[Thaeris]

I realize a new AV thread just opened up, but I think this issue is of a... slightly different flavor. Or, if it's not, let it be merged!

In any sense, my AV just expired, and though I quite liked and was very satisfied with the performance of Trend Micro, the product expiration characteristics finally did it in for me. If a company wants me to pay for updates and service, I'm quite fine with that. If a company disables my software because the subscription is up, I'm not only not fine with that, I'm down-right offended! As such, I don't think I can support a product with such poor marketing/operational characteristics.

...Thus, I opted for free software, and as I'm not really in a position where I think I can afford to spend anything on... much of anything, I'll only really be interested in opinions of other free software products.

As such, I opted for Microsoft Security Essentials, and that was being debated along with Avira, which had been recommended to me prior by a good friend. However, I figured that MSE would have better support, etc., and thus opted for that.

However, because I'm still not tied to any particular software (I just needed something up and running now that TM was down for the count), I'd like to have some input on any and all free AV software, should you care to share. That said, my thanks in advance.

[z64555]

Avast and AVG have been good to me. I switched to Avast at the turn of the year after hearing a friend of mine getting a virus. It's possible his definitions weren't up to date, but honestly I can't tell without more knowledge of the circumstances.

At any rate, I seem to like the Avast console better than the AVG... to me, they have a better taste of marketing their premium offers than AVG with professional application of theme colors and subtle (vs. blaring) changes in font type and styles. 

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I prefer Avast! these days, in my experience it has a smaller footprint than AVG. Avira annoys me with the popup ads for their premium version, but I used it for a while and from a technical standpoint it's not bad, either.

You'll be fine with any of those three, or MSE, so my advice would be to try them all and see which interface you like best and just stick with it. Safe browsing habits are, as always, your first and best line of defense.

[Fury]

MSE. I hate Avast's interface and I think AVG at least used to have some sort of nag screen. MSE stays out of the way once installed.

[rev_posix]

MSE has been surprisingly good in my experience on both physical and virtual installs.

[G0atmaster]

Avast is the best!  It's the only Antivirus I've used that has a real-time shield good enough to catch everything I've run into.  It's a bit overzealous at times... any memory modifying program gets flagged (such as trainers, even some games), but if you only get programs from sources you trust, all you gotta do is tell it the program is safe.  It also has a "sandbox" mode so you can test untrustworthy programs in a virtualized, emulated environment.  Programs in the sandbox are not allowed to write anything, so if it is in fact a virus, no harm is done.

On my computer, running with all real-time shields active, the Avast service takes less than 6 megs of RAM.  Oddly enough, its memory profile gets bigger if I disable the shields.

[Jeff Vader]

I used MSE for a while, but then some nasty "security center" type of ransomware got on my system and MSE was all "yeah no problems on this machine, carry on". So after a thorough format/reinstall I switched back to Avast. The UI could be simpler and really, it'd be nice not to have the once-in-a-year registration necessity, but all in all, I like.

[Flipside]

I use Avira, it's pretty good, but I am thinking of changing because the latest updates seem to be more about adding a message system to inform you of 'deals' on the latest paid-up version. It still does a good job on the Virus front, and I don't mind a little wave now and then from free software, but when it starts jumping up and down going 'me! me! look at me!', it starts to get on my nerves.

[Thaeris]

Thus far, it appears that Avast is the program of choice, though none of the software I've suggested (MSE, Avira) appears to get a poor set of marks, either.

That said, MSE has not bothered me at all yet, and operation of the software is quite simple. I've never had problems - well, that's not quite true, but no problems in a long while - installing a second AV package to remove a precieved threat that the already-installed software couldn't handle. For that, I'm thinking that Avira or Avast should work nicely, should that time unfortunately come.

...For the record, AVG has quite a negative stigma in my mind due to browser-based virus-alert viruses that are made to look like AVG warnings. That just leaves a really sour taste in my mouth.

[LHN91]

MSE or Avast. I used to use AVG, and then it just got kinda..... idk, lackluster. Didn't seem to do a great job anymore, and used more RAM and CPU time than the other two.

[MP-Ryan]

MSE and Avast are basically equivalents.  Find what works for you.

[jr2]

MSE, AVG, Avast!, Avira... I like MSE.

FYI, no AV is bullet proof... there are always loopholes, you just hope that they get closed when found before they can be exploited.  Ask Apple about that... their phones always get jailbroken.  (which I'm quite happy with, it makes the iPhone so much better).

Certain AV softs are better than others and frequency of updates, and heuristics, though.  MSE fits my bill nicely.

If you want to pay for more security, buy a copy of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware in addition... it can co-exist with your AV, and it's $30 one-time fee (yes that's one-time, not annual) for home users.  (Be sure to set scheduled updates and scans, though... it doesn't take over and set those like most security software).  If you want, new installs of MBAM come with a free 15-day trial (MBAM is free, it only costs if you want real-time scanning of processes, blocking of sites known to spread malware, and scheduled auto-updates and scanning).