My father does not believe in free Anti-Virus but needs some form of protection

[James Gallier]

At the facility we work at a lot of people use the same computer not to mention my fathers internet habits are not as disciplined as my own. What is a decent anti-virus that is worth the money. I guess another question would be what is a good anti-malware. I will see if I can just get anti-malware on there, but just in case, what would y'all recommend.

 

[Paul NZ]

Use the one that comes with windows

Most of the others crash

 

[Unolocogringo]

Malware Bytes. #1
Avast #2
Both have free and paid versions.

 

[Chicano]

Free antivirus programs use the same deffinition updates as their paid counterparts... the differences from paid to free are insignificant.. things like updating; the paid versions can be programmed to update at the time of day you want, free versions update when you start the computer and again in intervals you can program.... hours, days, etc. Paid versions include a firewall, free versions do not... You have to register free versions once a year, you only have to registre the paid versions when you acquire the license and again when the licensed period ends (if you want to renew the subscription).

Free antivirus never crash for being free, as I said, they use the same update deffinitions as their paid versions. Any antivirus can crash if it can't trap a virus for lacking that virus deffinitions, and that can happen with any free or paid version if the virus in question is so new that they don't have the deffinitions for it, or if you neglect to update it.

I have used free Avast for some 8 years and never had an important infection with it... the only severe infection was with AVG in 2006 but I managed to remove the infection manually.


Free vs. Fee: Free and Paid Antivirus Programs Compared
http://www.pcworld.com/article/210589/free_versus_fee_free_and_paid_antivirus_programs_compared.html

 

[Skylyne]

Here's the reality, mate... you can get away with free AV software, if you're simply looking for an antivirus, and not the extra stuff that you get with the paid software bundles. Bitdefender has one of the best engines available, is extremely lightweight, and they offer their AV software for free (paid versions give you a firewall/etc.). Avast is pretty buggy, in the sense that they have a fair amount of false alarms. AVG is decent, but the software can take its toll on your computer, causing things to slow down a fair amount.

If you want a decent paid software, I'd recommend Bitdefender, or possibly Webroot. Webroot definitely is one of the lightest I've used, and it has a pretty impressive method of keeping your computer clean; it only scans the running processes, instead of scanning every file for infections. Poke around AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, and Virus Bulletin to get a feel for what you get with each AV software.