Best Free Anti-Virus Software

If you're looking for the best possible protection, our top recommendation is Avira AntiVir Personal Edition. Although its detection rate is outstanding, there are some reservations. First, it lacks the email scanning feature that is only available in the paid version. This means that AntiVir won't warn you of infected emails before you open them. However, should you open an infected email, AntiVir will still spring into action, so the absence of an email scanner doesn't mean that you're not protected from email-based infections. Our second reservation is that AntiVir is quite an intrusive product - you will certainly be well aware of its presence. Finally, AntiVir Personal Edition Classic has a time-limited license. It is renewable, but be aware that you'll have to periodically go through the hoops. The latest version includes anti-rootkit, a faster scan rate, and is very light on resources.

If you're not prepared to accept the drawbacks to AntiVir, we would suggest either AVG Antivirus Free Edition or the Avast! scanner. Neither is quite as effective in detection as AntiVir, but both are more complete products, and less intrusive in use.

AVG Free has been continuously refined since it was initially released in 1991. The latest version makes further improvements to an already solid product. It now includes spyware, phishing, and email scam protection. While it has grown considerably in size and is a bit heavy on resources, its detection rate has improved. Regular automatic updates come quickly as before and, despite rumors, the new email scanning feature is not trial limited to 30 days. Free and pro versions are available; the only difference is that the free version has a few non-critical features disabled, and has no technical support other than a free user forum .

Equally effective is the free Avast! scanner, although its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast now has built-in anti-rootkit and anti-spyware capabilities. Avast also requires periodic re-registration, while AVG Free does not. However, Avast does not seem to suffer the signature file update problems that plague some AVG users.

AVG and Avast are excellent free products that will meet the needs of most users, but neither of these offer the best malware detection available. That title belongs to commercial products like NOD32, F Secure, the full versions of AntiVir, Kaspersky AV and others. Nevertheless, AVG and Avast are capable packages that offer those of us who have limited resources a real alternative to the major anti-virus application suites.

However, if you use AVG or Avast in addition to a 'sandbox' for surfing and an anti-spyware product, you can achieve a level of protection which approaches what is offered by the best commercial AV products.

Further improvement is possible if you run regular on-demand scans with an additional, separate, anti-virus product.

On-demand scans should be run regularly (at least weekly), to check for viruses and other malware that may have been missed by your main scanner.

A good option for on-demand scanning is the free version of the commercial AV product BitDefender. It's a first class product with excellent detection rates, but because the free version lacks an email scanner and a resident virus guard, it's only suitable for use as an on-demand scanner, not as your main AV program. There are some other limitations as well. It has an annoying habit of detecting malware products that have been quarantined by other security products, and you can't exclude these areas from subsequent scans. And it's only available with a one year non-renewable license.