Avast Free - Are Free antivirus software good ?

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Omnipotent

Yes, Avast is a great free antivirus, It's what i used to use before switching to ESET. Upon installing only select 'File Shield' & 'Web Shield', the rest of the features aren't needed. You can also tweak Avast to make it more powerful, read Jacks guide here. Increasing the sensitivity of the protection components however may cause false positives. Other then that, i recommend you also to install Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit alongside Avast to shield your PC against exploits in common applications.

How to setup Avast Internet Security 2016 for Maximum Protection (Guide)
Anti-Exploit Premium - Premium Zero-Day Exploit Protection
 

shukla44

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Jan 14, 2016
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My cousin's laptop KIS 1 year license expired, so for the time being, i installed avira free. Now he's complaining of slowdowns overall. He's using windows 8 pro. After reading it here, i would recommend him avast free (custom install, without any bloats).

PS: Thanks folks, this thread helped me too...:);)
 
D

Deleted member 2913

I installed & uninstalled Avast.

I liked Avast & liked Hardened Mode Aggressive...good protection.

I uninstalled as had bad experience of Avast installing extensions without user input And more importantly I didn't installed extension with custom install But a day later Avast installed Online Shield And a day after Avast installed Safe Price.

Hope you dont experience the same otherwise Avast is good protection & Hardened Mode Aggressive increases protection without much prob for users.

I dont like the ads too...thats your personal preference.
 

Exterminator

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Oct 23, 2012
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Avast Free & Avast Internet Security are both excellent choices.
When you consider that Avast has a free version which provides just as good protection as some paid solutions it is acceptable to have to deal with a few ads.Ads make money and it would be a shame to loose Avast as a free product.
It is a great AV to put on the average users PC.
The company itself is a pleasure to deal with and have always been very generous to our site.
Avira free is also a good free solution although I personally prefer Avast.
 

conceptualclarity

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Aug 23, 2013
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recently, AVG free has been doing better than Avast free in testing.
but if you will use hardened mode (choose hardened/aggressive), then go with Avast.

Well, Avast will soon have put an end to that problem, when it finishes cannibalizing AVG and shuts it down after having bought it out!

I think AVG was probably the least secure AV, so it's not the worst thing that could happen.

Are Free antivirus software good ?

In recent years Qihoo 360 and Panda free have done heroically vis-`a-vis many paid AVs in testing, and Avast free has also done well at times. It seems to me that Avira and AVG are generally tested in their paid suite versions, but their frequent good results could speak well for the free versions.
 
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jamescv7

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Mar 15, 2011
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As mentioned by others, the true power of Avast comes within their supporting components, their Hardening Mode is indeed effective for blocking but if Avast stipo not detected through signatures/cloud then use other disinfection tool.

Avast may be weak in threats like ransomware but keep in mind that protection capabilities are not so flexible compare to others, which why like Hardening Mode will leave to the user as final option.
 

Ink

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Jan 8, 2011
22,361
I installed & uninstalled Avast.

I liked Avast & liked Hardened Mode Aggressive...good protection.

I uninstalled as had bad experience of Avast installing extensions without user input And more importantly I didn't installed extension with custom install But a day later Avast installed Online Shield And a day after Avast installed Safe Price.

Hope you dont experience the same otherwise Avast is good protection & Hardened Mode Aggressive increases protection without much prob for users.

I dont like the ads too...thats your personal preference.

Chrome users are notified before an extension is enabled, when installed by a third party program. The hamburger (or MD 3 dots) menu will be orange when there is an issue with the browser that needs attention.

Avast Online Security and SafePrice will not be enabled within the browser without user interaction.

Users of Avast Pro, Internet Security and Premier can disable in-app news. An Internet Security license can be easily obtained by having an Avast Account and recommending avast Free through a personalised link to 7 friends or family members.
 

ttto

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Sep 22, 2016
408
I don´t use Avast, but I used to found it very effective until a friend's PC were infected by a trojan horse, and Avast didn't even detect it. Like someone above said, other free products are doing better than Avast, actually: AVG, Avira, Panda.. I found these one a bit better than Avast, but anyway, all of them are very good products.
Although, since many years I saw near friends PCs with free AV installed get infected, and I have been using Norton since long time, and I have never had any problems.
 
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