"The Free Antivirus Thread"

YeOldeStonecat

YeOldeStonecat

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Here's yet another antivirus thread.....we all need one like a hole in the head.

But the purpose of this one is to help spread knowledge about the various offerings of "free" antivirus programs out there. There are quite a few more besides the commonly known AVG, Avast, Antivir/Avira, and MSE.

I would like to keep revisiting this thread, updating information as we come across it. It will be a constantly updated thread.

Now, I mostly turn to free AV products for the freebie jobs I do for friends, family, neighbors. And even though I have tons of NFR licenses for many different "big name" brand products from work...I still use MSE at home. So far it has proven to work well for me....but I'll admit, I do have concern about its sinking ratings over the past year. And I wouldn't be good at my job if I wasn't keeping an eye out for other possible replacement products for this product.

Also at work, we focus 99% on business clients, but we have a lot of home users rigs come across our bench to get worked on...and we've been putting on MSE.

Now...one of the biggest concerns for me is simplicity of use, and how easily the end user can keep the product running. By that last point, I mean...basically they don't have to worry about keeping it registered on a yearly basis. Because we all know that home users are horrible about keeping antivirus licenses renewed. I'd rather have a mediocre antivirus product on their rig that is "set it and forget it" for the life of the computer, versus a more effective product that needs to be renewed and/or reactivated on a yearly basis. It is likely the end user will ignore that..so after the first year is up, it expires, it fails to update and protect..and now they're screwed. This right here is the primary purpose that I've liked and used MSE for this type of end user.

I also do not like to see advertisements...or frequent "nags" to upgrade to the pro/paid for version. Some products are guilty of that...it disqualifies them from anything I'll use.

A list of products...lets get a long list together, and I will keep editing this list as new products keep coming in.

360Safe/360 Internet Security/Qihoo360 - Runs triple engines, 360Cloud, Qihoo QVM, and BitDefender. Free for home use only. I installed this on my own laptop yesterday to start testing it, (11/26/13) and so far it's been solid, haven't noticed a performance hit which I did expect from a triple engine. No adware so far.
http://www.360safe.com/

AdAware free antivirus - Most of us know Lavasofts AdAware adware/spyware removal program from years ago, they added a combo antivirus product also. Haven't looked at yet.
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Agnitum Outpost Free -
http://free.agnitum.com/

Amiti Antivirus - An open source clone running on Clamwin
http://sourceforge.net/projects/amitiantivirus/

Anvi Smart Defender - Reviews said it's not very effective
http://www.anvisoft.com/smart-defender.html

AntiVir - Pretty decent detection rates, amusing reference to Star Wars in the name of its scanning engine, but horribly high false positive rages. And the constant nags to upgrade to the Pro version drive end users nuts. Frequent reliability problems with the free update servers....so clients often lag behind in definitions.
http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Avast - I've liked its performance in detection rates. Relatively low false positives. A rather quirky interface. But what kept me from liking it was the fact that, last that I knew (I'll admit it's been a few years) you had to keep an account with them and re-register the product yearly.
http://www.avast.com/en-us/free-antivirus-download
They currently offer a "Free for EDU" package (educational facilities....added this link on 04/12/2013 and I don't know how long the special will last)
http://www.avast.com/en-us/education?ClickID=c4i7aznpekzqq4kvnzfxwspiple4i4ifailn

AVG - I remember the days when AVG was the free product of choice..back with version 5 or 6....but it really started dropping in effectiveness around version 7 (early XP days?). And I don't like its browser protection bar...seen it cause so many issues. I still see so many computers that have AVG come across our bench from infections.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

Baidu - Similar to 360Safe, triple engine.
http://antivirus.baidu.com

BitDefender - They recently released a new free product that does have real time file protection. Unlike their prior version which did not. Very bland interface, doesn't let you configure much. But quite good performance. You do have to register with them once to get an account and updates...so that alone makes me think it's not a good option for me to use for this type of client needs.
http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

Commodo - I tried it once...it had frequent problems updating.
http://antivirus.comodo.com/

ClamWin - relatively ineffective against more modern web based "threats".
http://www.clamwin.com/

CYSEC - Have not tried yet, interesting website. Based in London. Also offer free remote access and network mapping tools.
http://cysec.com/

Digital Defender - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.digital-defender.com/

DrWeb CuritIt - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.freedrweb.com/?lng=en

Fortinet Forticlient Lite - Haven't looked at it in a while.....was a full security suite only, meaning software firewall too.
http://www.forticlient.com/lite.html

Immunet - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.immunet.com/main/index.html

Kingsoft - Haven't looked at yet but feature set looks good
http://www.kingsoftsecurity.com/

MSE - Came out on the market doing fairly well in reviews, has been sliding in ratings lately, but it really is a "set and forget" product. No registration required, no renewals, no nags, simple interface. It also is unique among the other offerings as being the only "free antivirus" that is licensed to be used in a busines....currently of up to 10x computers. Desktops only, no server operating systems.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

NANO antivirus - no info
http://www.nanoav.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=74&lang=en

Panda Cloud Free - Panda has been doing very well in detection of new/rising threats. A cloud based product, as the name illustrates. Just installed on my laptop, no registration required (good). During install there are 3x checkbox options for "me-too ware"...it wants to put in the Panda Security Toolbar in Internet Exploader and Firefox, based on Blekko search, and it was to set Blekko for the default search engine. As well as set the home page to MyStart. You can opt out of all 3 of those. For the management console, a decent set of features, including file and directory exclusion options.
http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/#!/free-antivirus-download

PCTools - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/index/d/2

Returnil -
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/returnil-system-safe

RisingFree - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.freerav.com/
Appears to have a version which they say is compatible with Server 2003 and Server 2008...
http://www.rising-global.com/Download/Rising-Free-Utilities/Rising-Free-Antivirus.html

Roboscan - Reviews show as mediocre
http://www.roboscan.com/

UnThreat - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.unthreat.com/free-antivirus

ZenOK - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.zenok.com/en/free-antivirus/

Zillya Antivirus -
http://zillya.com/node/20

ZoneAlarm - Haven't looked at it yet.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-free-antivirus-firewall.htm
 
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I used to put AntiVir on all customer machines. I have a script that disables the nag screen. These days I use a combo of MSE and SpywareBlaster. Most systems I get in these days are showing up with Norton, McAfee, or AVG or a combination of these...lol I inform the customer up front that I wont work on a system with these on it and then remove it with their consent.
 
FoolishTech said:
I wouldn't even put ZoneAlarm on that list. Stick to things that don't fubar Windows. :)
Click to expand...

LOL...I agree with ya, never seen a security product that borks so many machines. If I somehow got ZoneAlarm installed on my own systems....I'd format and rebuild. That product messes with the TCP ' winsock so deeply an uninstall never fully recovers a system from it.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
LOL...I agree with ya, never seen a security product that borks so many machines. If I somehow got ZoneAlarm installed on my own systems....I'd format and rebuild. That product messes with the TCP ' winsock so deeply an uninstall never fully recovers a system from it.
Click to expand...

The only thing I seen come close is Norton internet security.
 
For the technically challenged people I deal with, here is what I do.

Put on MSE - easy to use and good enough with a sandbox.

Put on and install Sandboxie....the paid version, if you don't want nagged.
Although the free version works well, I felt it works so well, I buy a license for a one time charge.

Configure it correctly for their use.

Now when you get the call that MSE has detected a virus, or they say "funny" things are happening. Just tell them to close down their computer and restart. Sanboxie has been configured to empty on closing, so when they re-start, they are good to go. On a few occasions, you may need to instruct them to empty the sandbox manually.

So easy, I even have my sister doing it and she knows NOTHING about computers.

Currently, I run Sandboxie on all my home machines and have NEVER had I virus that wasn't removed by emptying the sandbox.

I'm afraid it's going to start to put a hurt on my Virus removal business, so I only use it on "freebies" or "problem" clients.

Very activley developed and updated.
Link below.

http://www.sandboxie.com/
 
I put MSSE and MBAM pro. I charge them for the MBAM pro, I dont give them an option, its just part of the fee of the cleaning. Usually I charge mbam at cost, but sometimes I mark up the cleaning, depends on the job. People seem to like getting the MBAM box when they leave.

Seems to work well on home/non business users.
 
NYJimbo said:
I put MSSE and MBAM pro. I charge them for the MBAM pro, I dont give them an option, its just part of the fee of the cleaning. Usually I charge mbam at cost, but sometimes I mark up the cleaning, depends on the job. People seem to like getting the MBAM box when they leave.

Seems to work well on home/non business users.
Click to expand...

+1 for this combo.

Also have a look at Kingsoft Antivirus which runs well on low spec machines. I believe it uses the Avira engine.
 
ComputerRepairTech said:
Edit: stay away from rising and pctools for sure.
Click to expand...

A year or two ago I put Rising on a computer because it seemed to be a good choice for a customers PC (slow and little ram). When the customer came to pick it up I showed him and he asked who made Rising. After he found out he asked me to remove it as he didn't trust an A/V from China. It wasn't because he hated Chinese people, its just he felt that something as big as an A/V program from China probably had some influence from the Chinese government and that made him uncomfortable.

That was the last time I ever looked at Rising.
 
NYJimbo said:
When the customer came to pick it up I showed him and he asked who made Rising. After he found out he asked me to remove it as he didn't trust an A/V from China.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that...cause thats exactly why I am going to wait for you guys to test kingsoft before I try it :)
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Added to the list...Thanks. Forgot about that one, never looked at it but looking at it now the feature set looks good for a freebie.
Click to expand...

Another Chinese antivirus actually. :) Or front end to be exact. I use it on very low spec machines and never had any complaints. All the hardware is made in China so the Chinese antivirus should be really compatible, right? :D
 
.... Not forgetting a number of antiviral products share the same underlying engine. So they are not, essentially, dissimilar.
 
I'm amazed at home many of you guys put your trust in MSE. Its not a good AV. Never has been.

A quick google search brings up these recent links:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Micr...ails-AV-Test-Loses-Certification-310715.shtml

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/40505533

I do recall the detection rate of MSE being as bad as 67% a couple years ago, and I'm not sure its improved much since then. In fact here's a recent link that puts it at 63% detection rate http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403986,00.asp

I tell my customers - "in my opinion MSE is better than no AV at all but thats the best I can say about it".

In my opinion, you cant go past Avast for ease of use on customers' PC's. Its set and forget, and if they have issues renewing their free licence in 12 mths time guess who gets the job of reactivating it?
 
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Bitdefender's free av is pretty good, personally i don't use free av, especially on client PCs. As some of you know I work in retail, so I have to sell av software. I sell sophos first kaspersky second eset third

The reason behind me selling sophos is at least with our version (it is not boxed, it is a techbench sku) is sophos guarentees no viruses, if you do happen to get one sophos will remotely connect and remove it, if they are unable to they will come out free of charge to remove it, provides lots of peace of mind to customers as well as provides them with free virus removals and we make lots of margain on it plus in the 8 months we have been selling it, I have not had a customer report any issues

For a few customers i have on the side i recommend kaspersky and eset
 
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