Lightest/best free antivirus?

[t3toooo]

Which of the suggested free AV solutions for Win7 does not pester you with ridicolous amounts of ads and notifications? Sure there must be some compensation for free tools, I am ok with that. But e.g. Avira Antivir got so bad with the latest releases that I start considering it pesterware, as it annoys me with sheer endless commercial notifications. That is why I want to ditch Avira Antivir. Any suggestions?

microsoft security essentials is the lightest,i'm using it on my daw computer without any problems.

[kpsychedelic]

Not trying to be a dick... but the best antivirus, totally free is your brain.
I ran windows without protection for years and nothing happened (of course anybody can say "How can you know you had no virii since you did not have a virii detector to start with" to which the answer is simply "I would have felt it").
If you know what you're doing, from my point of view an Antivirus is just a placebo.
Maybe a firewall like C(K)omodo, if you want some sense of security but that's about it.

True story.

Now, on the other hand I've seen people running antivirii on their PCs and having if infested with Alien invasion, so that clearly means they rarely have a clue of what they're doing (what browser are they using, what apps are they installing, what toolbars, what files from where and so on).

Closing, Imma say (not being aware of the relevance or quality of the site nowadays), Gizmo's Freeware was one of my fav resources back in the time for freeware recommendations, with well posted reviews. I'm sure they must be carrying some kind of antivirus software recommendation page nowadays.

[horsma]

Microsoft Security Essentials works ok here.

[t3toooo]

Not trying to be a dick... but the best antivirus, totally free is your brain.
I ran windows without protection for years and nothing happened

it's ironic but windows downloads virus definitions as an update,
windows defender is build in on win7 and the security essentials are again replaced with defender on windows 8.
so i guess defender/essentials are just a part of the os.

[kpsychedelic]

Not trying to be a dick... but the best antivirus, totally free is your brain.
I ran windows without protection for years and nothing happened

it's ironic but windows downloads virus definitions as an update,
windows defender is build in on win7 and the security essentials are again replaced with defender on windows 8.
so i guess defender/essentials are just a part of the os.

I meant more like the old days of XP and then a bit of Vista.
On Windows7, well, I always disable everything it tries to monitor via the Control Panel, so I don't know if the built-in protection is in place, but if it is, then good point

[codec_spurt]

Not trying to be a dick... but the best antivirus, totally free is your brain.
I ran windows without protection for years and nothing happened (of course anybody can say "How can you know you had no virii since you did not have a virii detector to start with" to which the answer is simply "I would have felt it").
If you know what you're doing, from my point of view an Antivirus is just a placebo.
Maybe a firewall like C(K)omodo, if you want some sense of security but that's about it.

You don't come across as a dick.
Just a true 'use case'. This stuff is gold. Big companies pay good money for it.
Here we get it free

It is quite possible to be sensible and not visit any dodgy sites, then you will not get infected. Anti-Virus is fear-mongering is what I am trying to say.
And in your roundabout way, you have confirmed that.


Check this though:



This would never happen to me, because I have locked down my system so much, I can not use it.

It is a major pain in the arse. To be honest, once you have it set it up, most things are ok. But still....


Ransomware is something you do not want to come across. Even if you pay, it will still not free your files. You are f****ed for good.


This is why I have a machine not connected to the net.
I run all kinds of stuff on it.

No anti-virus.
Sandboxing - yes.

[standalone]

Is this a thread for helping people or just for spreading one's own paranoias?

Just asking.

[braj]

Is this a thread for helping people or just for spreading one's own paranoias?

Just asking.

It helped me, I switched to Avast, and happy and paranoia-free

[standalone]

Is this a thread for helping people or just for spreading one's own paranoias?

Just asking.

It helped me, I switched to Avast, and happy and paranoia-free

Yes, that was the first one or two pages.

[codec_spurt]

Is this a thread for helping people or just for spreading one's own paranoias?

Just asking.

Err. I would have thought that pretty obvious:
"just for spreading one's own paranoias?".

The fact you even need to ask.........


Just curious like, not my thread, no vested interest, couldn't really give a f***.

But what would you consider paranoia, standalone?

I really would like to hear a bit more of an argument from you.


That is, if you have one to give.

I have put my convictions and reputation on the line.
Can you do the same?

Or will we just hear no more from you?

Just curious, like.

[Scoox]

Guys, you must try Sandboxie. I am not going to say it's a replacement for antivirus software, because it's not, but all I can say is that since I use Sandboxie my AV hasn't dealt with a single infection. That's two years.

It's not as straightforward as antivirus and you need to configure a few things first but it's worth the initial effort. If you don't have Sandboxie, you are wasting a lot of time.

I have a studio computer and an Internet computer. The studio computer only runs Sandboxie, while the internet computer runs antivirus just for testing downloaded executables, and its just sitting there doing nothing most of the time.

[codec_spurt]

Guys, you must try Sandboxie. I am not going to say it's a replacement for antivirus software, because it's not, but all I can say is that since I use Sandboxie my AV hasn't dealt with a single infection. That's two years.

It's not as straightforward as antivirus and you need to configure a few things first but it's worth the initial effort. If you don't have Sandboxie, you are wasting a lot of time.

I have a studio computer and an Internet computer. The studio computer only runs Sandboxie, while the internet computer runs antivirus just for testing downloaded executables, and its just sitting there doing nothing most of the time.

I've been going on about Sandboxie for ages. I've told people it takes a little bit of learning. And all that learning can be got for free in high detail over at wilderssecurity.com.


It's free. You can get a paid version which I have...

It's what the cocky people use that don't have AV. Though there are those that still advise using AV..

There are even other sandboxing programs - but Sandboxie seems to be the most used. I learned about it at KVR. Thank you KVR. Some very knowledgeable users here ..


It will take a few weeks of studying to learn how to use effectively, but it is just like when you become computer literate - you had to spend that time didn't you to learn how a computer functions? Now you want to be secure. Well it will take the same amount of effort... Don't want to spend it? No probs... Don't complain....


It costs less than an AV and it is full lifetime licence for ALL computers you have....

[mcnoone]

Isn't really anti-virus app, but it is very useful for quickly identifying any baddies, and can eradicate them, if one is skilled enough in it's use.
http://www.kztechs.com/eng/download.html
Basically, click the first icon with the clock.
Any meanies will show up in red.
There are many other useful features.
Once learned, it can be a great resource.
edit: The 2nd dl button is the main app. The 1st one is the suite of many, but I don't use that yet.
This and Glary Utilities can really go a long way in helping keep the system clean.

[standalone]

Is this a thread for helping people or just for spreading one's own paranoias?

Just asking.

Err. I would have thought that pretty obvious:
"just for spreading one's own paranoias?".

The fact you even need to ask.........


Just curious like, not my thread, no vested interest, couldn't really give a f***.

But what would you consider paranoia, standalone?

I really would like to hear a bit more of an argument from you.


That is, if you have one to give.

I have put my convictions and reputation on the line.
Can you do the same?

Or will we just hear no more from you?

Just curious, like.

Oh sorry, I missed this one. Better late that never I guess.

What do I consider paranoia? This:

"This would never happen to me, because I have locked down my system so much, I can not use it.

It is a major pain in the arse. To be honest, once you have it set it up, most things are ok. But still...."

But probably you were just jocking around.

Reading the other thread I noticed that you are a HIPS lover like me. I recommend you the one I use, it's free and also a bidirectional firewall:

http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html

It's been tested here:

http://www.matousec.com/projects/proact ... esults.php

I like it because it's a lot lighter than the Comodo one.

[satYatunes]

I like it because it's a lot lighter than the Comodo one.

I am using Comodo currently, glad to see that it topped the results. Is the difference between CIS and PF in terms of CPU usage significant? I have a plan to reformat my machine, may go with PF if the difference is high.