UPDATE: Free Antivirus Programs - Comments Page 3

A local (Sequim, WA) tech I spoke with earlier today is recommending people only go with antivirus/security apps that are owned and produced here in the States because of questionable lines of ownership and influence among overseas sources, like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Avast!, Avira, (all Germany or Eastern Europe) AVG (Dutch? Russian?), Panda (Spain) etc. Your take? Thanks,

I use Panda and don't have any problems.

Having been caught out while using AVG Free and getting some serious malware that I couldn't clear myself (cost me £60 for a professional to do it involving the loss of my laptop for a week), I will now only use paid-for anti-virus protection. This happens to be ESET Smart Security (includes NOD 32 mentioned above) but it could have been any of the good ones. ESET appears to use very little in the way of resources but does the job well. I'm in my third year with them and no problems so far. I also needed to use their telephone support from the local UK office near us in Bournemouth and received very good service and advice, even though it was the weekend. Makes a change from the way most "services" are delivered these days. I would recommend them. (I work in IT but am not connected to ESET in any way, other than as a user!)

I installed Avira on a old computer I was setting up as a spare and decided to uninstall it. That's were the trouble started it just will not go away. It is impossible to get rid of it after it is installed. Maybe a expert like Bob would find a way but for the less knowledgeable like myself it turned out to be a nightmare.

For years l experimented with different free products from only reputable sources.
Bear in mind l only stumbled onto 'Ask Bob Rankin' site last week.
After researching to see if this site is as good as its words, up until thorough investigation l finally gave this site the thumbs up.
Bob Rankin is identical to my thinking and research when it comes down to keeping a PC safe.
I installed the free-version Comodo Internet Security and its firewall along with CCleaner (free) and Malwarebytes Anti-malware (free) a year ago and these worked great ever since so far. Why get paid products when free products like these does the job as good as those?

Hello, I just stumbled across this site after hearing about ScanGuard which was free AV all-in-one and it was free up until litterally today. I use Ubunto 16.04 and I'm unsure wether or not I should use that while its free(I'm downloading to my thumb drive and will or may possibly install on my laptop once I see some replies to this).
My question is actually, are there any free AV and or scanners or something that is best or most suitable for Ubunto 16.04? I am learning HTML, CSS, and much more while my kids are in school I'm single dad and need to make sure I am safe online so I can learn too.
Any and all advice is much appreciated!
Thank you very much, I love the site Bob and am adding to favourites/bookmarks now. :)

Hi Bob. What is your take on Sophos?

With regard to using several selected antivirus programs simultaneously as long as they do not interfere with each other. And at least several meet this criterion. Not all AV programs have real-time capabilities, which I feel is also critically important. I would like to combine several on my computer but I do know which is which. Do you of any source that has some kind of listing that shows which programs are and are not compatible with each other, and also, which free programs have real-time capabilities and which do not. I this would be extremely helpful for most computer users.

I have been subscribing to your newsletter for several years now and found it to be invaluable.

Thank you.

Oldetimer
AV programs have

I didn't read all the comments but hope someone mentioned how painful it is to "uninstall" some of the free programs...if ever you should decide to.

As always, great stuff, Bob! I use BitDefender (paid version). But I also use a really neat app called VoodooShield. Check it out.

I have been using Norton 360 (paid) for the last several years.
I prefer USA software vs Eastern European, Russian, Chinese, Third World dictatorships etc; no good reason, thats just me. Remember a while back, Kaspersky was hacked big time.
Have had absolutly no problems since using 360. No virus, malware etc infections. Sometimes, just for the hell of it, run a anti-malware program. Every now & then run PC Pitstop test, doing that for many years, tells me alot thats wrong.

Just one piece of advice when having issues after installing any of these programs. Create a SYSTEM RESTORE POINT before installing the software.

HOW? Windows 7 - Start -> Search for "create a restore point". Select Create button under System Properties

HOW? Windows 10 - Task Bar->Ask me anything" Search for "create a restore point".

Have a great day - Ron (Debug) from Ontario Canada

I installed Avast on an old computer with a P4 and 2 gig of ram. It takes a lot of resources to run Avast. It practically bricked my computer.

Uninstalling was very difficult. I needed additional software to uninstall parts of it; and had to uninstall the rest manually. Windows could not do it.

Panda AV updates in the Internet. It runs very fast on an old computer and does not take up a lot of resources. That is my recommendation.

I still recommend secondary tools such as MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) and AdwCleaner for an occasional peace-of-mind scan, and as last-resort malware killers when other software can’t detect or eradicate what’s bugging your system. The free version of MBAM protects against malware and spyware,
Not true after 14days free use protection is stopped.
Thanks for my first good read Jim

was useful to read! Great thanks for the info. I use Avast and I'm completely agree that it's pretty good free antivirus.

People ask "Why pay for AV and such software, when the free versions work so well?" My answer: Besides the enhanced support and features of the paid versions, I am happy to reward the efforts of programmers and software engineers whose products help keep me safe. As long as I am blessed to be able to do so without breaking my bank, good work that serves me well deserves to be supported.

Karspersky has a free antivirus too.

I used to use AVG, and was happy with it, but recently bought a new PC laptop, and the AVG Free that I installed absolutely bombarded my screen with pop-up notices to "Upgrade to the paid version" at least 4 times an hour. Uninstalled same. I'm listening now to advice from the bigshots on TV about Kaspersky and other non-US based antivirus apps. I currently use Panda Free Anti-Virus, and I use Malwarebytes Free Version on demand every few days. I also use Advanced System Care daily, and I almost never have a problem with invasions or hijackings! Hope this helps.

I am using PC Matic. You see their ads on TV all the time promoting their 100% USA product. Will you cover their product in future articles. I have not had any problems with them. I left Norton. Now there is news about Karspersky being linked to the Russians in a not-so-good way.

I am using Escan Antivirus.it's good antivirus. if you want more information about escan antivirus support contact us USA 1-800-294-5907 Canada 1-844-573-0859 UK 0-808-189-0272 AUS 1-300-326-128.