best free antivirus? [merged]

[Guest]

[LeoniAquila]

This is an interesting topic for me, as I am a student and have a low (or none) budget for software. The Comodo Firewall has become one of my absolute favourite pieces of software because it tells me what happens. I've learned a lot of computer security from that, but I still don't have the full picture (far from it actually).

So, I would like to ask for opinions - what kind of protection is important except for a firewall? Is it enough with an antivirus program like avast! or Comodo, that monitors what happens, or is it important with another kind of software too? All those adware/spyware programs? What about the new Comodo BOClean software, will it be a good match with the Comdo Antivirus 2.0 and the Firewall 2.4 - or do you expect the whole kit to work really good later, when CAVS has left the 2.0 beta, CFP has become 3.0 and Comodo BOClean is well integrated?

A lot of thoughts, I hope someone can give me some advice what to choose... except for the Firewall which I will never stop use

[Soyabeaner]

Really depends on your needs and internet habits.  BOClean is a complementary anti-malware (famous for anti-trojans) to your AV.  I, for one, am waiting for CFP 3 with HIPS so that I won't need any AV, AT, AS, and so on because I'm confident (but not completely) with my minimal setup (just CPF 2.4 now, and with only 2 monitors enabled) and my experience.  Here's a related thread: http://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,7504.0.html

Nonetheless, this topic is about discussing the best free anti-virus, so let's stick to it

[LeoniAquila]

Thanks for good info! I too use only the Firewall at this moment, but that delimits me to visit some very few and specific web sites, as well as not executing a totally unknown file. Interesting with CFP 3 (HIPS), surely a great improvement!

Can't believe that I lost the topic so completely, it's obvious now when I read the last post.

So on topic again - about the best antivirus software; I had an experience with avast! a week ago. A trojan infected my system, which avast! missed completely, it never reacted at all before or after infection. Luckily, Comodo Firewall saved me from a potential disaster, since the virus tried to access the internet through other programs. Of course, Comodo noticed this. I wasn't able to remove the virus, it was a DLL file i Windows\System32 which loaded on system start. So, to get rid of it and feel secure, I reinstalled Windows XP. Not a big deal. The most important from this story is that avast! didn't help at all this time, but Comodo Firewall did.

For the first time (but not the last I think):  (S)

As I have read in other threads, Comodo Antivirus aims to prevent rather than detect. I think it's the best way to go, even though the HIPS causes a lot of messages in the 2.0 Beta. For an interested (and a bit experienced) user it's great and may not disturb too much, but I can imagine my parents using Comodo Antivirus - with all those prompts - they could go crazy... so with the behaviour of HIPS I think CAVS isn't really for everyone, today. But I like the concept and if the safe database grows large, this is really the way to go.

Of the four free antivirus solutions, if I would recommend a friend any of them - it would by Avira Antivir (I have hardly tried AVG though). But I think quite soon, it will be CAVS! I just want to be even more confident that it really prevents, perhaps see a test (comparation with other software) in different situations. Like many people have written on this forum, Comodo really has potential!

[Soyabeaner]

As I have read in other threads, Comodo Antivirus aims to prevent rather than detect. I think it's the best way to go

It's both, but it's apparent that prevention is its strength presently.  Now that BOClean has joined the party, the detection side will be enhanced.

The most important from this story is that avast! didn't help at all this time, but Comodo Firewall did.

Depending on one's preference, it may not be an accurate or fair generalization to be discouraged because of one failure at removing a trojan.  If Avast couldn't remove it then surely the others couldn't have also, otherwise why would you restore to the last saviour: reformat.

Of the four free antivirus solutions, if I would recommend a friend any of them - it would by Avira Antivir (I have hardly tried AVG though).

Of these I have only used AVG in the past before it purchased Ewido.  This was when I was inexperienced in all these security software and concepts and thought "AVG is pretty good".  It certainly isn't bad, light, and fast and has saved me from viruses in the past.  Then as time progressed, I found fewer and fewer viruses and to a long period of time, none.  I later couldn't believe it, but I discovered it slowed boot-time by a fair bit.

[LeoniAquila]

Depending on one's preference, it may not be an accurate or fair generalization to be discouraged because of one failure at removing a trojan.  If Avast couldn't remove it then surely the others couldn't have also, otherwise why would you restore to the last saviour: reformat.
Of these I have only used AVG in the past before it purchased Ewido.  This was when I was inexperienced in all these security software and concepts and thought "AVG is pretty good".  It certainly isn't bad, light, and fast and has saved me from viruses in the past.  Then as time progressed, I found fewer and fewer viruses and to a long period of time, none.  I later couldn't believe it, but I discovered it slowed boot-time by a fair bit.

Well, I don't really judge avast just because of this. It would be not only OK, but probably really good, to install it again. Now I wait a while instead to see what happens with CAVS 2.0 and BOClean (really looking forward to it!). The only reason why I would rather recommend Avira Antivir to anyone, is that it seems to be a bit more sensitive (but I personally like avast better). Also, when I tried avast, during the first boots - explorer.exe didn't load in a while (maybe you know about that problem too). Fortunately explorer loaded as expected later.

As for the removal (which didn't work) of the virus I got, and my decision to format instead - maybe it would have been possible to use another antivirus program, maybe not. I format very often (think we have discussed this before, Soya!), at least once a month actually. Not because it is necessary, but after trying different programs (install/uninstall) I like to start over with a completely fresh system. It also gives new configuration possibilities every time without the risk of e.g. problems with software that didn't uninstall properly. At this very moment my system is only 20 hours old, perfectly clean, unless some spyware has come in already... protection only by CPF 2.4.

How do you mean with AVG; it's light but still "it slowed boot-time by a fair bit"? Light on the system while running?

[Soyabeaner]

How do you mean with AVG; it's light but still "it slowed boot-time by a fair bit"? Light on the system while running?

Exactly.  There are times when I forgot I even had it running.  The boot time was the only quirk.  But I suppose decent AV's are supposed to be that way; that's a given.

[Someone]

You did you verify it was really a trojan? Comodo will warn you of some actions, including "trojan behavior", even when they are part of legit programs.

[LeoniAquila]

You did you verify it was really a trojan? Comodo will warn you of some actions, including "trojan behavior", even when they are part of legit programs.

I can't tell you for 100% sure, but I did search on Google for the specific file name. The only relevant hit was at Prevx, and I recall that there was something about a trojan which could appear as a DLL file (with several different names). But I had no idea that Comodo Firewall should warn for a trojan - I thought that was only a feature of CAVS? Anyway, CPF didn't warn while I recieved the trojan, but it did detect its attempt to access internet. So I could at least block it.

[digitalzen]

I know the question was about free software, and this is a Comodo forum, but I really can't understand why anyone would risk their system by using anything other than the top-rated program -- whether free or not.  I use Eset's NOD32, which is only $29.95/year on a two-year subscription.  It's been number one on all the independent sites for a couple of years.

I'll use a free antivirus on dialup, but NEVER on broadband (unless it happens to also be top-rated as is, for example, Comodo Personal Firewall).

Just my two cents worth.  I use Comodo Personal Firewall and BOClean (manual backup) on my home system (broadband) along with the NOD32, and both Comodo Antivirus and Personal Firewall at work, where I have a dialup for checking email.  I love Comodo products, but will continue to go with the best rated programs I can find, whether or not Comodo's.  ESet is just ahead of the curve on a-v.

[LeoniAquila]

One can always discuss the need of this or that. Some people claim that they haven't had any virus for years, despite system setups without any AV protection at all. It's not difficult to understand, for me. But we all have different views on this. Soya has no antivirus at all (correct me if I'm wrong), and me, I only have BOClean right now but it varies a lot. Sometimes I try CAVS, sometimes Avira, sometimes Avast. But I never feel insecure enough to buy NOD32, Kaspersky or whatever, just because they score well in tests. Avira also scores very well, and I doubt that there is a big difference between the paid version and the free version.

/LA
ps. welcome to the forum

[Someone]

Avira Antivir Premium offer for 6 months:
http://www.avira.com/pcwk

[MorphOS REBOL]

Would it be possible that some nice global mod here put all this stuff over to the "Best Anti Virus" thread? I think this really is a double.

[LeoniAquila]

Would it be possible that some nice global mod here put all this stuff over to the "Best Anti Virus" thread? I think this really is a double.

A good point. Now, all the posts will be arranged by date/time. So the old posts of this thread will be put before the first post in the other thread. Maybe this thread shouldn't have been brought up in the first place, the last post before today was a long time ago (2007-04-13). I think we can just as well close/lock this thread and go on with the other one, instead of merging.

Any opinions?

/LA

[LeoniAquila]

I'll go ahead and close this thread as we currently use the Best Anti Virus thread for this discussion.

If anyone wish to open it again, send a PM to any moderator and we'll do so.

Thanks,
/LA

[Calypze]

I would like to know which free antivirus solution that security experts would recommend (it must work with Vista). I have CFP v3 as well as BOClean, WinPatrol and TeaTimer. These are my realtime protections, I've also a number of on-demand scanners. I've had problems with Avira AntiVir so I'll probably have to switch (time well served, buddy), so in a way I hope AntiVir is not the best free antivirus product. Please tell me which you would recommend (also in consideration to the other programs I mentioned).

Thank you very much.

[Tags:]