Free Antivirus Software that really protects your PC
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Md. Saquib Hussain
The word "Free" may not always be the same as "Cheap"; not at least in the software industry. There are some truly great antivirus software which are available for free use at home, and really does a more than a nice job to protect your PC against viruses. Two popular names in this field are AVG, and Avast. Although both are great applications, none of them really comes close to the level of protection you can get from Avira AntiVir. This antivirus software is developed in Germany. The antivirus applications are based on the AntiVir scan engine also known as Luke Filewalker, first launched back in 1988. Avira's brilliant scan engine has also been licensed to applications like Ashampoo Antivirus and Webroot WebWasher.
Like most antivirus software, it scans disks for viruses and also runs as a background process, checking each opened and closed file. It can detect and possibly remove malware. The free version (Personal Edition) does not scan emails in transit, only inspects files once you save them to your hard disk. However, if you use any web based email account, chances are they are already scanned. And even if something gets in via email, Avira will start scanning it as soon as it tries to execute or when you click on it. It also performs Internet updates daily by default, with an advertisement that only appears once a day while updating. The free version will give you slower speed while updating, as most bandwidth is reserved for paid version; but given the fact that it's coming at zero cost, I guess waiting a few extra minutes while updating is well justified. More importantly, the application is considerably light weight, and has a low memory footprint. In other words, it takes less hardware resource, making sure your computer does not get significantly slower while you are running the software. This is a major factor while choosing an antivirus software, as these software will be constantly running in the background, scanning nearly anything and everything else that runs on the machine.
Avira is an outstanding antivirus software that puts many of the paid products to shame. With 99.45 per cent of detection rate calculated last year (by AV-Comparatives), it catches more viruses than all other free applications, and even more than some paid ones. You won't believe just how good it gets unless you try it out yourself. It gives better protection than McAfee or Norton, and almost in par with applications like Bit Defender and NOD32. From my years of experience, I have found this A/V product to be more than enough for basic defense against viruses for any average user. It has a great detection rate that works for most people. On the downside it also has a higher rate for False Positives. False Positives are results that show a certain file to be a threat, when it could just be a application designed with some unusual behavior. Of course, even if you end up deleting any files as a result of False Positive, these would likely be files an average user won't need or use. An example would be certain crack files, or serial key generators, files that are illegal to use, and have a malware type behavior pattern. These files are often detected as threat by Avira (for some obvious reasons) which are actually false positives. You will be prompted before any action is taken on the file, so you will always be in control regardless of the detection. At least for tighter security and a few false positives it becomes even harder for harmful content to go unnoticed by Avira - in other words, as the saying goes. It's better to be safe than sorry.
If you are looking for a solution against these common computer problems, you really can't go wrong with Avira. This software supports Windows XP and Windows Vista in both 32 and 64 bit environments. Installing the free Avira Antivir software is fast and easy. Installation is guided by an easy step-by-step wizard, and requires a system restart at the end. You can download the free and fully functional version from: http://www.free-av.com. Please make sure to uninstall any other antivirus software you have before installing this.
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The writer is a Training & Implementation Specialist. He can be reached at saquib.h@gmail.com
The word "Free" may not always be the same as "Cheap"; not at least in the software industry. There are some truly great antivirus software which are available for free use at home, and really does a more than a nice job to protect your PC against viruses. Two popular names in this field are AVG, and Avast. Although both are great applications, none of them really comes close to the level of protection you can get from Avira AntiVir. This antivirus software is developed in Germany. The antivirus applications are based on the AntiVir scan engine also known as Luke Filewalker, first launched back in 1988. Avira's brilliant scan engine has also been licensed to applications like Ashampoo Antivirus and Webroot WebWasher.
Like most antivirus software, it scans disks for viruses and also runs as a background process, checking each opened and closed file. It can detect and possibly remove malware. The free version (Personal Edition) does not scan emails in transit, only inspects files once you save them to your hard disk. However, if you use any web based email account, chances are they are already scanned. And even if something gets in via email, Avira will start scanning it as soon as it tries to execute or when you click on it. It also performs Internet updates daily by default, with an advertisement that only appears once a day while updating. The free version will give you slower speed while updating, as most bandwidth is reserved for paid version; but given the fact that it's coming at zero cost, I guess waiting a few extra minutes while updating is well justified. More importantly, the application is considerably light weight, and has a low memory footprint. In other words, it takes less hardware resource, making sure your computer does not get significantly slower while you are running the software. This is a major factor while choosing an antivirus software, as these software will be constantly running in the background, scanning nearly anything and everything else that runs on the machine.
Avira is an outstanding antivirus software that puts many of the paid products to shame. With 99.45 per cent of detection rate calculated last year (by AV-Comparatives), it catches more viruses than all other free applications, and even more than some paid ones. You won't believe just how good it gets unless you try it out yourself. It gives better protection than McAfee or Norton, and almost in par with applications like Bit Defender and NOD32. From my years of experience, I have found this A/V product to be more than enough for basic defense against viruses for any average user. It has a great detection rate that works for most people. On the downside it also has a higher rate for False Positives. False Positives are results that show a certain file to be a threat, when it could just be a application designed with some unusual behavior. Of course, even if you end up deleting any files as a result of False Positive, these would likely be files an average user won't need or use. An example would be certain crack files, or serial key generators, files that are illegal to use, and have a malware type behavior pattern. These files are often detected as threat by Avira (for some obvious reasons) which are actually false positives. You will be prompted before any action is taken on the file, so you will always be in control regardless of the detection. At least for tighter security and a few false positives it becomes even harder for harmful content to go unnoticed by Avira - in other words, as the saying goes. It's better to be safe than sorry.
If you are looking for a solution against these common computer problems, you really can't go wrong with Avira. This software supports Windows XP and Windows Vista in both 32 and 64 bit environments. Installing the free Avira Antivir software is fast and easy. Installation is guided by an easy step-by-step wizard, and requires a system restart at the end. You can download the free and fully functional version from: http://www.free-av.com. Please make sure to uninstall any other antivirus software you have before installing this.
............................................
The writer is a Training & Implementation Specialist. He can be reached at saquib.h@gmail.com