Antivirus software is used to detect, prevent and remove malware (short for malicious software), including computer virus, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, and all other types of malware. Regardless of which one of these you decide to choose, It’s important to note that in this age of the internet it becomes a must to have a program like these for your protection.
Antivirus software will typically use two different methods to accomplish this:
- • Examining and compare files to a known malware database
- • Identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might indicate that the file is infected
Unfortunately these techniques are not always successful, and results vary from different antivirus software developers. To ensure that you get the best free antivirus possible, below you will see two graphs containing three popular antivirus programs; one graph shows information about the detection rates; second one shows the proactive detection rates.
Looking at the blue graph above it’s plain to see that Avira AntiVir has a 1.5% lead over Avast and a 6.7% lead over AVG when comparing the success rate of the detection of malware. Also the yellow graph slows that Avira AntiVir has a 27% lead over Avast and a 24% lead over AVG when comparing proactive detection rate.
Don’t get me wrong now. I’m not attempting to show Avira AntiVir as an ultimate choice in the protection of malware (AVC Reports showed that, I just presented the information to you). I wanted to show you the success rates in the programs then allow you to make the decision. Below I have listed links to the download locations and also a features list for each program.
avast! Home Edition
PCMAG: “avast!’s slick, simple interface conceals a powerful antivirus solution with a wide range of features. While it can’t schedule regular scans, its real-time scanning watches files arriving through email, IM, newsgroups, and more. And it can notify you in several ways if it does detect a virus.”
CyberTopCops: “Avast is an innovative anti-virus application with a couple of great features that’s being missed in some of the best security applications available today. Its real-time protection is the best we have seen amongst the products reviewed. In today’s world of cyber crime, prevention is better than curing.”
- Network Shield
- Virus Chest
- Simple User Interface
- P2P and IM Shields
- Web Shield
- Resident protection
- Anti-spyware
- Strong self-protection
- Anti-rootkit
- Automatic updates
Avast Developer: “Antivirus software with spyware blocker and comprehensive web surfing and identity theft protection. Specially recommended if you surf high-risk websites or if you store personal or sensitive data on your computer.”
Avira AntiVir Personal
Snapfiles: “Avira AntiVir Personal offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. It detects and removes more than 50,000 viruses and an Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating. The built in resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically, for example when downloading files from the internet.”
Avira User: “Overall, Avira AntiVir Personal is the best anti-virus software I have ever used. I have not experienced any problems with it and numerous times it has detected and quarantined malware it has found on my computer. It also uses less RAM when scanning is done than the scanners of other anti-virus programs. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants a great, and yet free, anti-virus program.”
- AntiVirus Protection
- AntiDialer Protection
- Faster Scanning
- New User Interface
- AntiPhishing
- AntiSpyware
- QuickRemoval
- NetbookSupport
- AntiRootkit
- Help Guides
Avira AntiVir Developer: “Avira provides many of the world’s largest companies and institutions with world beating Anti-Virus and Malware detection software. Protection for your entire network, including desktop PCs, file servers, proxy servers, email servers and mobile end devices.”
AVG Anti-Virus
SpamLaws: “AVG has benefits such as protection against spyware and more advanced malware. It also offers automatic updates that keep you safe against the latest security threats. Whether you choose the free or paid edition, both AVG products are solid options to keep your system healthy and running without interruption. If you find AVG Free Edition to be of quality, upgrading to the paid version may not be a bad idea at all.”
NotebookReview: “AVG Anti-Virus Free proved itself in our tests and showed that it can keep up with popular paid anti-virus solutions such as Norton and McAfee. It detected all of the test anti-virus files as threats and provided extra measures of security online. AVG Anti-Virus Free barely impacted performance at all and used little memory. The program interface is clean and simple to use.”
- Antivirus
- Antispyware
- LinkScanner Active Surf-Shield
- Fast Scanner
- Password Protected Posts
- AVG Security Toolbar
- User Guides
- Award-Winning AntiVirus
AVG Developer: “AVG helps you stay safe while you shop, bank online watch videos, search or surf the web, download music, documents and pictures, and email or chat. Every document or file you download, every web page or link you click on, is scanned by AVG before you open it. Unlike other security products, we stop the threats before they reach your hard drive and become a problem. Safe internet surfing is now possible.”
Conclusion
Regardless of which one of these you decide to choose, It’s important to note that in this age of the internet it becomes a must to have a program like these for your protection.
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