Whate free av software do you use/recommend?

[aburwig]

I have many customers coming to me in need of a good, free antivirus program - either they have somehow existed without or are up against their renewal and either don't want to, or can't afford to pay for the renewal. In the past I have often recommended AVG, but have lost almost all confidence in them. To be clear, I would much prefer to see a customer bite the bullet and pay for a Kaspersky, or even a NAV, but I also know that many simply can not afford these options.

So, what free av programs do you use/recommend for your customers?

 

[Xander]

I stopped pushing free stuff several months ago when the fake-AVs were at their worst. I now sell Kaspersky.

 

[pcspek]

The best free AV I find is Avira Antivir but it does have a nag screen to upgrade to the pro version. The detection rates are by far the best for a free AV. The easiest I would recommend to customers who don't want to pay for AV is MS Security Essentials as they can forget the worry of updating scanning etc. Detection rates are very good too without a lot of false positives. Avast is pretty good too. AVG is now to bloated & full of false positives.

 

[MobileTechie]

Out of interest, has anyone been asked to remove a virus from a Kaspersky protected PC?

I'm yet to come across one but I know it must happen.

 

[16k_zx81]

I stopped pushing free stuff several months ago when the fake-AVs were at their worst. I now sell Kaspersky.

Same here. I use MSSE but I dont recommend free AVs to end-users. Kaspersky is my first recommendation if they ask.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Out of interest, has anyone been asked to remove a virus from a Kaspersky protected PC?

I'm yet to come across one but I know it must happen.

nope, but then I've only seen a handful of machines with Kaspersky in the last 8 years

I'd push Kaspersky but always think that it's too bloated for the more mature computer

 

[activeits]

Out of interest, has anyone been asked to remove a virus from a Kaspersky protected PC?

I'm yet to come across one but I know it must happen.

Yes and the customer said he had been using their Kaspersky inbuilt Sandbox utility.


Thanks

 

[atlanticjim]

For free antivirus, I recommend MSSE.
For paid, Kaspersky.

I will probably get heat for this but www.av-comparatives.org publishes detection and performance data on many AV products.
For detection, Avira (not the free one) and Kaspersky top the list.

 

[Martyn]

Kaspersky(no viruses seen to date) paid and Avast free.

 

[Techlogon]

Free - Avast if they insist on free.

Gave up on AVG long ago as can't be bothered with their massive download - 2 full install files for AVG Free 32/64bit are 150MB and 170MB whereas Avast is a single 50MB file and does a better job too imho.

Paid - Kaspersky IS. Funny how people who spend loads monthly on mobile phone calls, broadband and TV suddenly baulk at paying $20 a year for highly rated protection

 

[Larry Sabo]

I will probably get heat for this but www.av-comparatives.org publishes detection and performance data on many AV products... For detection, Avira (not the free one) and Kaspersky top the list.

It is the free Antivir ("Antivir Personal") that ranks so highly on AV-Comparatives. I prefer to sell them Antivir Premium but if money is an issue, I'll install Antivir Personal, AVAST! Home, or MSE (in that preference order). They can't beat Antivir Premium for a whole bunch of reasons that I outline on my web site and ask them to read if they want to know why I prefer it. MSE and AVAST tend to hobble older PCs running XP whereas Antivir Personal is very transparent. I recommend against AVG because it's a resource hog and ineffective/unreliable.

 

[RichmondTech]

I stopped pushing free stuff several months ago when the fake-AVs were at their worst. I now sell Kaspersky.

I don't bother with free AV either. If the customer can't/doesn't want to shell out a few bucks for a single-user paid AV, do you think they're going to give you a ton of revenue over the year? Do you really want that type of person as a customer?

 

[Xander]

I don't bother with free AV either. If the customer can't/doesn't want to shell out a few bucks for a single-user paid AV, do you think they're going to give you a ton of revenue over the year? Do you really want that type of person as a customer?

Meh, that's about the spot where I'll still say "yeah." Tough times, blue collar city and all that. I can relate to someone thinking they can afford the repair but "why not use a free AV?"


As for Kaspersky infections, I've had one. Shortly after I started selling it, a guy came back a month later with the same infection I'd cleaned before ...because he deliberately went back to the same movie-streaming site that got him infected the first time.

 

[geekhelp4u]

Avast! for both free and paid. http://www.av-comparatives.org/ keeps testing Avast 5 instead of 6 so they are missing out on the sandbox version. Also - the boot time scan is awesome. Couple this with MBAM.

MSSE is rubbish.

 

[dipper]

Microsoft Security Essentials for a free AV.

For paid for I use Trend Micro - specifically their WFBS line.

 

[MobileTechie]

Yes and the customer said he had been using their Kaspersky inbuilt Sandbox utility.


Thanks

God that sandbox thing is pretty inconvenient. I'm amazed anyone uses it.

 

[Will]

I usually recommend MSE for free. Anything paid and I'll put NOD32 on.

I've always thought of Kaspersky as being bloated, but now NOD seems to be going that way too. What do you all think?

 

[Larry Sabo]

God that sandbox thing is pretty inconvenient. I'm amazed anyone uses it.

+1. I wouldn't inflict that on my customers; they are technology-challenged enough already. When I set up Antivir, I set the configuration to be as transparent as possible, so they don't have to guess what to do when something bad is found.

 

[FoolishTech]

If someone requests a particular free A/V, that is exactly what they get. If they don't, they get MSSE.

I default to it for a number of reasons. Mostly it's a tiny download, a fast install, it's very light on system resources and runs on older system pretty well, it detects well enough, it negates Windows Defender in Vista which would otherwise want to run and consume more resources with a 3rd Party A/V installed, and also it's Microsoft so people actually have brand recognition with it vs. the likes of Avira/Avast/whatever else others use.

But they always get the conversation from me, rather disclaimer, that I don't *recommend* MSSE, or any A/V for that matter paid or not, over another - and I usually do a pretty good job explaining why I won't stake my rep on something as variable as a particular A/V's reliability, especially when new malware is introduced. When they understand this, it's a lot easier to deal with them should they get an infection in the future while running that A/V I put on their system...

Out of interest, has anyone been asked to remove a virus from a Kaspersky protected PC?

I'm yet to come across one but I know it must happen.

It does. Fake A/V in the shop a few weeks ago had the big K on it. It wasn't functioning properly as I recall and needed a reinstall - unsure if that was the malware or just a malfunction...

But personally this is a very rare event for me to see. Not sure if it's because Kaspersky is so rarely used among my customer base or if it's just that good against all the fake A/V floating around out there these days. *shrug*

 

[marianoemilio]

I don't recommend using free av software. ESET NOD32 for end-users.