After months of experimenting with downloading, installing, uninstalling, many hefty antiviruses, and not to mention many antirootkits, I have finally zeroed in on the one, which is to my satisfaction is the perfect free available antivirus and free of any adwares (No popups or toolbars).
I am mentioning a few I remember:
1. Norton - You know what, in 18 hours it could not finish scanning my meek laptop with 512 MB RAM. I tried their Beta version too, which took a big memory space, but slowed down the system while scanning.
My Verdict = The worst!
2. Spyware Doctor - Came free with google updater. It did awesome job of identifying many virusses, spywares, malwares, e.t.c but it did slow down system while running scan and not to mention took a hell lot of time completing the scan. After few updates on following days, I found the memory it occupied doubled up! (From 32 mb to a whopping 77 mb)... Thumbs down! One point I noted was that, whenever I enabled it, after disabling it, it always somehow found some virus (atleast one)...... Strange isn't it.. try it, and please do let me know if that is not the case with you.
My Verdict = Bad!
3. AVG - Looked good, with simple user interface, colorful, but somehow, it could not clean my system properly. It occupied quite a lot of memory, mind you! I saw an unknown file in my external drive (It was a bad VB script), even on select scan it could not detect it, and gave it a clean chit!!!.. (Just like the other antiviruses mentioned above). Even song.pk could not be detected by it.
My Verdict = Not Good.
4. I used Threatfire (from PC Tools stable, family of spyware doctor) I hoped it would do some good job as promised by various links on it to their website, but it came a cropper.
My Verdict = Useless.
5. Bitdefender - Used this as well. Uninstalled it the same day.. Cause of some unknown reason, though it identified the viruses, but the option to remove just did not work!!! How spooky!! and how businessminded of them... But scanning was good and fast, but whats the use, when it could not remove the trouble!
My Verdict = A big Waste.
6. Spywareterminator - I used it for a long time, but finally got annoyed after updating to their latest version.. it just kept showing block - allow screen during installation. "The remember this action" didn't work after allowing, even installation mode failed to be of any help in this scenario. With tears in my eyes, I kissed it goodbye. It, combined with clamwin free antivirus had protected my system (somewhat) for almost an year.
My Verdict = Do not use it if you do not have patience.
Finally, my savior my favorite and my antivirus hero!
7. AVAST - Downloaded free from their website (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html)- It is free to use for personal use. Avast has done wonders on my system. It occupies less memory, detected all kinds of virusses, trojans, bad roots, and what not. What more, while scanning is on, my system works with normal speed (Good speed mind you!). It has an auto scan function, which starts only when the system is idle. I simple love it. I am sure you will not regret using it at all. The interface is marvelously simple and different than all others (infact, first time i opened it, I felt, I opened an audio player by mistake... he he) Note: I found it more effective on select scan.
My Verdict = The best! Close your eyes and Go for it.
P.S. I am no software expert but I am an inquisitive person, who is always in search of answers. I want value for what I do (even in downloading free antivirus!), I have written my experience honestly. My blog will do a world of good, if a layman like me starts with AVAST and saves time on wasting time on other so called free antiviruses available online.
Additional Note: If you are using Firefox browser, use this addon "Ghostery 1.3.9" you will see how google, msn, yahoo, work on providing you ads using hidden web bugs :o) It is also coming inbuilt with Internet Explorer 7. It will show you how many websites have how many webbugs and from whom all. Not bad though, but good if you know.
As I always say, "Extra knowledge never kills, its the application of that half knowledge which is dangerous" So do not use your knowledge in sensitive situation. Be a good judge.
Hope this round of enlightenment will prove good for you.
Wish you a happy and safe surfing.
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