Free Antivirus Software

In the world of ubiquitous computing and internet connectedness there is always a real possibility of picking up malware or viruses. Antivirus software can help protect users from these threats through detection, scanning, and quarantine or deletion of whatever malware is found. There is a number of free solutions available if you don’t want to or can’t pay for such software.

ClamAV

Clam AntiVirus is a GPL anti-virus toolkit for Unix. The main purpose of ClamAV is the integration with mail servers (attachment scanning). ClamAV provides a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner, and a tool for automatic updating via the Internet. The programs are based on a shared library distributed with the Clam AntiVirus package, which you can use with your own software.

Clam AntiVirus works with Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, AIX, Mac OS X, and Cygwin B20 on multiple architectures such as Intel, Alpha, Sparc, Cobalt MIPS boxes, PowerPC, and RISC 6000.

Most importantly, the ClamAV virus database is kept up to date.

The key features of the ClamAV are:

• It has a command-line scanner.
• There is a fast, multi-threaded daemon.
• A mail filter interface is available for sendmail.
• There is a database updater with support for digital signatures.
• It has a virus scanner C library.
• On-access scanning (Linux and FreeBSD) is available.
• The detection of over 38000 viruses, worms and trojans is available with this software.
• Built-in support for Zip, Gzip, Bzip2, tar, RAR, MS OLE2, MS Cabinet files, MS CHM (Compressed HTML), MS SZDD is provided.
• There is support for mbox, Maildir and raw mail files.
• There is support for Portable Executable files compressed with UPX, FSG, and Petite.

Avira AntiVir Personal

Avira AntiVir is a free antivirus solution. It is the free version of Avira AntiVir Premium and the Avira Premium Security Suite. This program periodically scans the user’s computer and gets rid of viruses and other malware such as worms, trojans, dialers, hoaxes, backdoor programs, rootkits, and phishing attacks.

Scanning is up to 20% faster than the average antivirus software. Avira AntiVir monitors the system closely and reacts quickly when attacks are detected. Avira AntiVir is designed for personal use and is available for Windows or Unix systems.

Norton Security Scan

Norton Security Scan comes free with a Google Pack and is compatible with all versions of Windows. The main advantage of this antivirus software is its simplicity of use. There are no dialog boxes or options to select. There is only the start button. When it is clicked, Norton Security Scan proceeds to scan the user’s computer and cleans it of viruses and other malware including worms, Trojans, dialers, hoaxes, backdoor programs, rootkits, and phishing attacks.

Norton Security Scan is not integrated into the computer operating system. This means the user can install another antivirus software for added protection. Norton Security Scan is not known to conflict with other applications.

This software has good detection rates and provides periodic updates. The user can also configure it to run scans at selected intervals. However, Windows does not recognize Norton Security. If it is the only antivirus software installed, Windows will continue to warn the user that his or her computer needs virus protection.

AVG Antivirus Free Edition

This edition of the AVG Antivirus offers the widest choice in terms of configuration. Users also have the option of simply opting for the default settings.

The program features a Test Center where scans and other usual tasks can be performed. A Control Center where configuration options may be set and a Rescue Disk that creates backups of system areas such as boot sector or MBR and copies the DOS version of the scanner to floppy disks are also available.

AVG Antivirus offers the following features:

• Protection in real time
• On-demand scanner
• E-mail protection in real time
• Auto updater (virus definitions and programs)
• Log viewer
• Scheduler
• Quarantines infected files in virus vault
• Rescue disk
• Heuristic scanning

The program has good detection rates, offers regular updates, is very configurable, and is multilingual. It operates on Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP. The free version is available at no charge only for single home computer use.

Avast! Antivirus Home Edition

Avast! Antivirus Home Edition is a free virus protection software intended only for home use. It incorporates anti-spyware protection and anti-rootkit detection. Daily updates are automated, ensuring continuous protection from virus, malware, and spyware infections.

Avast! Antivirus features an easy-to-use interface where the user can activate on-demand scanning. Additional Avast! Antivirus modules such as Updater, Virus Chest, or Log Viewer can also be started from this interface. The software package contains three skins for the interface but more can be downloaded from the Avast! website.

The software incorporates resident protection that shields the computer’s files, emails, and news. Complete or selective scanning of computer files is available. Email and news protection has two module, namely a generic scanner and a plug-in for MS Outlook.

Generic scanning works on the SMTP/POP3/IMAP4/NNTP protocol level. Avast! Antivirus also offers heuristic scanning of emails.

Other protection modules added to avast! Antivirus are the Network Shield and Web Shield. Network Shield protects computer files from known Internet worms and attacks. Web Shield monitors all HTTP traffic from the internet. It serves as a transparent HTTP proxy and can filter viruses and other malware such as spyware, adware, and dialers. It is compatible with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.

Avast! Antivirus integrates with the program. This enables the user to start scanning directly from Windows Explorer. Scanning can also be started before a virus is activated through the boot time scan option. However, this feature works only with Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista 32 bit.

Avast! Antivirus works with Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/Vista, except for a few selected features that work only on later versions of Windows platforms.

Spyware Terminator

Spyware Terminator is a free anti-virus software that allows a user to perform both quick and full scans of his/her computer. Spyware Terminator includes a real-time shield that allows the user to decide which programs are allowed to run and has the ability to save the user’s options for later use when it recognizes a similar program. However, the real-time shield can produce excessive notifications. Spyware Terminator also includes an Internet browser shield, known as ClamAV, but only works with Internet Explorer. Spyware Terminator includes a comprehensive database of malicious software, can be set to automatically update itself, and can be set to automatically run scans at specific times.

Malwarebytes Antimalware Free

Malwarebytes Antimalware is another free anti-virus software. While Malwarebytes Antimalware does not have a real-time shield, it finds more malicious software than Spyware Terminator and can perform scans much faster. However, Malwarebytes’ Antimalware does not detect all viruses and is, consequently, often used in conjunction with Spyware Terminator or another anti-virus software.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot Search and Destroy is a free anti-virus software that runs relatively quick scans and finds a wide variety of malicious software, including adware, spyware, trojans, and worms. Spybot Search and Destroy also repairs weaknesses in firewalls and scans Internet browsers for possible threats.

Advanced System Care

While any of the above anti-virus software can be effective at restoring privacy and security, Advanced System Care might include more features than any of them. Advanced System Care includes its own anti-virus software that runs extremely fast computer scans, a real-time shield, a registry cleaner, a defragmenter, and functions for deleting browser history and other personally identifiable information.

Microsoft Safety Scanner

Windows Live OneCare is a collection of free tools that allow users to remove unwanted files and programs, such as viruses and malware, from their computer and improve the computer’s overall performance. It features a safety scanner, a protection tool, a “clean up” tool, a “tune up” tool. The safety scanner, specifically, allows users to scan for and remove viruses, worms, trojans, and a wide variety of other malicious software that causes harm to the user’s computer.

McAfee Stinger

McAfee Stinger is a free virus protection program that is able to scan for and removal specific viruses on the user’s computer. McAfee Stinger is not as functional as other virus removal programs but is made more for targeting specific viruses and malware that other virus removal programs generally have a hard time removing. McAfee Stinger is easy to use and can remove virtually any virus that is listed in the “List Viruses” section of the program.

Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner

Kaspersky is a company that provides several virus protection options including free, online virus scanning. The Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner is able to scan the user’s computer and remove viruses and other threats without requiring the user to download any software. Kaspersky also provides a free file scanner that allows users to check online to see if a specific file is a virus or other malicious program.