Lightest/best free antivirus?

[mrcleats]

I always recommend Microsft Security Essentials (MSE) to anyone who asks me this question. I work in IT and I get asked quite a lot

I don't recommend MSE because it's necessarily "the best" in terms of virus detection - AVG, Avira, Clam and Avast (among others) are great products too and could claim this - but because it works quietly and effectively in the background without stealing all your resources, and keeps itself up to date very nicely, without user intervention, and is nice and easy to download and install.

Importantly, it doesn't keep trying to get you to upgrade to a pro version, nor install a toolbar every 5 minutes, it doesn't change your homepage, make you guess whether you need to upgrade it to a different engine, doesn't keep popping up asking for feedback etc. etc. i.e. it does not constantly act like a fecking virus.

I get family and friends PCs brought to me with problems - they'll have had AVG or whatever installed on them, but the engine is 2 years old and it's all stopped working. This is because the user has not got a clue what popups to say "no" to and when to say "yes" - and I can't blame them.

If you don't know what you're doing, MSE will just keep working.

If you do know what you're doing, MSE will just keep working too!

And it is light on CPU.

[codec_spurt]

I always recommend Microsft Security Essentials (MSE) to anyone who asks me this question. I work in IT and I get asked quite a lot


If you don't know what you're doing, MSE will just keep working.

If you do know what you're doing, MSE will just keep working too!

And it is light on CPU.

Erm, working in IT does not make you a security expert or authority on virus/malware prevention. So, please don't make that fallacious appeal there.

I'm being quite harsh now, don't take it personal, I'm not having a go at you, but your arguments.

No, MSE will NOT just keep working, if it has been disabled by a virus/malware.
It is one of the first things it does.

"If you do know what you are doing". Well, apart from this sentence not actually making sense in the English language, I see what you are getting at, and you are still WRONG. Especially when you qualify it with: MSE will just keep working.

Ok. No offense. I know what you meant and you were not willfully or maliciously spreading bullshit. I believe you meant well and you have a good heart, so please credit me with the same.

MSE is totally f****ing useless against a very large number of threats. A lot of Anti-Virus are. There is no Anti-Virus A is better than Anti-Virus B.

So I am not knocking MSE - it is a very good Anti-Virus, that plays a major part in a multi-layered security system.

I push no Anti-Virus. I endorse no one. I have nothing to sell.
I say - check out wilderssecurity.com if you want to know more. I have lots of free products and I have a few paid for products. When I build a machine or fix it sometimes I will put on MSE, because that is the right tool for the right job, at the right time, for the right price....



I'm not having a go at you. I have talked much more shit than you on this forum.

But, if you want a nice warm fuzzy feeling of security and impenetrability, then learn how to use a firewall with rules - then you won't need a/v and you will be protected against 0 day malwares. Comodo is the best free one, or so most people seem to say. There are others...


Oh and if you want to use a/v - go ahead - some av will conflict with your system and some will not. It really is a 'suck it and see' scenario...

I would say - get an A/V going - One that you can turn off properly when you make a bit of music and fire up your DAW of choice - Get a decent firewall up if you are connected to the net. And if you use a computer for making music - do not connect that to the net - disable it via either hardware or software means....


On some computers I run two or three anti-virus in real time.
When I said this at the Cockos forum, because I had a false positive (that's all it was) they jumped on me like a mob. It's ok, I survived ...
They said: oohh don't you know, you must never run more that one anti-virus at once, to which I replied: In the large, you are correct, but there are exceptions, especially when one is an expert in such matters and has done his/her research to pre-empt any conflicts that might arise... Of course, I might as well have shown a red rag to a bull - I was pounced on.
But let this not be about my bad experiences at the Cockos REAPER forum.

On the whole it is better not to run two or more A/V at the same time.
And me, running the comodo A/V at the same time as their firewall gives me compatibility. But I can run PrevX at the same time - it's free - does no harm - no system slowdown or conflicts - can be shut off in an instant.


I'm blahing on again like the big billy large potatoes. Don't listen to me.
But also, don't listen to people that tell you that, MSE is the answer to all your problems. Just switch it on like a light bulb, and like a condom for sex, you are covered. That is not right. And any one in the security field, hit me up - call me out. Tell me where I been going wrong, or if I give bad advice.
It won't be the first time. I learned. I've been learning for many years.
Again, if I am wrong, please correct me.

[Mikey Dikey]

I'm currently using default AV on my Windows PC. I like checking software before I install it. You may check this link https://bestantiviruspro.org/best-free-antivirus/. It has also many reviews on different apps. So you will be sure that you're installing good software

[robotmonkey]

That's some seriously old necro-thread.

[MMaarrkk]

Personally, after going through a few - Panda Dome

*edit - should have checked the date