# Best security for free.



## Toothless (Jun 28, 2014)

Name kinda says it all. I'm looking around for the "best" antivirus/malware/spyware program that won't give me issues or use too much resources. I tried Avast! for a while but just kinda, bogged stuff down.


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## Vario (Jun 28, 2014)

Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
and
MalwareBytes https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/

I use these both of these, pretty good combo I think.


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## rtwjunkie (Jun 29, 2014)

Bitdefender free is very good and completely automated and in the background. Occasionally use malwarebytes as an additional scan. I use this combo on my HTPC.

that said, Avast shouldnt be bogging you down. Ive used it for ten years, from back in the 2gb RAM days, and its never slowed things down.


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## Solaris17 (Jun 29, 2014)

+1 for Avast but I also love bitdefender Iv used and currently have the paid for both. I have to say Avast is odd though I think bitdefender is way more heavy. I've used avast since like version 2 and back when it was blue not orange its always worked great.


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## digibucc (Jun 29, 2014)

mse/defender
mbam
sas


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## Toothless (Jun 29, 2014)

Has Microsoft Security Essentials improved much? I used it two years ago and it just didn't pick up things in my old rig.


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## Kursah (Jun 29, 2014)

Vario said:


> Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
> and
> MalwareBytes https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
> 
> I use these both of these, pretty good combo I think.



This combo works great in my experience.


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## Toothless (Jun 29, 2014)

So I just plopped in Bitdefender and so far so good. I'll give it a little time and run MSE on my laptop.


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## INSTG8R (Jun 29, 2014)

Vario said:


> Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
> and
> MalwareBytes https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
> 
> I use these both of these, pretty good combo I think.


Exactly what I use.


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## Vario (Jun 29, 2014)

I think MSE is on the level of other AV programs.
It is nice because it doesn't lag my computer up.


Lightbulbie said:


> Has Microsoft Security Essentials improved much? I used it two years ago and it just didn't pick up things in my old rig.


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## pigulici (Jun 29, 2014)

I use Avira+Comodo Firewall+some custom hosts file+some common sense+ghostery addon + no play for scripts=light+free...


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## AphexDreamer (Jun 29, 2014)

Another Avira user here.


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## Jaffakeik (Jun 29, 2014)

I was using avast aswell,but then i understand that I dont need antivirus program,have no issues for 4y now without any antivirus programs.


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## pigulici (Jun 29, 2014)

From what you know...it is not healthy to stay without av on pc/smartphone, like it is not healthy to walk shoeless on street, even if it is summer...


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## Capitan Harlock (Jun 29, 2014)

using avira too ,after having problems with avast and using for a lot avg i find avira to be much light and no problems so far xd.


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## RCoon (Jun 29, 2014)

When I read the thread title, I intended to walk in here and tell you the best security can be offered by a trusty twelve gauge.

Then I saw AV, and recommend all the free ones; Avira, Avast, AVG, whatever. Anything except Norton and McAffee are pretty reliable in fairness.


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## arskatb (Jul 2, 2014)

Avira has one of the best Real-world protection of free products.
I would recommend to use Avira with Malawarebyts and EMET. Perhaps the best combo u can have for free.


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## HalfAHertz (Jul 2, 2014)

I like avira but their ads were getting way too annoying. I'm using Avast now.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jul 2, 2014)

MSE user here


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## arskatb (Jul 2, 2014)

you can compare those AV-products here any of those isnt free, but I bet it will help you decide


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 2, 2014)

MSE and Malwarebytes are great. If you want a little extra you can try the new Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit.

If you feel like you have to pay for one then go with Bitdefender. Its tough as nails. Avast is a close second.


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## patrico (Jul 2, 2014)

I use comodo internet security works well for me


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## Hilux SSRG (Jul 2, 2014)

Running for the last three years AVG Free with Malwarebytes Anti-malware.  No issues.

MSE is a close second but I believe WinXP support has been pulled for it [if anyone is running XP still].


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## the54thvoid (Jul 2, 2014)

Days of AV being relevant are dwindling - they all work to a certain degree.  I use MSE and Malware Bytes like a ton of folk here.  Frankly the best AV or anti-exploit strategy is to not be naive on the web or with attachments.

TBH, last hack i had wasn't even from my side..... It was that Ebay slip up that happened.  Most hacks these days are from phishing and socially engineered exploits, using peoples lack of common sense against them. I might have been on a site that might have flashed up a "The Police have seized your info and you need to proceed to 'x' to pay a fine" message.  I used Task Manager to kill Firefox but i can see people panicking and clicking the dialogue box that it kindly opens for you.  In fact, I know folk at work that have done that, tee hee.  I shouldn't laugh at the less savvy but it is amusing when people come into work saying things like their company has 100 adverts when they boot up and all you can think of is, "how's your wrist?"

Net's not as dangerous as it used to be.  Unless you're just plain negligent.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 2, 2014)

the54thvoid said:


> Days of AV being relevant are dwindling - they all work to a certain degree.  I use MSE and Malware Bytes like a ton of folk here.  Frankly the best AV or anti-exploit strategy is to not be naive on the web or with attachments.
> 
> TBH, last hack i had wasn't even from my side..... It was that Ebay slip up that happened.  Most hacks these days are from phishing and socially engineered exploits, using peoples lack of common sense against them. I might have been on a site that might have flashed up a "The Police have seized your info and you need to proceed to 'x' to pay a fine" message.  I used Task Manager to kill Firefox but i can see people panicking and clicking the dialogue box that it kindly opens for you.  In fact, I know folk at work that have done that, tee hee.  I shouldn't laugh at the less savvy but it is amusing when people come into work saying things like their company has 100 adverts when they boot up and all you can think of is, "how's your wrist?"
> 
> Net's not as dangerous as it used to be.  Unless you're just plain negligent.


Java hit and runs are still very nasty and they do not reply on you clicking anything. You just have to get the wrong ad on a legit site and BOOM you are infected.


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## claylomax (Jul 2, 2014)

I've been using Avira for some time now; AVG has become bloatware.


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## Solaris17 (Jul 2, 2014)

Nice! we made it to page 2 I've been waiting for TPUs 2014 AV security audit.


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## icmk (Jul 6, 2014)

Lightbulbie said:


> Name kinda says it all. I'm looking around for the "best" antivirus/malware/spyware program that won't give me issues or use too much resources. I tried Avast! for a while but just kinda, bogged stuff down.


 
MSE works fine and I use it on a couple of my machines but it only has a signature based scanner and a behaviour blocking module. Top of the line antimalware nowadays usually include some form of cloud-based/crowd-sourced black/white list that can respond faster to threats.

I been using Panda Cloud AV Free for a few years on my main desktop without too many problems (I don't know of an AV that doesn't cause a problem or 2 if you use it long and hard enough, it's a nature of the beast),  a recent upgrade seems to have caused the occasional slowdown but things are improving and definitely worth a look.

Note that most malwares are pretty tame if they cannot run with ADMIN privileges and web-borne drive-bys don't work without scripting.


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## remixedcat (Jul 6, 2014)

Common Sense 2014 Enterprise edition


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## RealNeil (Jul 6, 2014)

I used AVAST for years. MSE for a while, and now it's _WebRoot SecureAnywhere_. While it's not technically free, I bought 6 licences on a Newegg sale for about $20.00

You can get three licences at WalMart for $20.00 all the time.

This works really well and uses very little system resources.
Online JAVA crap doesn't stand a chance while using this.


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## Guitar (Jul 6, 2014)

Vario said:


> Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
> and
> MalwareBytes https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
> 
> I use these both of these, pretty good combo I think.


I install these on every PC I work on. MWB Pro is the best bang for you buck software available IMO so I put it on for every non-techie user and everybody at work.


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## RealNeil (Jul 18, 2014)

dheerajgulia said:


> McAfee antivirus is best for computer, tab and laptops.  Many security packs are available on internet. You can download in free.



McAfee went down the tubes a long time ago. Now that Intel owns them, I thought about trying them out again, but I still don't trust the name enough to risk any of my PCs.


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## Toothless (Jul 18, 2014)

dheerajgulia said:


> McAfee antivirus is best for computer, tab and laptops.  Many security packs are available on internet. You can download in free.


Actually. It's one of the worst that I've seen. Big, slow, and bulky. You can never remove the dumb thing easily and most uneducated people pay too much for something they know nothing of.


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## Warrgarbl (Jul 18, 2014)

I like Avast!. The detection rates are on par with the other top free solutions, system impact is low and - most importantly - you can switch off any and all notifications except for the usual screen when something was found. I like unintrusive software and Avast! is really good at that.


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## Toothless (Jul 18, 2014)

So I just put BitDefender on my laptop and it found something that Avast! didn't. A "bit" surprised..


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## RealNeil (Jul 18, 2014)

Warrgarbl said:


> I like unintrusive software and Avast! is really good at that.



Agreed, and WebRoot SecureAnywhere is even better. (the best that I've ever used) WalMart has it for three computers at a cost of $19.99 and that's a steal.


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## remixedcat (Jul 19, 2014)

I got 40 copies of WSA so if anyone wants a copy I'll be holding a contest soon !!!


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## silkstone (Jul 19, 2014)

Why not just get Kaspersky AV? It's only $5 and works better than every free one I've seen.


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## MyTechAddiction (Jul 19, 2014)

Since the browser is the main entry point  i now  use Google Chrome. And EMET


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## HammerON (Jul 19, 2014)

MSE/Defender.


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## RealNeil (Jul 19, 2014)

remixedcat said:


> I got 40 copies of WSA so if anyone wants a copy I'll be holding a contest soon !!!



once they try it out for a year, they'll be hooked.


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## MakeDeluxe (Jul 19, 2014)

HalfAHertz said:


> I like avira but their ads were getting way too annoying. I'm using Avast now.



They stopped using the ads quite a long time ago


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## hat (Jul 20, 2014)

I'm giving this Panda Cloud a try. It claims to be very light on resources, because most of the processing is done off in the Panda Cloud. Evidently, the cloud runs a realtime AV protection and is constantly scanning your system. Of course you can use it to immediately start a scan of your own whenever you want, either a "Full Scan", "Critical Scan", or a custom scan. These scans however did appear to use my own resources and not the cloud's.

Has anyone else used Panda? Any thoughts on it?


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## hat (Jul 23, 2014)

Anyone got anything to say about Panda? So far I can't say anything about it other than so far it's been unobtrusive, quietly and constantly scans in the background (albeit very slowly), seems to do quick scans when I initiate one myself... I suppose the cloud idea is neat but I'm not sure even my computer would take a big enough hit from other AVs I would use to notice any difference anyway.


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## McSteel (Jul 23, 2014)

I have MSE installed with real-time protection off. It's there just for the sake of context-menu scans for when I'm not entirely convinced something's safe, and I can't be bothered to upload it to virustotal or jotti. Been meaning to try out the VT Hash check tool, but I suppose I'm just too lazy.

As for entry points, disabled autorun for all drives, have an autorun.inf *folder* with all permissions removed on all NTFS volumes (local disks and portable storage), use a hosts file from here, use firefox 28 with Java disabled (via quickjava extension), and adblock plus present.

Haven't had an infection in years.

I'm planning on building a small router (probably one of those Atom-based SoC mITX mobos in a mITX chassis with a pico-PSU) using pfSense or maybe IPFire if FreeBSD won't play ball with the newest hardware... The idea is to use host blocking, ClamAV realtime checking, rogue Java and ActiveX applet blocking and context-sensitive ad blocking at the internet entry-point, specialized for the task and centralized for any machine used in the house.

If and when I do this, I'll probably make a post about it on the forum, explaining as much as I can be bothered to.


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## hat (Jul 31, 2014)

A little more experience with Panda... 

Firstly, the typical false positives. Panta thought Battlefield 2 was a virus! (something about cdcheck.exe or somesuch during install...)

Panda cleaned my fiancee's computer successfully. She complained about "ads" all over the game site Pogo. At first I thought "well that's real ignorant" considering not only does Pogo effectively force you to disable adblock to use it, but we paid for their subscriber service with which ads weren't supposed to be present. I got mad too because she is an epileptic and a lot of ads tend to flash! I thought it was odd, though, because I wasn't getting ads there... and then she showed me what was happening. Strange popups, some of them featuring the typical "your computer is infected" nonsense... yeah it sure was. Panda succeeded where MSE failed here... although to be fair I never ran a scan with MSE (and I didn't bother looking to see when the last scan was), I just uninstalled MSE, installed Panda, did a full scan, and it found 11 objects... it cleaned them and this eliminated the "ads".

Again, I didn't bother scanning with MSE, or check to see when the last scan date was... I wanted to put Panda on her computer anyway because it's supposed to be ultra-light on resources. I say MSE failed because whatever it was however it got on there it snuck past MSE...


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