"Best" free antivirus?

[tuanhuylink]

Is anyone aware of any credible test of free antivirus programs from not more than year ago?

 

[blobster21]

for all your needs : https://www.av-test.org/en/

 

[Melvis]

https://www.youtube.com/user/mrizos/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKGe7fZ_S788Jaspxg-_5Sg

Check out those two channels

I like Avast Free

 

[RCoon]

Before anyone cries foul, I'm actively monitoring this thread for spam.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Bitdefender Free is pretty much the best if you are gonna run a free one. Its the most accurate and lightweight.

 

[Duality92]

I love using Sophos home for all the computers at home, very non-intrusive IMO.

 

[Nuckles56]

I've been running Zone alarm free for many years now without issue

 

[rtwjunkie]

Bitdefender Free is pretty much the best if you are gonna run a free one. Its the most accurate and lightweight.

If all you want is just the AV portion, and want dummy-proof protection that is seriously light on resources, Mailman speaks truth. BitDefender Free.

From free to paid to full blown suites, this guy at PCmag is constantly uodating and retesting as now editions get released. I don't always agree with his assessments, but I cannot fault his test methods which are consistently consistent.

Here's his 2017 free roundup:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp

 

[dirtyferret]

I use bit defender as it's less annoying with ads then avast and avg ( I recall they are now the same company).

 

[PLAfiller]

I've learned a lot from previous TPU threads like this one. What I did is: on my router I changed DNS to OpenDNS Family Shield + Bitdefender Free + Malwarebytes Free ( to scan from time to time ) + Ublock on Mozilla. And if you have some brain and do not go into super mega turbo shady websites, you are pretty much on the safe side. *Note: changing the DNS, I am not a "networking" guy, but it was pretty easy on the stock firmware. On the DD-WRT, was a bit more complex, but nothing to cry about.

Edit 2: I recently purchased the family pack of Bitdefender Internet Security 2017 and I am just as happy as the free version, but with on line and ransom protection.

Edit 3: I run Ghostery as a browser plug in, to block or see who's tracking me for a while, but I have stopped using it now. It's not that it's bad, it's just I am not interested any more and it interferes with some websites and "breaks" them.

 

[RejZoR]

https://rejzor.wordpress.com/free-security-software/

So I won't have to list them all. If you use any of the listed under (Best) category, you can't really go wrong. Each has its pros and cons. You can assist yourself with AV-Comparatives and AV-Test reviews.
Also, what's most important is the real-world test results, but not as individual ones, but as a trend. If one AV consistently gets outstanding scores, it shows they are consistently operating at peak levels and not just getting lucky in one test.

 

[kn00tcn]

an interesting thing to note is some of the paid AVs have periodic sales with multi user licenses, i'm talking $20 for 3 computers for 12 months or $25 for 3 computers for 18 months, this example is kaspersky internet security (a few more features above the antivirus) at stores like best buy

 

[xorbe]

...

See, this is how this works. First a one-post wonder makes a thread like this, and then other very low post users come through and make suggestions. The really good ones start patting each other on the back. Thread should be locked probably. [H] has a similar thread, and it's a never ending magnet for dubious links.