anti-virus programs compared

[mathman]

The June 2011 issue of Consumer Reports compares various anti-virus programs. Among free programs, Avira and AVG are recommended. Bitdefender has the highest rating among pay programs. The main differences (as far as I can tell - but I am no expert) between free and pay programs are added features, such as firewalls. The anti-virus performance was no better among the pay sites.

[AXEMAN]

FREE AVAST is very good i had a puter built from scratch and the guy put avast on it .Told me from his use and all custum puters he has built he put avast on all of them and everyone seems to like it and said it worked great .I guess i will find out. On this puter i bought what now is called EMSISOFT it works great .

[mathman]

FREE AVAST is very good i had a puter built from scratch and the guy put avast on it .Told me from his use and all custum puters he has built he put avast on all of them and everyone seems to like it and said it worked great .I guess i will find out. On this puter i bought what now is called EMSISOFT it works great .

Consumer Reports rated Avast 3rd. The performances of the first 2 were somewhat better, but Avast is quite satisfactory.

[MysteryFCM]

Best of the AVs at present, are Eset's NOD32, and Kaspersky.

Of the "free" AVs, the best at present, is Avira. Sadly Avast used to be the best, but seems to have a little too much F/P tendancy at present.

[MysteryFCM]

I'd also highly recommend Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) for those not currently using it. It's performing better than most of the paid programs.

[mathman]

I'd also highly recommend Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) for those not currently using it. It's performing better than most of the paid programs.

The Consumer Reports review included this program as well as the three I mentioned (four free programs total reviewd). It was rated slightly lower than the other three.

[MysteryFCM]

Interesting. My experience in the "real world" on all the machines I look after (my own, and machines for friends and family) have shown quite the opposite.

One thing to keep in mind with these tests - they're not "real world", they're "lab world" (i.e. controlled tests). Not to take away from them, just something to bear in mind when considering their results.

[mathman]

Interesting. My experience in the "real world" on all the machines I look after (my own, and machines for friends and family) have shown quite the opposite.

One thing to keep in mind with these tests - they're not "real world", they're "lab world" (i.e. controlled tests). Not to take away from them, just something to bear in mind when considering their results.

I'm curious - did you run comparison tests among these four anti-virus programs or are you speaking from general experience?

[MysteryFCM]

I'm speaking solely from experience (both my own, and others)

[AXEMAN]

Do you have a link for this I'd also highly recommend Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) MysteryFCM

[MysteryFCM]

A link for what?

[AXEMAN]

For this also highly recommend Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) can i get to this without useing mircrosoft update a direct link to Microsoft's Security Essentials and is it free

[MysteryFCM]

It is free, yes, and you can find it here;

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security ... fault.aspx

[eddie1978]

I've always been happy with the free version of AVG



Eddie

[Tinman57]

FREE AVAST is very good i had a puter built from scratch and the guy put avast on it .Told me from his use and all custum puters he has built he put avast on all of them and everyone seems to like it and said it worked great .I guess i will find out. On this puter i bought what now is called EMSISOFT it works great .

Consumer Reports rated Avast 3rd. The performances of the first 2 were somewhat better, but Avast is quite satisfactory.

These results change from month to month. Last time I checked Avast was the highest rated, which is why I started using it a long time ago.

[MysteryFCM]

Eset, Kaspersky and Microsoft Security Essentials are actually the 3 best AV's

[AXEMAN]

Ya but is there free versions of Eset, Kaspersky .????

[MysteryFCM]

There isn't, no.

[bigC]

There isn't, no.

So MSE is the best then.

[MysteryFCM]

Of the free ones, yes.