Best FREE Antivirus/Malware/Firewall Software (2011)

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Tarrnation

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I still think that Microsoft's Security Essentials is excellent as an antivirus & malware on day to day use since I rarely get anything horrible.

I use the default Windows 7 Firewall until someone can recommend better here though...
 
I love comodo antivirus. Its free and they let you use thier own DNS servers and provide excellent coverage. Although there are a lot of pop-ups asking you do you want to allow this and that depending on what programs you are using.
-BTY
 
While I still rock with Avast! on my personal computer, I'll install MSE on anyone else's PC I work on.

As for firewall, I say don't bother if you're already behind a router with basic firewall features (like all of them do). But if you really want a software firewall, I'd say try COMODO free.
 
I have been using Panda Cloud Antivirus on my laptop since it's fairly resource-light, and I haven't had any security issues. As a backup I run Malwarabytes and Spybot Search and Destroy, and they rarely find anything that Panda has missed. Panda also actively catches malware.

I also like Avast!, but it's too resource-intensive for my laptop.
 
I used to use commodo but recently it's been a pain to upgrade. Hence the reason I started this thread. Are you having any problems upgrading yours? I have 3 PCs in my home and 5 in my workplace all protected with commodo so upgrading issues are a major PITA for me.

As for the popups you speak of, I've always just turned off the Defense+ part of the program and I never had any problems with malware or viruses infecting my PCs since I started using it. However, I also started using script blocking addons for my browsers around the same time I started using commodo and I've always make sure to scan any downloads before opening/running them so that could also account for my PCs being virus/malware free with Defense+ turned off.

On my personal PC, I recently started using Advanced Systemcare (by IObit) which has helped to optimize and speed up my system tremendously (especially during gaming w/ GameBooster) but I am not sure how their malware/virus scanner pars up against commodo. What are your thoughts on this?
 
The best free AV products available are Comodo IS and Avast 6. Both have a great sandboxing feature which can instantly alert you to any unknown publishers software running on the system. Avast 6 has a very good Internet protection module and is very lightweight with resources when you do a custom installation (File Shield, Script Shield & Web Shield), while Comodo has built in Cloud scanning. Either way, both keep you protected and are near the top in the reviews. They are both for advanced users and neither affect performance. My personal choice is Avast 6.

Microsoft Security Essentials is another popular product, mainly due to it's ease of use and lack of advertising. The UI is very easy to use and understand. Detection rates are good but not great. It does not slow down your system or cause any performance issues.

Other well known free AV's include:
  • Aviria - Very high detection rates but also a lot of false positives and advertising that pops up
  • AVG - Popular as one of the first free AV's - Bloated software with average/above average detection. Can impact performance. Has been improving lately though.
Everything else really doesn't make any noise in the industry due to poor performance. I would suggest checking out languy99's AV reviews.

Keep in mind that these products all can block and remove individual malware files. However when it comes to truly 'cleaning up' your system (Files/folders/registry), there's no better solution than Malwarebytes. So having a good AV with MB installed to clean up is a good one-two punch.
 
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Thank you everyone for your very informative posts! I've updated the OP with a list of software mentioned in this thread. Keep em coming! :)
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Can anyone recommend a standalone firewall for Windows 7 x64?
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I find no reason not to use the built in one; it has blocking, and is inbound and outbound protection.

Nevertheless, if you want an app for it, I'd recommend Comodo Firewall. (which is free).
Zone Alarm used to be the best one, but it's grown quite massive in bloat over the last few years....Comodo's fairly lean while being user friendly.

OT my apps of choice - Avast 6 free, with MBAM and SAS for the leftover scraps.
 
I just use Avast and Threatfire. Threatfire hasn't been updated in awhile and it never really detected anything on my system. It's not resource heavy, so I just leave it installed. I used to use Spyshelter to detect keylogging, but it was way to annoying and way too easy to screw up your system if you click the wrong option.

I scan with MBAM every couple months or so. I use Emsisoft Emergency Kit also if I think something is up with my computer. I also have SuperAntispyware installed, but I don't think I've used it in years.
 
zero2dash said:
I find no reason not to use the built in one; it has blocking, and is inbound and outbound protection.

Nevertheless, if you want an app for it, I'd recommend Comodo Firewall. (which is free).
Zone Alarm used to be the best one, but it's grown quite massive in bloat over the last few years....Comodo's fairly lean while being user friendly.

OT my apps of choice - Avast 6 free, with MBAM and SAS for the leftover scraps.
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Greatly appreciated. I'll test out Comodo Firewall to see if I like it over the built-in one. I like being notified more often than what I'm getting now about apps that want network access.
 
Lately I've been looking at av-test.org. I like their review process and review structure more than AV comparatives. av-test.org has an easier to read site also. I like how the reviews are broken down into categories as well. Definitely will be focusing on using this now rather than the other guys.
 
bigdogchris said:
Lately I've been looking at av-test.org. I like their review process and review structure more than AV comparatives. av-test.org has an easier to read site also. I like how the reviews are broken down into categories as well. Definitely will be focusing on using this now rather than the other guys.
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Thanks for the tip, I will start checking them out.
The thing I've grown to dislike about av-comparatives is that they don't really test apps evenly across the board. The most recent test put AVG as one of the best (and above Avast). Then I noticed they were testing AVG Internet Security vs. Avast Free; not exactly an apples to apples comparison.

I liked when in the past they did tests with all of the free versions of AV apps against one another (I believe it was the proactive one from mid-2011 that was this way).
 
MSE is good enough for majority of PC users. add it with malwarebytes and I think you're pretty good.
 
bigdogchris said:
Lately I've been looking at av-test.org.
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zero2dash said:
Thanks for the tip, I will start checking them out.
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Was just doing so....I'm shocked. AVG Free 2012 actually tested better than Avast 6 free (in av-test's last 2 batches of tests, the most recent ones under XP and the slightly older ones under 7). :eek: Better detection rates, better cleaning, lower system overhead. I'm literally friggin' shocked man....I wrote off AVG a LONG time ago. Guess I'll check out 2012. :eek:
 
zero2dash said:
Was just doing so....I'm shocked. AVG Free 2012 actually tested better than Avast 6 free (in av-test's last 2 batches of tests, the most recent ones under XP and the slightly older ones under 7). :eek: Better detection rates, better cleaning, lower system overhead. I'm literally friggin' shocked man....I wrote off AVG a LONG time ago. Guess I'll check out 2012. :eek:
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It's still full of bloat. I tried it on a machine. AVG has three programs installed that you can't get rid of, plus a stupid tool bar. Some of those installed modules that you can't get rid of have pop ups prompting you to purchase the full version to scan your computer for optimization, or something like that. Is that worth a few % better protection?

Avast 6 install on my system is only using 13MB of private memory. That includes File, Web, Script, and P2P shield, and has blocked everything I've encountered so far. I do admit that the cleanup capability of Avast is lacking compared to others, but all lack compared to Malwarebytes, so MB is basically required no matter what AV you have.
 
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I used Avira for several years but recently switched to MSE. Only reason being Avira had a pop-up when updating and also gave me a small number of false positives. MSE is quick, easy, and pretty transparent.
 
Does Avira still require registry tricks to block their annoying nagware popup? Been using Avast 6 for the last year on 1 pc and MSE on the laptop, before that I was a dedicated Avira user.
 
I have been using Avast free for a year or so and have been happy with it. I used to tell everyone to use AVG until I got dicked with one of there updates that pushed 32 bit files on to my 64 bit install and dicked up my install.
 
I us Sandboxie with zero infections since I started using it. Infections would still get through now and then with any other AV software. No matter how good they may be, none of them are 100%. The virtual sandbox is the closest to 100% protection that I've come accross.
 
The latest avtest.org report came out. Most of the free programs got beat up by the top dogs like Kaspersky and Bitdefender.
 
if your looking to pay for one bitdefender, they also supply a nice little online scan tool that you could probably run 1x a week for free
 
Panda cloud free is light and has high detection rates, pair it with comodo firewall with HIPS (defense+ ) you have a light secure setup.
 
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