What's the Best Anti-virus?

If you ever opt to buy Avira - do not contact them for support. I watched as they tried to scare/scam one of my users by showing harmless errors in the Windows event logs and then asked for $300 USD to fix that stuff. When the user balked at the price, it came down twice. When the user refused the final price, the support staff got rude.

I am confident that the user was talking to Avira staff since they processed a refund for the original purchase of Avira before starting the scam stuff.

The relatively minor problem that Firefox had was solved by uninstalling Avira.

Don't get me wrong: I understand how well the base app handles virus scans. It's the humans behind the app that I'm warning about.

(Since this thread is old, I want to renew the free AV search)

Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit

I’m looking for a totally free antivirus program that has no pop-ups or other ads. Currently, I use Avast free, but after a recent update it has gotten bloated and obtrusive with pop-ups. Antivirus reviews on various websites have different “top picks".

Just curious about what others are using with Win7. Interested in “free” only.

Panda Free can be so quiet i don't even know what it does without reviewing the logs.
You just have to disable "News" in the setup settings.

I use one of Avast Free, Panda Free, or others on different systems.

If you do want to try it
- Create a System Backup Image
- Use the Avast uninstall utility
- Install Panda Free

kick the tires, and see what you think.

Panda was one of my first AV :)

UsernameIssues said:

If you ever opt to buy Avira - do not contact them for support. I watched as they tried to scare/scam one of my users by showing harmless errors in the Windows event logs and then asked for $300 USD to fix that stuff. When the user balked at the price, it came down twice. When the user refused the final price, the support staff got rude.

This sound much more like the classic Indian tech support scam with "Windows Support Team" , etc., as opposed to legitimate Avira staff.....

YOu are positive your user dialed and was speaking with legit Avira support staff?

mdd1963 said:

UsernameIssues said:

If you ever opt to buy Avira - do not contact them for support. I watched as they tried to scare/scam one of my users by showing harmless errors in the Windows event logs and then asked for $300 USD to fix that stuff. When the user balked at the price, it came down twice. When the user refused the final price, the support staff got rude.

This sound much more like the classic Indian tech support scam with "Windows Support Team" , etc., as opposed to legitimate Avira staff.....

YOu are positive your user dialed and was speaking with legit Avira support staff?

The person that remotely controlled the computer was also able to process a full refund. When that refund came thru a few days later, we were confident that it was indeed Avira's support staff that pulled this scam.

The user asked for the refund first. Since it was a recent purchase, Avira's support staff did that without any questions asked. While Avira's support staff was waiting for the transaction to complete on their end, they chatted with the user. The user volunteered the reason for seeking the refund. The user told Avira's support staff hours had been wasted attempting to get part of Avira's software to work correctly. [The user had been using the paid version of Avira's software for years and knew what it should have been doing. The user tried for several day - hours at a time - to fix the issue before contacting me. I suggested getting a refund.]

After Avira's support staff said that the refund had been processed on their end, they offered to remote into the computer and get the issue with Avira's software solved. After messing with it for only a few minutes, they claimed that the computer's OS was too damaged for Avira's software to work correctly. As proof of this lie, they showed various harmless errors in the Windows event logs.

Once Avira's support staff realized that I was a part of the conversation, they asked if I was a computer support professional. When the user told them no - that I was just a friend - Avira's support staff claimed that the user's name would be added to a list and that Avira's would no longer offer support to this user - even if the user purchased Avira's software in the future. [Like that is ever going to happen.]



I realize that we might have gotten in touch with some rouge sub-contractor. I understand how this support stuff works. But once that purchase price refund came thru - I felt that I could safely/confidently retell this story knowing that the person pulling the scam had a legit connection to Avira.