Antivirus Program Articles

Best Free Antivirus- Many antivirus programs out there that claim to offer the best free antivirus. Well the actual truth is a lot of these antivirus programs don't offer the best free antivirus software. Keep reading out best free antivirus article.

Before you choose a free antivirus program, there are a few things you should know. This article will place free antivirus software in perspective and tell you what to look for as you consider it.

First, you need to know that if you choose a free antivirus program in a market in which some of the top 10 antivirus programs can be purchased for less than $25, no matter how carefully you choose, your coverage is not going to be as good. Weigh the time it will take you to find and download a free program, versus the time for an inexpensive antivirus program.

Second, one of the hallmarks of a paid antivius program is its support team, something that is likely to be absent from a free antivirus program. This means that if you are a novice and the interface is not novice-friendly, you may have only the built-in help to depend on.

Third, there's not necessarily someone else watching out to make sure you update and the updates may be few and far between, whereas, if you purchase the 2010 version of a product, you can be pretty sure that they'll let you know when there's another version for which you can pay.

Fourth, for certain elements of free antivirus software, the software manufacturer may not find it worth its time to refine infelicities or problems, including some fairly big problems.

Fifth, at least some IT professionals and certainly some software manufacturers are leaning towards suites that target not only viruses, but all kinds of malware. In otherwords, an antivirus program may, by itself, be insufficient, but there may be problems in trying to combine multiple free programs that were not designed to work together.

Sixth, with fewer updates, you need to keep a close eye on the compatibility of free software with your operating system version. There are downloads available, for example, that are not compatible with Windows 7.

Seventh, never mind top 10: some expert reviewers don't even think that there are 5 free antivirus software programs that work well enough to put on your computer. If 5 is scraping the bottom of the barrel, this tells you that you should probably be looking hard at number 1.

Eighth, the free software that is sufficient antivirus protection for a seasoned user may not provide enough protection for a novice. Know your level of ability and choose accordingly.

Besides these issues, check reviews other than those on the manufacturer's own website. As you do, look out for these issues that could land you in hot water:

• no firewall (if you need one integrated into your antivirus program)

• poor malware detection rate

• lack of a direct upgrade path to a paid product that you want to someday own

• a high level of false positives (identifying clean items as malware)

• no attempt to catch certain types of malware (PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition Software is known for this)

• slow operation either for on-access or on-demand scans

• catching known but not unknown malware or vice versa

• adding to boot time

• stripping content and attachments from emails from known contacts

• confusing interface

• crashes

• problems when used with specific browsers

• hogging of system resources

• no way to turn it off from within its interface

• deleting files without authorization

• long time between auto-updates (paid programs claim between 3–15 minutes and hourly updates for top programs; free programs can go days without an update)

• lack of scheduling ability

• lack of full-bodied reporting feature so you know what the software's been detecing

• ability to customize operation and receive updates as new threats arise

TrendMicro

Comodo

Computer Assoc.