Is Avast Free Anti Virus Any Good?

[woodbine]

A friend who is very experienced with computers can't understand why I would pay for an antivirus programme for my desktop pc. I use paid Avira Pro at the moment, which is up for renewal in 2 days. He uses free Avast anti virus, and recommends that I stop wasting my money and use the same as him. I need a second opinion.

So, my question is, is free Avast a good anti virus and will it give a similar level of protection as my paid Avira.

I appreciate your opinions.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Avast Free won't give the same amount of protection of most paid antivirus programs but, when used in conjunction with an anti-malware program , such as Malwarebytes Antimalware (MBAM), it will do a more than adequate job of protecting your computer (that's the same combination I'm using). The only problem with Avast, even the free version, is it has been adding too many bells and whistles that can impede computer performance. I'm considering switching to Panda Free.

 

[RolandJS]

Backing up LadyF's informative post, the protection difference between Avast AV free and Avast AV pay-for is in the fine-tuning configuration, a few more itty bitty tweaking things that the pay-for has over the free version. And, do a custom/advanced install so that you can unclick modules and services you do not need or want.

 

[woodbine]

Thanks for your advice. Taking this into account, and having done some more research, I think I'm going to go for Free Bitdefender. It seems to score highly in tests and comparisons and not slow computers too much. Also like the fact that It is uncomplicated and doesn't constantly nag to buy the paid product.

If there are any strong reasons not to go with free Bitdefender, please let me know. Thanks again to both for your help.