My McAffee ran out and now i have to choose a new free AV program. I would like to know which one of these two, antivirus or AVG, you feel is better and why.

Are their any other ones that are free that you recommend because I can't afford to buy one?

Thanks.

Read this:
/t116539-Guide_Make_your_own_System_Security_Suite_for_Free.html

Then check the product reviews on the home page here at CastleCops.

Hi beckaroo,

There are three main contenders for free realtime AV coverage, namely AntiVir, Avast and AVG, and all can be said to be good in their own way. Other free AVs, such as BitDefender free and Clamwyn, lack the vital realtime component you require so I will not discuss them.

The question of which one is best is a somewhat contentious issue because personal preferrences play a big part. However, in terms of detection, I have no hesitation in saying that AntiVir is rather better than Avast and much better than AVG.

If you look at the recent (well regarded) AV Comparatives test results, and discount the DOS etc viruses (which in practice you are less likely to encounter) you note that Avast and AVG got 84.4% and 83.3% respectively. Thus the overall detection rate of Avast and AVG is more or less the same.

AntiVir, on the other hand, scored 93% which is clearly superior to the other two.

But when it comes to Trojans in particular, Avast gets 73.36% and AVG a poor 58.96% while AntiVir scored a very fine 93.68%. AVG is therefore rather inadequate in terms of Trojan protection, a fact that can have unfortunate consequences.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Thus, based on these results, there is a statistically significant superiority in detection rate of AntiVir over its free rivals in certain key areas such as trojans, backdoors and worms. Since these are the malware types likely to be of most concern to users, this difference will not be compensated by the fact Avast may be better in other areas, such as Adware/Spyware (which the free version of AntiVir does not cover - but which can be adequately dealt with by AS scanners) and that AVG may have a mail scanner (which you do not need in order to be adequately protected in any case).

In another sense though, you can say that all the scanners tested did well and can be said to have 'passed'; so the difference may not be that great. Most people would consider Avast and AntiVir to be rather similar in detection, therefore they concentrate on other features in making the decision which one to use. For example, AVG has a mail scanner which decides the issue for some people even though it is not essential!

I might add that other tests (although not so reliable) also conclude that AVG is the least able of the free AVs:-

http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=69&mnu=69

http://www.suggestafix.com/index.php?act=ST&f=16&t=16990&

That was a super answer with a lot of information which is what I needed. I am definitely getting antivirus now.

I did think antivirus was better because I let jotti scan a file and antivirus caught it but AVG didn't. I wanted more proof though and I got it from you. I also have ewido for trojans so I'm covered by that program, but I don't really know how much ewido can catch when it comes to spyware. The site says its for trojans and spyware. I know this is the antivirus forum so I should not be talking about that, sorry.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

You're welcome beckaroo.

AntiVir and ewido will compliment each other nicely and make a formidable combination; but if you wish to add some top quality free realtime Anti-Spyware protection to the mix, you need look no further than MS-AS:-

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial98.html

I copied and saved all those links. I appreciate your help very much.

I will look into MS-AS too.

Now I know why your name is TopperID - because you are TOPS!!

I find the Avast resident real-time scanner to be more effective than Antivir but the Antivir on-demand scanner can be said to have higher detection rates than Avast in most tests.

Antivir Guard does not scan archives whereas as Avast real-time scanner does, and does it very well. Even archived within an archive viruses are picked up real-time. Also, you can have it run in "silent" mode so you don't have to offer a response to virus threats - it will delete them automatically. However, Avast does not offer the silent mode option with on-demand scanning with the free version and will stop scanning until you respond. This is very annoying as I like to set my AVs to scan at night when I go to bed and wake up to a clean computer!! Antivir can be configured to automatically take action upon detection with its on-demand scanner but not, it would seem, with Antivir Guard.

Avast free edition also does not allow scheduling of scans whereas Antivir does.

In terms of configuring the two, I found Antivir simple and "obvious" to set-up. I cannot say the same for Avast.

Updating is automatic with Avast but must be scheduled with Antivir. However, with the scheduling, using “/AH” in the arguments will make the updates automatic as no prompt will be issued. Best to use the Beta version with incremental updates to speed the whole process up.

Both Antivir and Avast are frugal when it comes to system resources with Antivir perhaps being a little less resource needy.

Overall, if it was a choice between the two, I would go with Antivir for its simplicity, effectiveness, scheduling and set and forget scanning.

Some interesting comparative points Reposed, reminding us that there is more to consider than mere detection rates.

One thing I would like to pick up on though is the suggestion that the Avast Guard is "more effective" than AntiVir because AntiVir does not scan within archives realtime whereas Avast does. It is worth pointing out that the 'King' of AVs (in terms of detection) Kaspersky does NOT scan within archives realtime and cannot be configured to do so. The reason for this is that it was found to consume too many resources for the Guard to carry out archive scanning and it was pointless to do so because malware within an archive is totally harmless.

It goes without saying that both AntiVir and Kaspersky will pounce the instant you attempt to extract the contents of the archive, so you are fully protected. Demand scans (which can afford to be more leisurely) will however scan within archives, so there is no question of having malware infested archives lying on your system unnoticed for protracted periods of time.

If you are concerned about an archive you have downloaded you just do a right click scan of it. Failing that your routine scans will pick it up.

Another point you make is about 'automatic' deletion of malware by the Guard without user intervention. This is generally considered to be a dangerous practice because the Guard will be scanning every file written to HD, read from HD, moved, renamed or accessed in any way, and the inconvenience of risking a false positive whereby a legitimate file is accidently deleted is too great. You should always be careful of what you delete for this reason. Personally I additionally prefer to have my demand scans set for 'report only' so that the scan is completed without the need for any action at all.

I do accept though, that many AVs will permit instant deletion by the Guard and that this is usually perfectly satisfactory, but it is safer to know what you are deleting before you delete it!

It is of course possible to use both - using Antivir as your on-demand scanner and Avast for real-time protection. Just make sure that when you install Antivir to deselect the "Activate Virus Guard" option. Then install Avast. As long as Antivir Guard is not present, there shouldn't be any conflicts. If you already have Antivir installed, its advisable to uninstall it and re-install it without the guard before installing Avast. Then enjoy the best of both worlds!

I use AntiVir for active protection. For on-demand scans I use BitDefender 8 Free edition: http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html[/url]

Hello Reposed!!

Instead of reinstalling Antivir, can,t the same effect be obtained by checking or unchecking the "Activate Antivir Guard" by right clicking the icon??

In addition, you have a choice of keeping on or off the antivir Guard

Thanks TopperID, that sounds like a simpler way of going about it. I'm probably overcautious as I have managed to completely lock my system up in the past by having two AV's active at the same time - had to restart in safe mode and uninstall one of the AV's just to log-in!!.

Can I just take this opportunity to thank TopperID for all his contributions to the Antivir forum. His posts are always informative, detailed, well thought out and above all, objective. I'm sure it's appreciated by all.

Hi Repose and TopperID!!

I want to stand corrected. Perhaps, Repose was correct in the first place, even if instinctively.

After doing everything suggested by TopperID, I tried to install Avast but it detected the presence of H+BEDV Antivir and did not install the On-access scanners. Therefore, the best and easiest thing to do is to uninstall Antivir before installing Avast.

Now, onto another matter. I , now, have AVG and Avast and if I have to avoid the conflict between these two by disabling AVG, should I do it by unchecking
(a) Scan Floppy Drives
(b) Scan program Files
(c) Scan Documents
(d) Scan E-mail Files in AVG Resident Shield -> Properties ??

Also, Repose!! Where did your system hang ??
During booting??
or during surfing??

Why I am asking this is because, on completion of booting we can always disable one of the AV but during booting, we have no control.

There is another basic question about the use of two AV,s. I have used AVG and NAV for a considerable period to time and they never created any trouble. I did get virus on certain occasions. Both used to detect it; AVG first and NAV later. Normally AVG did the job and that was that. Why is there so much of fear about it??