .

 

[kelix09]

I vote for Avast and Dr. Web Light

 

[Greg B]

After using Avast for 6 years, 4 of them paid, at $30 p/yr, they could not install the renewal this year. Instead, I was told by the technical assistant who was online to help complete the failed install, that I had malware, 2000 temp files (normal was 200) and lots of background filing that had gotten into my laptop. I thought the yearly subscription was covering some of that? Wrong. System showed no scans, eventhough I had many pop-ups that scans were happening. Yes, if I did pay $170 for Total Support they could fix everything! No, thanks! I cancelled my subscription, feeling like I had wasted 4 years of paid fees and received inadequate protection.

I am thinking there was a 99.9% chance that you were *not* talking Avast at all, but rather one of these cheesy "remote support companies" that offer lousy support on everything for big annual fees. I see more and more of my customers getting caught by these scams, often by Googling something like "McAfee installation support", getting a page filled with McAfee logos, and a phone number that connects you to a boiler room . . . . a boiler room that will change its phone number in a few months. Sorry.

 

[musical marv]

I vote for Avast and Dr. Web Light

I use Avast on my Samsung galaxy A-7 phone. good anti- virus app.

 

[Proofy]

Well... I can't use BitDefender because it's not compatible with my ASUS AI Suite III, how retarded is that ? I'm using AVG Internet Security again now, I just wanted to try BitDefender since everyone is saying how awesome it is and I can't even install it because i have AI Suite III installed which I surely won't uninstall ...

 

[cdshafer]

DO NOT DOWNLOAD the free version of the Avira Anti-Virus program! Avira uses TR/Agent. 35328.246 which will persistently show itself in Avira's pop-up box, asking the user to "remove" the threat, yet this Trojan/Agent is never removed! According to ehow.com: "The Trojan.Agent virus usually poses no threat to a computer's safe running. Instead, it typically installs on a computer with a less reputable antivirus and spyware blocking program. The program uses the threat of this hoax virus to pressure users into buying the full version of the antivirus software in question."

Stay clear of Avira if you don't want to be constantly hounded by that company to upgrade to its paid "full version."

DO NOT DOWNLOAD the free version of the Avira Anti-Virus program! Avira uses TR/Agent. 35328.246 which will persistently show itself in Avira's pop-up box, asking the user to "remove" the threat, yet this Trojan/Agent is never removed! According to ehow.com: "The Trojan.Agent virus usually poses no threat to a computer's safe running. Instead, it typically installs on a computer with a less reputable antivirus and spyware blocking program. The program uses the threat of this hoax virus to pressure users into buying the full version of the antivirus software in question."

Stay clear of Avira if you don't want to be constantly hounded by that company to upgrade to its paid "full version."

 

[cdshafer]

Hello everyone. You know a lot of people out there. All they want to do is get online and have fun. Listen to music, play games, stay in touch with family and friends. Use to they didn't worry much about protecting their pc. Now day's we are bombarded with all kinds of threats from the internet. Mailware, spyware viruses, hackers, identity theft. Yes you can pay for realtime protection and might get protected. But you get what you pay for with those opptions. I have been some what of a computer geek for the last 10 years. ( Computer repair and network technicion). I have found a couple of programs that work well together. One Avira is one of them. I have no troubles running this program. From what I have read above it is the number one Antivirus program for free. I do get a little upset that it keeps poping up autorun. exe was blocked. I use to get realy upset about this untill one day I turned avira off so I could see what program was doing this. Mailware!!! automated mailware attached to one of the websites I go to. Not cookies, mailware. I leave avira up and running now and ignor the thing when it dose it. One of the other programs I use was listed here too. Malwarebytes. Nice little program. I love the new chameleon. Work like a charm on hiding itself to fool hacker, mailware and spyware programs. Once again free and easy to use. Only thing is you have to remember to do updates every day. Another nice feature abvout Malwarebytes is it updates it's data base constanly. You can do an update and 20 minutes later you can do it again. I only update once a day on malwarebytes and am fine. Avira is set to auto update so I don't have to worry so much about it. The last program I use is Superantispyware. It is also a free program and dose not ast you to go pro all the time. Malwarebytes, Avira and Superantispyware all have the option on the main screen to allow you to go pro but it is your choice. They do not pop up big adds saying you have to. If it dose someone done hacked you. Log into safemode without networking and run you antivirus program. Superantispyware is a lot like Malwarebytes in that it detects and blocks spyware and mailware. But I don't think many people know that both of these programs do more than block popups. They find and distroy trojans. Superantispyware is like Malware, you have to do manual update every day. That is why before I go online each day I play sol while these two programs up date befor I go to any website. Takes me a whole wopping 5 minutes to update both. And here is the kicker of the whole thing. All of these are free programs. When I know I have been hit and none of these programs can get rid of it I have another trick up my sleave. And guess what? It is another free program from McAffe. McAfee Stinger. Very effective program. To use it. Do like I said earlier. Log into safemode without networking, open the folder you downloaded it to and follow the promps. I just hope you don't have any computer prank programs on your PC you want to keep. It even takes out windows malicious software removal tool. Now how is that for preformance. So before you go bashing Avira and Malwarebytes migtht I suggest you try them first. And please fill free to add the other two to your arsenal. I have been running all of them for the last six years and they work for me. And I am a diehard XP user.

 

[musical marv]

Hello everyone. You know a lot of people out there. All they want to do is get online and have fun. Listen to music, play games, stay in touch with family and friends. Use to they didn't worry much about protecting their pc. Now day's we are bombarded with all kinds of threats from the internet. Mailware, spyware viruses, hackers, identity theft. Yes you can pay for realtime protection and might get protected. But you get what you pay for with those opptions. I have been some what of a computer geek for the last 10 years. ( Computer repair and network technicion). I have found a couple of programs that work well together. One Avira is one of them. I have no troubles running this program. From what I have read above it is the number one Antivirus program for free. I do get a little upset that it keeps poping up autorun. exe was blocked. I use to get realy upset about this untill one day I turned avira off so I could see what program was doing this. Mailware!!! automated mailware attached to one of the websites I go to. Not cookies, mailware. I leave avira up and running now and ignor the thing when it dose it. One of the other programs I use was listed here too. Malwarebytes. Nice little program. I love the new chameleon. Work like a charm on hiding itself to fool hacker, mailware and spyware programs. Once again free and easy to use. Only thing is you have to remember to do updates every day. Another nice feature abvout Malwarebytes is it updates it's data base constanly. You can do an update and 20 minutes later you can do it again. I only update once a day on malwarebytes and am fine. Avira is set to auto update so I don't have to worry so much about it. The last program I use is Superantispyware. It is also a free program and dose not ast you to go pro all the time. Malwarebytes, Avira and Superantispyware all have the option on the main screen to allow you to go pro but it is your choice. They do not pop up big adds saying you have to. If it dose someone done hacked you. Log into safemode without networking and run you antivirus program. Superantispyware is a lot like Malwarebytes in that it detects and blocks spyware and mailware. But I don't think many people know that both of these programs do more than block popups. They find and distroy trojans. Superantispyware is like Malware, you have to do manual update every day. That is why before I go online each day I play sol while these two programs up date befor I go to any website. Takes me a whole wopping 5 minutes to update both. And here is the kicker of the whole thing. All of these are free programs. When I know I have been hit and none of these programs can get rid of it I have another trick up my sleave. And guess what? It is another free program from McAffe. McAfee Stinger. Very effective program. To use it. Do like I said earlier. Log into safemode without networking, open the folder you downloaded it to and follow the promps. I just hope you don't have any computer prank programs on your PC you want to keep. It even takes out windows malicious software removal tool. Now how is that for preformance. So before you go bashing Avira and Malwarebytes migtht I suggest you try them first. And please fill free to add the other two to your arsenal. I have been running all of them for the last six years and they work for me. And I am a diehard XP user.

What about Avast in your opinion?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Hello everyone. You know a lot of people out there. All they want to do is get online and have fun. Listen to music, play games, stay in touch with family and friends. Use to they didn't worry much about protecting their pc. Now day's we are bombarded with all kinds of threats from the internet. Mailware, spyware viruses, hackers, identity theft. Yes you can pay for realtime protection and might get protected. But you get what you pay for with those opptions. I have been some what of a computer geek for the last 10 years. ( Computer repair and network technicion). I have found a couple of programs that work well together. One Avira is one of them. I have no troubles running this program. From what I have read above it is the number one Antivirus program for free. I do get a little upset that it keeps poping up autorun. exe was blocked. I use to get realy upset about this untill one day I turned avira off so I could see what program was doing this. Mailware!!! automated mailware attached to one of the websites I go to. Not cookies, mailware. I leave avira up and running now and ignor the thing when it dose it. One of the other programs I use was listed here too. Malwarebytes. Nice little program. I love the new chameleon. Work like a charm on hiding itself to fool hacker, mailware and spyware programs. Once again free and easy to use. Only thing is you have to remember to do updates every day. Another nice feature abvout Malwarebytes is it updates it's data base constanly. You can do an update and 20 minutes later you can do it again. I only update once a day on malwarebytes and am fine. Avira is set to auto update so I don't have to worry so much about it. The last program I use is Superantispyware. It is also a free program and dose not ast you to go pro all the time. Malwarebytes, Avira and Superantispyware all have the option on the main screen to allow you to go pro but it is your choice. They do not pop up big adds saying you have to. If it dose someone done hacked you. Log into safemode without networking and run you antivirus program. Superantispyware is a lot like Malwarebytes in that it detects and blocks spyware and mailware. But I don't think many people know that both of these programs do more than block popups. They find and distroy trojans. Superantispyware is like Malware, you have to do manual update every day. That is why before I go online each day I play sol while these two programs up date befor I go to any website. Takes me a whole wopping 5 minutes to update both. And here is the kicker of the whole thing. All of these are free programs. When I know I have been hit and none of these programs can get rid of it I have another trick up my sleave. And guess what? It is another free program from McAffe. McAfee Stinger. Very effective program. To use it. Do like I said earlier. Log into safemode without networking, open the folder you downloaded it to and follow the promps. I just hope you don't have any computer prank programs on your PC you want to keep. It even takes out windows malicious software removal tool. Now how is that for preformance. So before you go bashing Avira and Malwarebytes migtht I suggest you try them first. And please fill free to add the other two to your arsenal. I have been running all of them for the last six years and they work for me. And I am a diehard XP user.

Holy wall of text. Please try and format it better. This is barely more than just a rant.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

Why ESET NOD32 isn't mentioned is beyond me. I've been using it for 10+ years and have never been infected by a virus. It has found things over the years and popped up on the screen to let me know. Uses very little resources and has never showed signs of slowing my computer down. Highly recommended!

We haven't reviewed ESET only because it doesn't have much market presence in North America.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

Well... I can't use BitDefender because it's not compatible with my ASUS AI Suite III, how retarded is that ? I'm using AVG Internet Security again now, I just wanted to try BitDefender since everyone is saying how awesome it is and I can't even install it because i have AI Suite III installed which I surely won't uninstall ...

Try Trend Micro instead -- I believe it makes the AI Suite that Asus provides with its routers.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

Bitdefender? give me a break. Malwarebytes is still the best

Malwarebytes is great for finding stuff that's already on your PC, especially adware and other annoying but harmless programs. But it doesn't do much to prevent a serious infection. You should augment it with "real" antivirus software.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

I would have found it infinitely more helpful if the author of this article had written two articles: One on the pros and cons of the free versions of each of these pieces of software, and a second article on the pros and cons of the "serious" version of each program.

That link above branches out into six different categories, among which is a whole page of reviews of free PC antivirus software. We liked Avira Free the best.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

What do you guys think about this?
http://www.360totalsecurity.com/en/

Its supposed to combine bit defender and avast together some how. I've been using it for a few weeks, seems ok, doesnt bother me ever.
Dunno if its actually doing anything though either....

That's Chinese software that was recently caught cheating on AV-TEST's evaluations. It seems fine, but you have to wonder why a company that licenses a paid product's malware engine then turns around and offers that same malware engine for free.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

I've used multiple Anti-Viruses and so far those were Norton, AVG, Panda, Kaspersky, and Panda Security. Until recently I've been using BitDefender too, just as this article suggests. However I've switched to SecureAPlus late last year since I've found out that they have multiple commercial AVs running at the same time, which include Norton, AVG, BitDefender, as well as others.

I was a bit skeptical at first but it didn't hurt to try since it was free. I still have it with me and it works really well. The interface needs some polish but other than that I'm quite happy with it.

So this software pays 10 different companies to use their malware engines, but then gives all that to consumers for nothing? I would be wary of installing that on my machine.

 

[musical marv]

Good idea. I use Sophos on my Mac Mini for over 3 years with no problems at all.

 

[Jeffsta]

What about Webroot? I was reading a lot of good stuff on it. I really liked that it was light on system resources, actually the smallest AV around, and cheaper. It is ranked in the top 3 on pcmag, and it earned a perfect score in their hands-on malware blocking test. I'm disappointed you didn't test it, because I've been thinking about getting it.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

What about Webroot? I was reading a lot of good stuff on it. I really liked that it was light on system resources, actually the smallest AV around, and cheaper. It is ranked in the top 3 on pcmag, and it earned a perfect score in their hands-on malware blocking test. I'm disappointed you didn't test it, because I've been thinking about getting it.

We have reviewed Webroot. We didn't think it was as good as PC Mag thought it was, but it's OK:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/webroot-secureanywhere-antivirus,review-2568.html

 

[la2161]

The Sophos link is bogus. I downloaded the Sophos software and it caused complete havoc for my computer. I called Sophos and they said a virus may have been installed on my computer. I had to stop all of my credit cards - I was computer hacked back in Dec. and $250.00 was charged on my credit card. DO NOT USE THIS PAGE FOR DOWNLOADING SOFTWARE. IT IS BOGUS, AND IT WILL MESS WITH YOUR COMPUTER. Thanks a lot to the jerk who created this page.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

The Sophos link is bogus. I downloaded the Sophos software and it caused complete havoc for my computer. I called Sophos and they said a virus may have been installed on my computer. I had to stop all of my credit cards - I was computer hacked back in Dec. and $250.00 was charged on my credit card. DO NOT USE THIS PAGE FOR DOWNLOADING SOFTWARE. IT IS BOGUS, AND IT WILL MESS WITH YOUR COMPUTER. Thanks a lot to the jerk who created this page.

Could you post the link from which you downloaded the Sophos software? The only link we use is from the Mac antivirus software review page, and it goes straight to the Sophos website.

 

[skbryan]

Bit Defender (which I use) has poor customer support. There is also an issue with retrieving files that the software deletes that it should not have. This is a serious and widely acknowledged problem that the company refuses to address and fix.

 

[musical marv]

The Sophos link is bogus. I downloaded the Sophos software and it caused complete havoc for my computer. I called Sophos and they said a virus may have been installed on my computer. I had to stop all of my credit cards - I was computer hacked back in Dec. and $250.00 was charged on my credit card. DO NOT USE THIS PAGE FOR DOWNLOADING SOFTWARE. IT IS BOGUS, AND IT WILL MESS WITH YOUR COMPUTER. Thanks a lot to the jerk who created this page.

Could you post the link from which you downloaded the Sophos software? The only link we use is from the Mac antivirus software review page, and it goes straight to the Sophos website.

I have been using Sophos for over 3 years with no problems.Try download it from CNET Tech part.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

CNET is not a place you want to be downloading stuff from. They're bundling adware with everything now.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

CNET is not a place you want to be downloading stuff from. They're bundling adware with everything now.

I have to regretfully agree with that. You should always try to get free Windows software directly from the maker's website.

 

[ubercake]

Avast and Malwarebytes, of which I had paid subscriptions to both for a few years, ran great in Windows 7.

When I installed Windows 8/8.1 with these products, there were all sorts of issues with performance and my ability to update the OS was hampered in some way by each of these products. I worked with support and the solution was to uninstall, update the OS, then re-install each time.

As a result, I stopped using both and only use Malwarebytes for spot checks now.