Free Antivirus ?

[Scarlett]

I have Bullguard but they want to charge me £50 - I simply can’t afford it at the moment. Is there a decent free antivirus out there?

[TheChair]

I have around 200 clients who simply use the W10 built in AV, and a similar number who use various paid for AV software packages. Guess what? The difference in infection rates depends not on which AV software they use, but on how naive they are when reacting to phishing sites and email scams.

[jennyjoan]

Avast

[Buenchico]

In the fifteen years or so that I've been on AB, this must have been one of the most frequently occurring questions. I'll try to summarise the usual responses:

Firstly, the anti-virus software that's built into all recent versions of Windows seems to be good enough for many people. (It used to be called Windows Defender; it's now Microsoft Defender Antivirus). Milions of people across the world use it perfectly happily without any problems.

However Microsoft Defender does have some critics when you read technical magazines. (Things weren't helped some years when a senior Microsoft executive suggested that it was only a first line of defence). I've also noticed over the years that Microsoft's security programs have a nasty problem of getting 'stuck in a loop' when trying to update themselves, resulting in the computers that they're hosted on running at a crawl. So some people have chosen to look elsewhere for their antivirus protection.

A decade or so ago, AVG seemed to be the most popular freebie used by AB members but it seemed to fall out of favour, possibly because some people found that it was slowing their machines down quite a bit. (Once again, it seemed to be a fault with the update process that was behind the problem). I was one of those who decided to move away from AVG, choosing to use Avast instead (as did many other ABers). I've stuck with Avast ever since and, as far as I can tell from the posts I've read over the past few years, it remains the most popular freebie among AB members.

Kaspersky frequently comes out top of the reviews for full commercial security suites though and, now that they've introduced a free version too, that seems to be doing equally well in the reviews of freebies.

For other possibilities, independently reviewed, see the PC Mag website:
https://uk.pcmag.com/antivirus/120817/the-best-free-antivirus-protection

[Scarlett]

Thank you all- that’s very helpful. I should have said I am still on W7 so do need an external one!

[Buenchico]

Thanks for the response.

Windows 7 does have its own built-in antivirus program; it's called Microsoft Security Essentials. However, since Microsoft is no longer supporting Windows 7, it might be unwise to rely upon it.

[webbo3]

Chris,

Iv'e just downloaded Avast and at the very end it was telling me its a free trial and when its over I need to pay, have I clicked on the right version.?

[bhg481]

webbo - don't worry. At the end of the trial they'll ask you if you want to convert to the free version.

[SlackAlice]

I've been using Avast (free version) for some time now, with no issues. It does occasionally ask if you want to upgrade but just ignore/close the offer and it will continue the free version.
I used to use AVG but has been mentioned previously it suffered some issues re-updating, so I switched away.

[webbo3]

thanks bhg

[fender62]

i used eset internet security, im happy with it, resource friendly
but it's the paid version, go with avast or just use windows built in version.

[Buenchico]

The download link for the (definitely) free version of Avast is the big orange button here:
https://www.avast.com/en-gb/lp-ppc-hp-v2

[Naheed]

McAfee Total Protection is a security suite that includes various features along with free Identity Theft Protection for clients.
It is one of the best antiviruses and is offering 30-day free use. You may try its free access for a month to decide.

[aelmpvw]

i've used the free built in security with Win 10 since its launch in 2015 and haven't had a problem

[emmie]

McAfee still keeps telling to install on my laptop, i have ignored it so far, as you have to pay for it??

[emmie]

i am using Windows 10, do i need to download Chris's link to Avast

[Buenchico]

^^^ Windows 10 has Microsoft Defender Antivirus built into it, Emmie, and it should be running by default.

However, as I explained in my first post above, many people here choose to use an alternative, with Avast possibly being the most popular freebie with ABers. It's up to you!

[marval]

I use McAfee, but I get it free with Plusnet.