What do you think is the best free anti virus software, ones which don't have trials that expire (which seems to be the case even with Avast) and are fully featured as far as scanning for and preventing viruses, trojans, spyware and any other kind of malware?

I've heard of a new one called Panda Cloud which apparently uses cloud computing.

The three top contenders are:

• AVG


• Avast


• Avira

I didn't think that the Avast free version expired?

My view is this: Run more than one. People make mistakes, it's best to get a second opinion. AVG and Avast seem to share the top reviews, but I wouldn't look down on Avira either.

Thanks, gonna try them out. I'm on Windows mostly just when gaming, but occasionally stay for some web stuff as well so it's good to have some protection. For the rest I use Ubuntu.

Tom wrote:


I didn't think that the Avast free version expired?


It started displaying a red pop out saying something about trial ending, but I didn't pay much attention to what exactly it wants though. Might look tonight.

memenode wrote:
What do you think is the best free anti virus software, ones which don't have trials that expire (which seems to be the case even with Avast) and are fully featured as far as scanning for and preventing viruses, trojans, spyware and any other kind of malware?

I've heard of a new one called Panda Cloud which apparently uses cloud computing.

Prevention is better than cure. Before running any anti-virus software, it is important to know what causes viruses to execute on your machine. For example, a pen drive that might have been used on public computers is likely to be infected, so disabling autoplay on your machine will stop the virus from executing.

Although anti-virus software packages rely on heuristics and updated virus definitions to get rid of viruses, the bad guys still lead in the competition.

naweed wrote:

Prevention is better than cure. Before running any anti-virus software, it is important to know what causes viruses to execute on your machine. For example, a pen drive that might have been used on public computers is likely to be infected, so disabling autoplay on your machine will stop the virus from executing.

Good tip. This also reminds me of what some people say about security being more dependent on the person using the computer than the operating system or all the security software used.

naweed wrote:

Although anti-virus software packages rely on heuristics and updated virus definitions to get rid of viruses, the bad guys still lead in the competition.

I never really considered that, but come to think of it that does make sense. On the other hand though how common is it that people get infected even if they use good anti-virus software?

memenode wrote:

I never really considered that, but come to think of it that does make sense. On the other hand though how common is it that people get infected even if they use good anti-virus software?

I have noticed people who have anti-virus software installed sometimes complain about new viruses. I believe this happens as a result of their complacency and/or delayed definition updates.

Even after having anti-virus programs running, users should be aware of possible dangers.