my pc recently got a virus or something and I had to factory reset. Thing is, now I've lost my Norton anti-virus and I'll have to pay to get the latest version, and at the moment money is very very tight.
Does anyone know which is the best anti-virus that's free?

This thread lists some useful free apps for keeping your system free of pesky things:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24842

use AGV. Its free and very good. Use it in conjunction with adaware to keep the spyware down.

Would thoroughly recommend Nod32. It was the only program on a recent test that found 100% of viruses. AVG failed to find over 1300 from 3000.

www.nod32.com

Its free for 30 days and then costs something like about £25 for first year and £15 a year there after.

on a recent test ... AVG failed to find over 1300 from 3000



Interesting, Who conducted this test and is it available online? If so, can you provide a link to it please.

Originally posted by punk
Interesting, Who conducted this test and is it available online? If so, can you provide a link to it please.

Try these two links for starters.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/tests.xml?200502

http://www.nod32.com/news/vbreprints.pdf

But both of those pages show that AVG Antivirus detects 100% of viruses that are out in the wild. Infact if you follow the link back to http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/index.xml and click on any of the major platforms (windows XP, windows 2000, windows 2003, etc) AVG Antivirus gets awarded 100% for them all.

Ok sure, for one specific test result (windows server 2003) it missed some polymorphic viruses (virii?) but it was still awarded the 100% award, meaning none of the viruses it missed are "real world virus incidents".

So whilst your post above might be factually correct it is still scaremongering to a degree. In real world tests (on the very sites you provided) AVG antivirus does as well (Ie: wins the same 100% awards) as Nod32 does. Except AVG is free (for personal use).

Originally posted by punk
But both of those pages show that AVG Antivirus detects 100% of viruses that are out in the wild. Infact if you follow the link back to http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/index.xml and click on any of the major platforms (windows XP, windows 2000, windows 2003, etc) AVG Antivirus gets awarded 100% for them all.

Ok sure, for one specific test result (windows server 2003) it missed some polymorphic viruses (virii?) but it was still awarded the 100% award, meaning none of the viruses it missed are "real world virus incidents".

So whilst your post above might be factually correct it is still scaremongering to a degree. In real world tests (on the very sites you provided) AVG antivirus does as well (Ie: wins the same 100% awards) as Nod32 does. Except AVG is free (for personal use).

I have a follow up link from it at home which I couldnt find here. I will post you the link when I get home. Still recommend Nod though. It found a virus on my machine that Norton didn't. Norton now removed.

Hi I Use Norton Anti Virus But It Runs Out Next Month Is There Any Good Free Antivirus Thanks

Use AVG free backed up with a weekly scan of 'malware bytes' which is also free. I use it on business servers and it does a better job than symantec (norton)

Is It True Norton Slows Down The Computer

Is It True Norton Slows Down The Computer

Indeed although people say AVG does too (I've not noticed), if you've got a recentish computer it shouldn't be an issue. I've heard the latest norton isn't so bloated but then again why pay money for something that'll do a worse job than the freebies.

Thanks For The Advice

I ditched AVG, as it increased the boot time on my computer by a significant amount. I now use Avast which is also free, but runs quicker.

Ditch Norton and McAfee as both are naff!
Go with Eset Antivirus or Smart Suite - both are fantastic products :)

AVG 8: Crap & bloated but free

Kaspersky IS 2009: Very good but slow scanning, firewall lets it down.

Eset NOD32: Not bad but doesn't catch the hardest of malware.

Trend Internet Security 2009: Excellent, nice layout, very good detection rates even though the 2008 version was crap.

Norton Internet Security 2009: Excellent, uses hardly any memory now, extremely fast, excellent detection on both Virus & Ad/Spyware but most expensive. The fastest AV on the market.

F-Secure: Complete and utter garbage. Bloated, slow, crap detection rates.

Drive Sentry: A new kind of antivirus using HIPS technology. Free unless you want automatic updates for which it's £10 for life membership.

BitDefender: Nothing but problematic with updates, bloated but has good detection rates.

Out of all of the above, the latest version of Norton Antivirus/Internet Security 2009 which has been totally reprogrammed & Drive Sentry are the best choices (and after testing all of the above plus more, they're the only ones that caught & cleaned the latest malware threats like AV09 etc.)

If you want free software, Spyware Terminator is excellent too and used HIPS technology.

Is It True Norton Slows Down The Computer

Up until the latest 2009 versions, yes. They were terrible.

NAV 2009 is blisteringly fast and uses only 7mb as opposed to a minimum of 88mb combined like they used to.

my pc recently got a virus or something and I had to factory reset. Thing is, now I've lost my Norton anti-virus and I'll have to pay to get the latest version, and at the moment money is very very tight.
Does anyone know which is the best anti-virus that's free?

I would advise against NAV/NIS 2009, it missed some very important well known malware.. read this review

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200840/2182/Review-Norton-Internet-Security-2009

Try either

http://www.kaspersky.com/

or

http://www.eset.com/

If you want a freebie security suite, why not give this a whirl

http://www.comodo.com/

At the end of the day its a matter of opinion which you should use, read reviews first though :)

C

I would advise against NAV/NIS 2009, it missed some very important well known malware..

That review was written 4 months ago just as NAV/NIS2009 was released. They've since made numerous program updates, which have ironed any problems out.

As for Kaspersky, have you tried installing the rogue AV2008 using it? I have, and Kaspersky 2009 decided it was fine and made a rule up in its firewall to say it was safe and to allow all connections.. This was 2 weeks ago using the latest definitions and everything set to high.. Not too good really..
The trouble with that rogue AV is it changes itself all the time to fool AV software. The only way of making sure that doesn't get into your system, is to use sandboxie which is an excellent sandbox program, or use something that has HIPS (something like Spyware Terminator, Guard Sentry or Defense Wall). I believe this to be the future of antivirus.

I agree with your comment on Comodo though. It's a bit resource hungry but an excellent internet security suite, especially as it's free.

Of course you have the free ones like AVG and the like, but one of the best in my opinion is Kaspersky for the simple reason that it just sits in the background and does the job that is required of it, other anti-viruses like Norton tend to take over your computer in a way and slow it down too much, the free ones are even worse.

Hope this helps

Of course you have the free ones like AVG and the like, but one of the best in my opinion is Kaspersky for the simple reason that it just sits in the background and does the job that is required of it, other anti-viruses like Norton tend to take over your computer in a way and slow it down too much, the free ones are even worse.

Hope this helps

This is true of the old Nortons (2008 and before) but not the new 2009 versions. They're the fastest ones on the market now and use 70% less resources than Kaspersky 2009 does. NIS/NAV2009 doesn't slow anything down, even when it's running a full scan, you just can't tell it's running. It updates in seconds, never pops up to ask you anything and apart from the tiny Norton logo in the taskbar, you don't even know it's there.

I use them all and test each one every 2-3 weeks on a very badly infected PC (and I mean thousands of infected malware files, on purpose obviously). AVG used to be good software but it's becoming a memory hog and slows things down (this is the paid for version too).

I wasn't impressed with the firewall in Kaspersky IS2009. It allowed many bad things through by default.

The best free AV is Comodo Internet Security Suite, just as long as you're savvy to what should be running on your system due to all the questions it asks you at first.

This may be true as I have not used NIS/NAV 2009.

Also I've not seen Comodo, I'll have to have a look for it.