Best Anti Virus for my new computer?

StreamingGames

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Im not looking to spend a billion dollars a month or year but I would like an extremely good, but not very noticeable antivirus. I believe I had a free one called asvast before and jesus that think would never stop popping up randomly and would never leave me alone. It almost made me want to buy an antivirus and mark advast as a virus just to get it to leave me alone lmfao. Thanks to everyone who suggests an antivirus for me!

EDIT: Has anyone heard of trend micro? A guy at a pc repair shop suggested it to mehttp://www.trendmicro.com/us/index.html

EDIT: Does Kaspersky or Avira slow down the system at all? I was reading some reviews where people said that it drastically slowed their computer down to the point where they had to uninstall them. As well as one review who said he called Kaspersky customer support and they kept pushing him to buy another of their products to speed his computer back up after it being slowed down by their product. Can anyone who has had one or both confirm or deny this? Thanks!
 

dantheman0809

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Oct 14, 2015
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Try out panda free antivirus. Very highly rated and solid performance at low pc usage.
Listed as the second best free antivirus software from PC MAG, lower than AVG free but much better as a background antivirus which won't get in your face.
Ratings: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp
Download: http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/free-antivirus/
I've had it on my pc for a while and it's solid.
 

gangrel

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For the professional reviews:

av-test.org
av-comparatives.org

I'm a heckuva lot less worried about CPU usage than I am in blocking threats...altho excessive false positives is a problem too. Also, this is a case where spending a bit can help.
 

azaran

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Feb 17, 2010
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Check out AV-Tests.org, they're an independent tester and do a pretty through testing. Right now they're reporting Bitdefender at the top of the heap. I also really like Avira and they tend to run in first or second place in these tests.

Also like Computertech82 said, look at av-comparatives.org as well. Very comprehensive testing done there as well.
 

U6b36ef

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I would not trust my PC with a free version.

I recommend either Bitdefender or Norton. Either will have a one-month trial which you can use free to see what you think.
 

Brodotron

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I use Avast, I've used it for 8 years now, I haven't had a virus, even downloading stuff from pirate bay and stuff.

I use the free version on my main PC and it works great :D
 

azaran

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Absolutely nothing wrong with free versions, they're often the same engine as the paid for version just without the extra security options and typically now have nag ware (thank you avast and avg). Just make sure its a good AV to start with. A free version of a good AV will out perform a paid version of a bad AV any day.

U6b36ef does have a point with the 30 day trial. Most companies that have paid versions of software have trial periods so you can try out a few options. Just make sure to fully uninstall one AV before installing a new AV. Tho I'd avoid Norton. While their performance is often rated as good, they also have an above industry avg false positive detection. Also in terms of testing out the software, fully uninstalling Norton has historically been a pain in the ass.
 

gangrel

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Those extras can easily be worth it. Real-time protection covers malware in ad streams, for example, and these can be *anywhere*.

On Norton: you bring bad BAD memories from earlier this summer. A prebuilt came with it; removing it was horrible. I don't recall the hassles now, but it was nothing you'd ever want to repeat.
 

azaran

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Well now a days real time protection is typical part of even free software. Tho I remember when Avira was a user prompted scanner, not real time. By extra's I typically mean full security suite, firewalls, identity fraud protection, etc.

Norton has always been a pain in one respect or another. Usually bringing back bad memory for any tech in the last 10 years. I remember when their own security suite would eat itself and destroys windows networking. Which granted would protect the user from any virus's on the internet, seeing as how they could no longer connect. Thank god for XP's repair installs at that time.
 

U6b36ef

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I never had any issue un-installing Norton. I am aware it leaves stuff behind, but it doesn't do anything that I know of. There is a free removal tool that I never used, and I know it's all a hassle.

Yeah I have encountered the odd false positive like I wanted to download CoreTemp. Norton did not recognise the new version and would not let me run it. Sometimes other bits of very safe things get blocked from running. However just disconnect internet, switch off security, run the app, switch everything back on again. The cold light of day for me is I never had an issue with Norton.

I also use the ESET NOD 32 Free Online Scanner.
 

azaran

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Unfortunately years of experience, personal and professional, with Norton have completely soured me on the product. Given the wide range of option available, Nortons propensity for higher than industry standard false positives and leaving your registry a mess with itself after uninstall, I really cant see a reason to ever recommend the product.
 

StreamingGames

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Does Kaspersky or Avira slow down the system at all? I was reading some reviews where people said that it drastically slowed their computer down to the point where they had to uninstall them. As well as one review who said he called Kaspersky customer support and they kept pushing him to buy another of their products to speed his computer back up after it being slowed down by their product. Can anyone who has had one or both confirm or deny this? Thanks!
 

azaran

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It really depends on if you're getting the basic AV or the full security suite. Any security suite will require training the firewall, which will slow down anything just because its taking your attention away from whatever you're doing. There is also a lot more going on with security suites than basic AVs so there will be more resources taken up with any one you choose. I know the basic AV for Avira doesn't really impact performance, I cant say for the security suite. When I last tested Kaspersky's security suite it had a very noticeable footprint, but at the time it was highly rated and I was testing for a client who was more concerned with security than speed. The best thing you can do it just download the ones you want to test, they them out for a few days to a week and then move on to the next one. The two sites mentioned previously in this thread will give you a good place to work from in terms of whats performing the best right now and then you can see what you like.