Which is the Best Free Anti Virus for Win 7

[Annastasia]

AVG breaks Homegroups in case you guys were wondering. I have another name for AVG = Sabotage and Norton isn't far behind. The fact of the matter is that I've seen just about every Anti Virus cause problems with Windows 7. Anyone who reads this forum can see this is true. The situation should improve in the months to come.

I noticed today after running AVG that most of the links I tried to open from the Lenovo/MSN homepage (I thought I had reset my hoepage to Dogpile, but it's gone now, with the L/MSN page back in its place), keeps giving me scripting error msgs. Is that what you mean about AVG "breaking homepages"? Will uninstalling AVG, and then searching for whatever AVG components the inslaller missed (there is usually a missed file still in a DL folder after an uninstall, that I have to manually delete); will that get rid of the problem?

 

[Annastasia]

Try MSE and Avast side by side to find the one you like best. ( will work side by side ) I have tested both and would say either or will do the job. GL

Do you set a restore point before having both on your PC? There is a warning in the MSE installation video that specifically warns to delete every other A/V on your system before DLing MSE. I took this to imply some kind of incompatibility between MSE and any other A/V that could hurt your PC. Have experienced W7 users found this to be the case?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Ann:

It's generally true that you want only 1 real time virus scanner on a PC. They tend to interfere with each other.

Microsoft Security Essentials is quite well regarded here and is about as easy to set up as an application can be.

I would uninstall one before trying another.

Malware Bytes seems to get along with other applications and can co-exist with them.

 

[TheIgster]

Avast 5 Beta. Excellent freeware anti virus with great GUI and you won't even notice it is running it is so light.

 

[hackerman1]

Try MSE and Avast side by side to find the one you like best. ( will work side by side ) I have tested both and would say either or will do the job. GL

Do you set a restore point before having both on your PC? There is a warning in the MSE installation video that specifically warns to delete every other A/V on your system before DLing MSE. I took this to imply some kind of incompatibility between MSE and any other A/V that could hurt your PC. Have experienced W7 users found this to be the case?

there was a note on the support-pages saying that some other A/V´s should not be used together with MSE, when i wanted to install MSE-beta.
but since MSE during the installation didn´t complain when i already had Avira running, i just installed MSE without disabling Avira, and they work very well together.

take a look at my security-setup ↓↓

 

[Juxhin]

Eset gave me RAM problems but i have used eset with XP and never gave me a problem Microsoft Security Essential works just fine but i dont really rely on it. Im thinking to install AVG Internet security but i have heard that slows down the system so i thought to install Symantec Endpoint Protection which pretends to support Windows 7 but when i testes in laptop HP pavilion Pv6 windows 7 blocked a driver of symantec as compatible , and about AVAS i think it has a poor detection rate so i cant decide wich antivirus is really the best to keep.

 

[manhunter2826]

and about AVAS i think it has a poor detection rate so i cant decide wich antivirus is really the best to keep.

After nearly five years - trouble-free - usage, I must disagree; and it gets better with each update IMO

 

[Annastasia]

AVG breaks Homegroups in case you guys were wondering. I have another name for AVG = Sabotage and Norton isn't far behind. The fact of the matter is that I've seen just about every Anti Virus cause problems with Windows 7. Anyone who reads this forum can see this is true. The situation should improve in the months to come.

I noticed today after running AVG that most of the links I tried to open from the Lenovo/MSN homepage (I thought I had reset my hoepage to Dogpile, but it's gone now, with the L/MSN page back in its place), keeps giving me scripting error msgs. Is that what you mean about AVG "breaking homepages"? Will uninstalling AVG, and then searching for whatever AVG components the inslaller missed (there is usually a missed file still in a DL folder after an uninstall, that I have to manually delete); will that get rid of the problem?

Went ahead and deleted AVG, and, yes, it does seem to have fixed the scripting errors on my homepage links.

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Avira AntiVir Personal.

'Nuff said.

Gives you the best protection amongst free AVs out there right now.

False alarm issue(s) way overblown.

 

[tbernstein]

My computer magazine (PCPRO - UK) had its current AV evaluation in the edition out this week. They looked at effectiveness and system demands.
AVG came out best overall, but wasn't actually as good as many at actually detecting the nasties. It's main good point was a very low system overhead, with performance that was only a smidge worse than the top 12 in their test. Avira did very well, but the nag screens stealing focus were considered a problem. Avast was well up in the rankings in most of the measures. But not in the top 5 for anything. In effect, not as slick as some, not as effective as some, not as light on resources as some. As far as I can work out from the article (The magazine has lots of online content, this might be there when the March edition i.e. the one that comes out in January, goes online). Avast did very well overall. Microsoft's offering seemed to come in around the same level, but had slightly higher system overhead and lacked web page protection. Clamwin didn't seem to detect anything much.

 

[manhunter2826]

Clamwin didn't seem to detect anything much.

Lol, it's a very light-weight install, but does it actually do anything