Free Avast

Tvov wrote:

camperforlife wrote:
I am about to dump the free version of Avast. I've used it for years but they have really added a lot of pop ups telling you that there is grime and other issues on your PC trying to sell upgraded services. I can get Norton for free from Comcast but I want a smaller footprint on my Ultrabook's small SS hard drive. Suggestions?

How many popups are you getting? I am only getting maybe one popup every week? I just "x" it out. I do get popups almost daily telling me that it has automatically updated itself.

These days, virtually every program I have on my comp pops up every so often touting a "better" version for more money. This certainly includes programs that I have paid for - if you are expecting no popups with a paid program, you might be disappointed.

I don't mind the update pop ups as they come up and go away. Now I get multiple pop ups daily selling their grime fighter service & now they are pushing an upgrade promo and a St. Patricks day sale. If these popped up and went away I wouldn't care but these hang on and you have to X them out. I assume that if I bought the upgrade the ads would go away.

I have been running Avast for years and get no pop up messages. I do pay the $30/yr which may be the difference, but well worth the spend. There are several "free" offerings available as people have mentioned, but you do get what you pay for. For those running Malwarebytes, it is a great tool and I use it when needed, but it is not Anti-Virus. I would suggest you run some A/V solution in addition to running Malwarebytes.

I use Malwarebytes. $25 one time cost for life of computer. Although I have used Norton and several others Malwarebytes (the free version I was trying at the time) was the only one that found the problem on my computer. I now use the pro version and haven't had any problems.

Fsecure has been one of the Best for Years an always get top ratings in independent tests, Been using their products since 1998. $40 will cover 3 computers for one year. Their software does not slow down you PC and no popups. They also have products that help protect online banking, Facebook privacy and even protection for your Phone.

camperforlife wrote:
I am about to dump the free version of Avast. I've used it for years but they have really added a lot of pop ups telling you that there is grime and other issues on your PC trying to sell upgraded services. I can get Norton for free from Comcast but I want a smaller footprint on my Ultrabook's small SS hard drive. Suggestions?

How many popups are you getting? I am only getting maybe one popup every week? I just "x" it out. I do get popups almost daily telling me that it has automatically updated itself.

These days, virtually every program I have on my comp pops up every so often touting a "better" version for more money. This certainly includes programs that I have paid for - if you are expecting no popups with a paid program, you might be disappointed.

Thanks for this info.

Most interesting site . . . seems ratings are constantly changing, it's hard to keep up.

I've always heard over the years, that Norton is a resource hog. This site's rating gives it high marks for performance. A few years ago, Microsoft Essentials was rated quite high . . . now it is at the bottom.

Can the Bitdefender antivirus program be easily turned off when you need to install other software?

To the poster recommending Malware Bytes "or" Kaspersky . . . do they not perform different functions . . . Kaspersky for virus protection and Malware Bytes for Malware protection/removal?

1492 wrote:
I'm running Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition on both my WIN 7/8 Netbook, and WIN 8 Ultrabook SSD. Bitdefender received the highest rating along with Kaspersky in WIN 8.1, while being lighter on resources than Windows Defender(8/8.1), formerly known as Microsoft Security Essentials. Also, perfect score for protection in WIN 7. It's the most un-intrusive Free AV software I've seen yet.

Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender(8/8.1) scored at the bottom of all AV software tested for protection in WIN XP / WIN 7 / WIN 8.1.

Purchase Malwarebytes or Kaspersky. You get what you pay for.

I'm running Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition on both my WIN 7/8 Netbook, and WIN 8 Ultrabook SSD. Bitdefender received the highest rating along with Kaspersky in WIN 8.1, while being lighter on resources than Windows Defender(8/8.1), formerly known as Microsoft Security Essentials. Also, perfect score for protection in WIN 7. It's the most un-intrusive Free AV software I've seen yet.

Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender(8/8.1) scored at the bottom of all AV software tested for protection in WIN XP / WIN 7 / WIN 8.1.

Microsoft now provides a free download called 'Microsoft Security Essentials'.
Clicky

Nortons is a resource hog!

I threw mine in the garbage where it belongs years ago.

I have tried many of them, paid for and free.

I've been using Kaspersky Internet Security for about 4 years now. Very happy with it and no issues. It can get in your face though when you try to run stuff, but then it is designed to protect your computer from all kinds of stuff.