QOTD: Is Free Antivirus as Good as Paid Software?

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well.. i havent had much problem with my free avira.. i tried avast ,kasperky and avg b4... avast was kinda low on detection rate... kaspersky was slow... avg on the other hand, detect most of my documents as virus and if i'm not careful enough.. it got deleted... which really pissed me off... thats why now i'm sticking with avira.. it might be a little slow on the update but it's good.. good enuf for me anyway.. and its free.. lols..
 
well.. i havent had much problem with my free avira.. i tried avast ,kasperky and avg b4... avast was kinda low on detection rate... kaspersky was slow... avg on the other hand, detect most of my documents as virus and if i'm not careful enough.. it will get deleted... which really pissed me off... thats why now i'm sticking with avira.. it might be a little slow on the update but it's good.. good enuf for me anyway.. and its free.. lols..
 
I used to run Symantec Antivirus until I got a virus through that Flash vulnerability that put a file on my system that does only one thing - steal World of Warcraft passwords. Symantec didn't find it. I installed AVG which found it immediately. I submitted the file to Symantec for review by them and they returned saying there was no threat detected. I guess that means a virus that steals your game password isn't considered a problem by Symantec.

I use AVG now, and if you play an MMO, I would recommend you run AVG or something, anything other than Symantec just for that reason - game password stealers aren't considered a problem to them. I still have the file isolated and run Norton now and then to see if it finds it. I think it has been nearly 2 years and it still says my system is clean of threats.

AVG is not perfect, frequently messing up requiring a restart after every single update, but that is usually fixable by uninstall / reinstall. BUT hey, it finds most threats!

 
Yes and No. As long as you are careful and don't click suspicious/random links, a freeware software option should be fine. But I would have to say over the years family members with AVG/AVAST have had more problems in the long run than those with properly configured and paid CA/Kaspersky/Norton solutions.
 
It all depends on what paid for antivirus your putting it up against. Over the years I've grown to HATE Norton's. I should like it since it has helped put cash in my pocket. I've spent so many hours trying to uninstall different versions over the years after it's hosed a system only to find out you can't get rid of it. It always slowed down the systems so bad you'd be better off infected. I can't believe they are even still in business.
If you compare say nod32 to avg, I'd take nod32 any day. There's no set in stone answer for your question. It's more like nod32 > avg, nortons < avira, macafee < avira, kaspersky > avg, Gdata > avira. etc.
 
I definitely think free is just as good (or better than) paid anti-virus, I used to use Norton back in the day of windows 98 and 2000 (and early xp) but it seemed that over time it just became too bloated and caused too much overhead, I never like McAfee it seemed it was even more bloated than Norton ever was. Now when I put AV on someones computer it is usually AVG.
 
How about no anti-virus software.

I've been using computers for over 15 years, and never run into any problems of any sort involving viruses. A little bit of common sense, and knowing what you're clicking on goes a long way.

But for others who share their computers with multiple users, I could see it's practicality.
 
[citation][nom]startingline13[/nom]How about no anti-virus software. I've been using computers for over 15 years, and never run into any problems of any sort involving viruses. A little bit of common sense, and knowing what you're clicking on goes a long way.But for others who share their computers with multiple users, I could see it's practicality.[/citation]

I agree. I went for about 20 years without ever using a virus scanner, back in the DOS days to just a couple of years ago. Only reason I started using one is because things you thought were safe are no longer. For example, I got my WoW password stealer from Googlepages. They have 3rd party gadgets that I assumed would be reviewed and approved by Google. They are not. Google also tends to find pages who pay to be found and are often just there to take money. The days of going without a scanner are gone imo. If you have just a few sites you go to often, you're probably fine. Need to search for something? Better be protected.
 
I use avast antivirus. I would probably be of the opinion that paid software is of higher quality - IF I didn't experience the pre-installed Norton trials that I'm sure many of you have also come to hate.

Norton is in and of itself a virus, I have uninstalled norton trials before and as an act of revenge norton would cause the system to be unbootable. Norton is a security threat in that people see that it is installed and don't realize that their subscription is out of date and do silly things thinking they are protected.

Avast catches everything, it catches quite a bit more malware than avg even. It's free, it takes minimal resources, and it is updated constantly.
 
Have to say, that common sense is what helps most. when I was working as a tech, the majority of issues seemed to be a combination of Norton and Limewire. what better way to destroy your pc than install 2 pieces of shit on it. users with norton, seemed to think, that since they paid for the yellow box every year, they could do whatever they wanted... boom.

personally, I went down the route of free for years, and never had a problem, after finally finding a paid for solution about 3 years ago that is light enough (Kaspersky IS) I have made the switch, mostly because I have it on all the family and friend computers I have to support and its easiest if I am familiar with it.

since installing KIS, none of the machines have ever had an issue. big fan.
 
I'm using Norton Internet Security and the problem I'm having with it now is that it keeps doing automatic scans even when I have it set not to do automatic scans. I tried AVG on my older Compaq and it worked okay for a while until the AVG files would often corrupt. The Norton I'm using now came with my computer. And it's good for 15 months.
 
A year ago Maximum PC did a review... they always do one and have been my benchmark for quite a few years. (cant remember the first time I got a subscription)
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/protect_your_pc_from_guys_like_this

It is comprehensive and up until this last one really painted norton and mcaffe badly. Avg was the past winner but w/ the latest version I had ditched it before I had even read the review b/c of the bloat. (and I had an incident when the annoying popup tabbed my online session of L4D to my desktop to nicely let me know that I could upgrade to "pro"... grr...)

Avira has been solid, but also has a popup. avast is realtime, so there is a penalty on opening things but it was solid (if a bit bloated)... been trying the m$ one and found it to be silent, unobtrusive and unnoticed. Exactly what I want (paid or free)

would I trust it for my internet-n00b parents? Yes, but they don't click on anything. At all. For a careless teenager that finds those questionable vids just too much to ignore? well...

AV reviews are priceless when done by reputable ppl (like Tom's) but getting something comprehensive like what MaxPC does is lots o work. Kudos if you guys can do it.
 
I myself use AVG and Prevx. I love how Prevx uses little to no system resources the thing is you been to be connected to the web to have any virus definitions at all. The only problem I had with AVG is it got a rootkit somehow AVG found it but couldnt take care of it so i grabbed a rootkit remover
 
Free anti-virus is usually better for me - It tends to be less bloated and doesn't pop up constantly informing me about things that I didn't need to know about. The database might not be quite as comprehensive, but a free av combined with Windows Update and some common sense still pretty much guarantees you a virus-free system.
 
all the freewares mentioned above also have their pay2use version. and you can only judge the different between freeware and commercial ware, but not judging it from norton to avira. i will say some freeware are good enough, and commercial wares work even better.
 
I had read lots of lab test involving antivirus, and avast free version is far better than most non free.

Norton sucked big way latests years making the computer much slower that one loaded with virus, and his virus detection is on the same level that Avast.

To see an independent source see av-comparatives.org
 
Free AVG is a huge help for most users. I personally has installed in in hundreds of customers and immediately it detected several TRUE threads that the "cracked" versions of other AVs (especially NOD32) could not see.
 
Paid anti-virus can be really good, you just need to buy the right ones...Avira is my personal favorite, the free version is better then most paid versions i've used and the premium paid version is even better. However other paid anti-virus are very good also. People just need to realize that Mcaffe and Norton aren't the only paid versions out there.
 
I use trend micro & its much faster & more effective than AVG. When I switched from AVG, trend found several viruses I had that avg had missed. Trend has been the No1 or 2 antivirus in tests the last 7 or 8 years.
 
Norton isn't worth anything anymore. Several friends/family had it on their system for free (packed with HP, Dell, etc.) for a year or so, and in sptite of its extensive control over the OS, it's less effective at removing malware and viruses. It doesn't stop any more than AVG and Avast do. Awareness is the best antivirus. The software just removes the results of inadvertent mistakes, and a comprehensive suite of free software (AVG, spybot:S&D, Adaware, HijackThis) is more effective than any retail box product in my experience.
 
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