Battle Free Antivirus of the Year 2021 - Nomination Phase

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jackuars

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Hello and we are back for 2021 :) Usually I do these polls every 2 or 3 years, but since I have some extra time this year, why not? Let's see the WINNERS we've had for the polls in the previous years.

2020 Winner - Windows Defender
2018 Winner - Kaspersky Free Antivirus
2017 Winner - Avast Free Antivirus
2015 Winner - Qihoo Total Security

Last time Windows Defender won the nominations & the final round. This time are we expecting anything different? Let's wait and watch :)

To make these nominations/results more constructive for the end-user, please state the pros and cons for each antivirus that you nominate to help other users.

WINNER DECISION: 2 Phases

NOMINATE AT MOST: 2 Products
NOMINATION PHASE: 4th Dec - 10th Dec

FINAL POLL: 5 Products (most nominated)
POLL PHASE: 11th Dec - 17th Dec

WINNER DECLARATION: 18th Dec

Paid Antivirus nominations to start after this :D

CURRENT NOMINATION STANDINGS (votes) - Till @ there may be more votes
Note: If I can't edit this post anymore, please check for my following posts for latest standings

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Evjl's Rain

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I don't think this year will be any difference. Kaspersky or especially MS Defender will be top again because more and more users are using MD

For me, the most complete free AV must be Kaspersky because it has almost everything jackuars mentions except ransomware/folder protection.The downside is the performance impact when I open a random folder with many exe

I currently use Wisevector because it has the best balance between performance and protection. It's much lighter than MD and Kaspersky. It's not as powerful and consistent as Kaspersky
 

jackuars

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I don't think this year will be any difference. Kaspersky or especially MS Defender will be top again because more and more users are using MD
Unfortunately you are right, in the free antivirus segment, there might not be a big difference unless a major vendor made a splash into the freeware market. These polls are best done triennially.

Maybe a "Most Improved product" version of the poll might be more effective.
 

Evjl's Rain

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Unfortunately you are right, in the free antivirus segment, there might not be a big difference unless a major vendor made a splash into the freeware market. These polls are best done triennially.

Maybe a "Most Improved product" version of the poll might be more effective.
sadly, I haven't seen any improvement in any of the free AVs. They mostly stay the same or they become slightly weaker in a short period of time due to the pandemic (kaspersky). The fact is kaspersky has performed worse in recent tests
 

SeriousHoax

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1. Microsoft Defender, because it's already there and improving its protection every year.
2. Avast Free, because it's light & fast at almost everything and offers brilliant protection.
Not nominating Kaspersky Free, because of its occasional high CPU usage, mainly during browsing. It also makes my PC's fan speed up from time to time and I haven't found a solution to this in the last one and half years.
 
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