Best Free Antivirus 2019

[Paul Wagenseil]

Kaspersky Free Antivirus is our top choice, but Bitdefender and Avast are not far behind.

Best Free Antivirus 2019 : Read more

 

[Alumni72]

I'd knock Avast down at least one notch - I've been using it for years now, but over the past few years it's become more of a harassment tool than an antivirus tool. Not only do I frequently get windows trying to get me to buy the paid version (at least once a week, but I haven't been logging them so it could be more than that - at the very least it's a real annoyance) but for the past few weeks it's been blocking my internet access multiple times a day. The first thing I notice is that ALL my browsers can no longer find any website, google included (it's my default DNS). Then non-browser internet access (games, etc.) will eventually fail as well. As soon as I disable Avast shields, everything goes back to normal. That's why I am here - to find a reliable replacement for Avast. The timing of this article seems fortuitous to say the least - I'm just glad it's Tom's Guide so I have no reservations about switching to Kaspersky. I just hope the switch-over is easier than it would have been with one of the big paid suites - I no longer have the capacity to do the busy work involved in backing up, reformatting, etc. due to chemo side-effects. So thank you Paul for this oh so timely information!!

 

[Alumni72]

Well, I decided based on what the article said to try BitDefender (I'm a huge fan of set and forget) instead of Kaspersky. However, I've also been a user of the paid version of Malwarebytes for a long time (first for work, then for personal use) and BitDefender refuses to finish installing unless I first completely uninstall Malwarebytes, which it identifies as ''another antivirus program'. I'll try doing that and then seeing if I can reinstall Malwarebytes afterwards, but from the virulence of the popups I'm getting from BitDefender, I have my doubts as to the success of that endeavor.

 

[king47915]

I'm using Avast. But not sure is it really protecting my computer. Thinking about getting a VPN.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

I'm using Avast. But not sure is it really protecting my computer. Thinking about getting a VPN.

Um -- VPNs do not protect your computer from malware infection. They are no substitute for antivirus software.

VPNs do only two things: a) partly encrypt internet communications that are not already encrypted and b) make it appear, if you choose, that your computer is somewhere it's not. That's it.

Can I ask what kind of machine you're running, and what its operating system is?

 

[andreybailey]

For me, the best free antivirus software is Windows Defender. Since 3 years ago I'm using Windows Defender still its working perfectly never got any issue about using Windows Defender. You will get Windows Defender by default on Windows 10 or 8.

 

[king47915]

I'm using Avast. But not sure is it really protecting my computer. Thinking about getting a VPN.

Um -- VPNs do not protect your computer from malware infection. They are no substitute for antivirus software.

VPNs do only two things: a) partly encrypt internet communications that are not already encrypted and b) make it appear, if you choose, that your computer is somewhere it's not. That's it.

Can I ask what kind of machine you're running, and what its operating system is?

I'm running INIDA MAGNUM and operating system is macOS

 

[zakic.lina]

Kaspersky or Windows Defender? Please advice.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

Kaspersky or Windows Defender? Please advice.

Windows Defender is fine, but Kaspersky's free software is better. Yet if you work for the U.S. government or for a U.S. government contractor, you might want to think twice about using Kaspersky, as it is a Russian company. That said, we still have seen zero convincing evidence that Kaspersky software is spying on anyone.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

I'm using Avast. But not sure is it really protecting my computer. Thinking about getting a VPN.

Um -- VPNs do not protect your computer from malware infection. They are no substitute for antivirus software.

VPNs do only two things: a) partly encrypt internet communications that are not already encrypted and b) make it appear, if you choose, that your computer is somewhere it's not. That's it.

Can I ask what kind of machine you're running, and what its operating system is?

I'm running INIDA MAGNUM and operating system is macOS

OK. You're at less risk of infection on macOS just because there is far less malware targeting Macs, but how did you get macOS running on an Inida Magnum?

 

[geofelt]

Windows defender is free, and low impact.
It gets updated via windows.
Defender does a good job against known viruses.

More sophisticated anti virus programs try to detect "in the wild" viruses.
Those that have never before been found.
That is a more resource intensive effort.
If you are paranoid about such things, they may be good for your piece of mind.

Regardless, you should be protecting what you value with EXTERNAL backup in the event that a virus should slit in and hold your data for ransom.
If you do not access shaky web sites like porn, and do not open links in unknown emails, you should be ok with defender.

 

[aafusc2988]

Windows defender is free, and low impact.
It gets updated via windows.
Defender does a good job against known viruses.

More sophisticated anti virus programs try to detect "in the wild" viruses.
Those that have never before been found.
That is a more resource intensive effort.
If you are paranoid about such things, they may be good for your piece of mind.

Regardless, you should be protecting what you value with EXTERNAL backup in the event that a virus should slit in and hold your data for ransom.
If you do not access shaky web sites like porn, and do not open links in unknown emails, you should be ok with defender.

Yeah I shouldn't have gotten Norton because I don't do any of that - going to remove Norton tonight via the tool and hopefully it kills everything related to it. How can I know that Defender is working? Did installing Norton turn Defender off or are they working at the same time?

 

[geofelt]

Windows defender is free, and low impact.
It gets updated via windows.
Defender does a good job against known viruses.

More sophisticated anti virus programs try to detect "in the wild" viruses.
Those that have never before been found.
That is a more resource intensive effort.
If you are paranoid about such things, they may be good for your piece of mind.

Regardless, you should be protecting what you value with EXTERNAL backup in the event that a virus should slit in and hold your data for ransom.
If you do not access shaky web sites like porn, and do not open links in unknown emails, you should be ok with defender.

Yeah I shouldn't have gotten Norton because I don't do any of that - going to remove Norton tonight via the tool and hopefully it kills everything related to it. How can I know that Defender is working? Did installing Norton turn Defender off or are they working at the same time?

key defender in the search box and go to the app.
You will see some options to do a scan or check how updated it si.

 

[thebusdriver666]

I've been using MalwareBytes for some time. Its alright as a precaution but common sense is more important when securing yourself.

 

[hammer874]

I'm using free Avast version all my life. No problems yet, everything is working perfectly.

 

[aafusc2988]

How is just using Windows Defender for light web browsing? I mostly just game on my computer while chatting with friends in Discord or Mumble.

 

[pokemonrules0]

I just have been using only windows defender since I got rid of norton.

 

[elwell531]

2019 avast is the first ever antivirus and also the very first program to run over 80% of my high end i7 cpu core gaming laptop that is not a virus or as far as we know lol. I went back to windows defender for windows 10 and everything runs fine now. I was amazed that one programs could hog down my gaming laptop so much, it was impacting everything until I uninstalled it.

 

[Jaywalker RO]

Well, I decided based on what the article said to try BitDefender (I'm a huge fan of set and forget) instead of Kaspersky. However, I've also been a user of the paid version of Malwarebytes for a long time (first for work, then for personal use) and BitDefender refuses to finish installing unless I first completely uninstall Malwarebytes, which it identifies as ''another antivirus program'. I'll try doing that and then seeing if I can reinstall Malwarebytes afterwards, but from the virulence of the popups I'm getting from BitDefender, I have my doubts as to the success of that endeavor.

I've been using Bitdefender free version for some time and it has 5 processes which run pretty high putting Disk to 100% very often or Memory and CPU to high levels even without browsing or anything. Long story short it uses more resources than other AV. Maybe it's only me. I'm on W10 pro Intel i3 HP 4GB RAM 3.6 GHz desktop.