The biggest difference between free and AIS is that AIS includes a manual sandbox, so you can sandbox your browser. I don't know how good AIS's sandbox is, say compared to Sandboxie, but I bet avast! has a pretty good handle on it. If you visit dangerous sites or have dangerous habits online, then either go with AIS, or Free with Sandboxie. Virtualization should be your first line of defense and your AV should be somewhere after that.
lol Then I think AIS and its sandbox, is perfect for you!
I think some better questions might be:
1. Why are you dissatisfied with your current security setup?
2. Has your computer been infected or compromised in some way?
3. If yes, what were you doing at the time your machine became infected? Visiting some questionable site? Using a P2P or torrent site?
4. If no, what would $30 a year or $50 a year do to improve your security if your computer doesn't have any security issues?
Personally, I think a free product from a reputable company like Avast, AVG, etc, along with a healthy dose of common sense, and following the guidelines in the below Microsoft article, are all a person needs to stay safe on the internet. Think of it this way. If Avast or AVG put out an unreliable free product how would they go about convincing the public that their paid product was any better?
Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery
@ DBone, sandbox is present in free avast antivirus, too :) I use it sometimes .
And, I am agreeing with lee completely . The essence of security is in your activity, and it depends on your common sense a lot . If I download some torrents, I am under risk ... however secured I may be. If I pay for porn online using my credit card, I will not be astonished if my account is compromised . Alternatively, if the antivirus says that thumb.db is a virus, I am not with it .
No, that is an Auto-Sandbox in Free, not a Manual-Sandbox. You can not run your browser in the Auto-Sandbox, only in AIS's Manual-Sandbox. The Auto-Box, is used to confine suspicious software, but only avast! decides which software is suspicious, and then it either asks the user, or automatically runs the software in the sandbox, depending on the settings.
Quote