what's the best free anti virus software nowadays ?

Dr_B · 12 Mar 2015 at 11:34

+1 for Avast - been using it for years and never noticed any drop in performance.

StrongSad · 12 Mar 2015 at 11:39

Dr_B said:
+1 for Avast - been using it for years and never noticed any drop in performance.

Yep Same
Used it for years, never had any issues or performance problems.
All my PC's use it as well as any I have built for family.

Spacedeck · 12 Mar 2015 at 11:44

I've always used Avast on the family PC which does the job just fine.

Why is this topic in PC Games?

Sega Mega Dave · 12 Mar 2015 at 11:49

MSE, Malwarebytes, CCleaner, Wise Registry Cleaner, 24hr on site security, motion and heat sensors, climate controlled environment including moisture.

Then just a bit of common sense.

Parky · 12 Mar 2015 at 14:40

MS Security Essentials and a bit of careful downloading has always been fine for me. On the very rare occasions where I've picked up some dodgy files or adware, a quick download of Malwarebytes has sorted the issues for me straight away.

DJ_Switch · 12 Mar 2015 at 14:52

ESET is very good and also non intrusive. It's been worth the price for me.

Karathez · 12 Mar 2015 at 19:06

Another Avast user here, used to use avg, but then it got on my nerves after they changed format, no complaints for avast so far, been using it about 2 years.

Like others I dont only use avast for protection, I also use malwarebytes, spywareblaster, & spybot S&D.

Infidelus · 12 Mar 2015 at 19:17

DJ_Switch said:
ESET is very good and also non intrusive. It's been worth the price for me.

I agree, although he did state 'FREE', which Eset isn't

mrk · 12 Mar 2015 at 20:03

Jarrastafari said:
Moved from Avast Free to Bit Defender Free because it was less intrusive. However(!), I couldn't get it to work on my other 2 PC's, it would just fail to initialise over and over.

Bitdefender messed up my Intel SATA controller drivers and I had to sort it in Safe Mode.

AVAST is 100% non obtrusive once you put it into the Gaming mode.

dholdi · 12 Mar 2015 at 20:21

MSE used here too.

Duke · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:09

MSE is dire - look up the tests and you'll be in for a shock. I would suggest Avast as it comes out well regularly. Eset and Kaspersky are better still but cost money of course.

smokingtommy · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:13

Nod32 (Eset) I have used them for years and are very good , its not free but for the small fee its well worth it

jamiehavok · 13 Mar 2015 at 00:38

Robert_G said:
I've been using Malwarebytes since around 2004 and never had a single problem. I used to regularly have the same few people round my house with their laptops, due to spyware, ad-ware and viruses. After converting them over to Malwarebytes I no longer have those annoying regular visits .

i think its because malwarebytes is one of the only programs that does a good job of deleting potentially unwanted programs and adware, the paid antiviruses dont even recognize most of the time. its the pups and adware that less tech savvy people tend to get the most of these days, a full blown virus like ransomware or a cryptolocker variant which a regular antivirus picks up is pretty hard to get these days.

Kelt · 13 Mar 2015 at 01:12

Another vote for Malwarebytes here.