1. Avira Free Antivirus
Fast, smart, effective, and well designed – Avira is the best free
antivirus for Windows
Avira Free Antivirus took the top spot on our previous
free antivirus roundup, and here it is again.
Yes, AV-TEST's results show it to have a micron less protection
than the likes of AVG, but it's the slickest, cleanest and least system
intensive antivirus package going. It's almost as if the programmers sat down
to determine exactly what users would want out of an antivirus package and
somehow stumbled on the correct answer: something that isn't in your face every
two seconds and doesn't slow your PC to a halt just by existing.
So hooray for Avira. It doesn't even install a host of other
packages (including a secure browser, VPN and safesearch plugin) by default,
although they're there if you want them.
It's not the glossiest package, and the install process is a bit
pre-emptive, with Windows 10 repeatedly shouting at us to update Avira before
it had even finished making its way onto our test machine, but we're inclined
to blame Microsoft for the latter glitch. Overall, Avira Free Antivirus is
brilliant, and is our pick for this year's best free antivirus software.
Download here: Avira Free Antivirus
2. AVG AntiVirus Free
Superb free antivirus with a super-clear interface, AVG is a great
choice for your whole family
Even though AVG Antivirus Free's virus protection is wrapped in AVG Zen –
essentially a large advert designed to encourage you to install all of AVG's
products on all the PCs in your home – we won't hesitate to recommend it.
AV-TEST gave AVG AntiVirus a 100% rating for its protection
against zero-day attacks during its May-June 2016 testing, for a start. It's
reasonably quick to scan after the first initial pass, and the interface –
ignoring the Zen bit of it – is super-clear and easy to use. Combine it with
the mobile app and you can set it to scan and disinfect a machine without
having to be close to it, which is a feature you won't know you need until it's
too late. There are a few downsides.
We're not super-fond, for example, of the level of permissions that AVG's Web
TuneUp extension asks for – everything from 'read and change all your data on
the websites you visit' to forcing your start page to AVG's own Yahoo-powered
search engine – but that's an optional component.
Download here: AVG Antivirus Free
3. Panda Free Antivirus
Free antivirus that uses the power of the cloud to take the load
off your computer
Although Panda Free Antivirus claims to be the world's lightest
antivirus – offloading much of the processing work that would normally be done
by your PC to the cloud – we found it to be slightly slower than Avira in our
tests, and AV-TEST agreed. It's also right on the industry average in terms of
virus detection, sitting at around the 98% mark for zero-day attacks and a hair
under 100% for established threats.
Those are good numbers, and Panda is good free antivirus
software – providing you remember to deny it permission to hijack your
browser's home page and search facility upon installing.
Its process monitor is very useful, it scans quite quickly, and
it's simple enough in its presentation for even the most technophobic user to
find their way around. Switch on its automatic USB vaccination to ensure you
won't get a nasty infection when you insert something you shouldn't into one of
your ports.
4. Comodo Free Antivirus
Serious free security software for Windows, Comodo Free Antivirus
pulls no punches
This is among the
hardest-nosed free antivirus packages out there, built as it is from Comodo's
serious systems administration background. Comodo Free Antivirus features a 'default deny' mode,
which essentially blocks every single program that's not on its whitelist – if
you let something through and your machine becomes infected, it's going to be
your fault.
There's cloud scanning, so it theoretically keeps up with the
latest found threats and automatically updates all users based on the newest
discoveries, and indeed Comodo scored a perfect 100% against AV-TEST's barrage
of zero-day threats, but its historical protection lags behind somewhat at just
over 97%.
While Comodo's free antivirus software has a sharp design all
its own, we'd also say it's something of a mess, unleashing window upon window
on your machine and not really shutting up.
You certainly know when you have it installed. At least it
includes a game mode, automatically dialling back on its actions when you need
maximum performance from your machine.
Download here: Comodo Free Antivirus
5. Avast Free Antivirus
A solid free antivirus suite, albeit one with a slightly tarnished
record
Avast recently bought fellow antivirus company AVG, but the
newly combined company has confirmed that it will keep both brands running, so
there's no need to worry about committing to either security suite.
That said, Avast Free Antivirus does concern us a little. Earlier in
2016 the Chromium-based browser it includes by default (Avast SafeZone) was
found to have a serious security vulnerability not present in Chromium, so the
supposed 'World's Most Secure Browser®' turned out to not be so hot. Avast
patched the vulnerability immediately following its discovery, but that's poor
form.
Its actual antivirus portion isn't awful. It's cleanly presented
and performed reasonably well under the stress of AV-TEST's heavy punishment,
and even includes a built-in LastPass-esque password manager, which is a great
extra feature.
While it's heavier on the system than some, it didn't make our
test machine noticeably more sluggish. Even that browser, if you trust it, is
absolutely fine. But do you?
Download here: Avast Free Antivirus
6. ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall
Robust virus and malware protection from the godfather of
firewalls
Back in the dark past,
when computers were beige and the internet was young, ZoneAlarm was the leading
free firewall. It's therefore no surprise that ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus includes a firewall by default –
a rare feature among its ilk. It's a big plus, at least if you're not competent
in using Windows' own firewall; it's easy to configure and offers interesting
insights into the traffic coming to and from your PC. You might even find the
things it deflects quite worrying.
Unfortunately AV-TEST hasn't performed an evaluation of
ZoneAlarm's antivirus portion – seamlessly integrated with that firewall – for
over a year, meaning we can't offer any great confidence in it, though the June
2015 assessment did at least paint it in a flattering light.
The antivirus signatures are being maintained and the software
still updated, though, so don't discount it – if you feel the need for a tried
and tested firewall alongside your virus protection, this is a competent
choice.
Download here: ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall
7. Immunet AntiVirus
A cloud-based security supplement to install alongside your free
antivirus software
Here's something of an
odd one; Immunet AntiVirus is a tiny cloud-based free security app
that's designed to run either independently or alongside your existing
antivirus software. The former option isn't, perhaps, the best one; AV-TEST
offers no indication as to its effectiveness, and Immunet's reputation – while
strengthening in recent years – isn't that of an AV marvel.
That said, as an accompaniment to a known strong solution, we
can see no reason not to at least give Immunet a shot. It's all based on
collective immunity, meaning the more people use it and report back with
threats, the stronger its protection becomes. Like a vaccine for your PC.
There was no noticeable slowdown on our test machine when
running it alongside Avira, although in real terms it's going to hammer your
CPU a little when scanning. It's also, if such a thing matters to you, almost
comically ugly.
Download here: Immunet AntiVirus
8. 360 Total Security
A beefed-up antivirus suite with multiple scanning engines to pick
up threats
Rolling in on a huge
wave of bombast – over 52 billion threats thwarted in 2014! – comes Qihoo's 360 Total Security, which we presume is mainly getting its
figures from the third-party engines it uses to scan your PC. Both Bitdefender
(the default) and Avira (which should be the default) are on board, and Qihoo
provides a couple of its own engines on top.
Predictably this results in a free antivirus package that eats
more system resources than the rest here, which scans quite slowly, but which
passes AV-TEST's 0-day and widespread virus tests with flying colours.
Nevertheless, we'd opt
for the simplicity of Avira every time – Qihoo has, in the past, been accused of
cheating AV testing to appear more powerful than
it truly is, which puts a big trust-shaped cat amongst the virus pigeons.
Download here: 360 Total Security
9. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
Bitdefender's virus database is excellent, but its scanning tech
is no longer cutting edge
While it comes with a
strong brand behind it, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition strikes us as
something of an afterthought these days – you have to look hard to find it, and
the company's own site still crows about its compatibility with the brand-new
Windows 8. Indeed, the core software hasn't been updated since 2013, though its
virus definitions are at least kept up to speed.
To its credit, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is at least
unobtrusive, tucking itself away in the system tray by default and bringing up
minimal popups. It's not the fastest, however, and we don't have total faith in
its ability to spot every single virus or modern threat.
It's also worth
looking at Bitdefender
60-Second Virus Scanner, a tiny app that's worth keeping
on a USB stick. If you're foolish enough to run a machine without AV, it'll at
least warn you quickly if there's something untoward on board.
Download here: Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
10. Windows Defender
Windows' built-in antivirus is light on features, but quiet and
unobtrusive
Every new Windows
installation includes Defender by default – if yours doesn't have it, grab Microsoft Security Essentials – so why bother installing
third-party free antivirus protection? A glance at AV-TEST's results regarding
Windows Defender's efficacy at defending against the newest zero-day threats
tells the story: the May test on its Windows 8 incarnation showed that it
caught just 92.1% of nasties. That's just not high enough considering its
claims of cloud-based protection, however strong it may be against widespread
threats.
To its credit, Defender gets on with the job and stays out of
the way, protecting new installations handily. And when it comes time to
install something serious, Defender ducks out gracefully – you don't need to
uninstall or disable it, it just… goes.
It's simple, with the clearest interface of any package here,
but it's also simplistic. So while we appreciate Microsoft's efforts to secure
its operating system directly, there's a reason there's still a third-party
antivirus market.
Download here: Windows Defender
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