Battle Avast Free, Kaspersky Free or AVIRA Free?

[danielsak]

Hello,
which should I install on laptop without SSD drive? I had AVIRA Free but I think it's really heavy use my hard drive on startup.

I have Windows 8.1 on this laptop.

Thanks for replies.

 

[RoboMan]

Hm... sounds good. Any Bloatware?

I use Windows Defender Browser Protection for Chrome. (And others)
I don't want to use Defender ransomware protection because it blocks all programs from accessing files in Documents-Library, but that is the Folder I use most. So I guess it will be a huge improvement.

KFA works really smooth and great in Windows 10. I haven't seen any issues when I tested it, maybe just recommendations to update to the full suite, nothing you can't handle. Pair it with VoodooShield or OSArmor and you should be set, in my opinion

 

[Sunshine-boy]

Any Bloatware?

hotspot shield VPN but you can remove it.

 

[BigWrench]

Check the Malware Hub....
Kaspersky Free. Hands down.

 

[Yellowing]

Nice. Unfortunately first installation failed with again, no particularly useful error message. I deactivated NVT ERP and ReHIPS (Which I am just testing besides ERP) beforehand but that wasn't enough apparently. Can't think of much else blocking execution of setup.

 

[cruelsister]

Regarding Bloatware- personally I see no issue in a company actively trying to get me to upgrade and/or use something else. It's the 'FreeWare" apps that give me pause. It is a truism in the Advertisement World that if something is "Free" You are actually the product being sold (Think about it...).

 

[Yellowing]

It is a truism in the Advertisement World that if something is "Free" You are actually the product being sold (Think about it...).

Yes, but "you being sold" is mostly the case. If you bought that software or not. You just have 100% certainty that it is the case with free software.

 

[RoboMan]

Regarding Bloatware- personally I see no issue in a company actively trying to get me to upgrade and/or use something else. It's the 'FreeWare" apps that give me pause. It is a truism in the Advertisement World that if something is "Free" You are actually the product being sold (Think about it...).

This is true, there's no revenue on offering a free product without any reward. Sadly, many "free" products besides from spamming advertisements about their paid ones, also make your system a telemetry datacenter. Avast is a clear case of this. I have no issue about them offering me AIS, but I have seen more telemetry on their free AV and CCleaner than I have seen from Microsoft itself. There's a cost for freeware and I'm certainly not paying it. I'd rather pay for a suite, which is actually cheaper than my information

 

[petersaints]

I have used both Avast and Avira in the past, but Avast had been my go to choice until I had a few issues with it when the first Windows 10 major update came out. I ended up ditching all third party AVs since then and I have been relying on Windows Defender alone. I have no problems with it, aside from possibly a few slowdowns on some I/O intensive operations (e.g., file copying and when installing big software packages).

Recently I decided to give the new Kaspersky Free 2019 a try and it seems nice. It's a shame that I can't directly control which components are enabled. However, I'm able to change their behavior to fit my needs under the "Additional" Settings section.

The only thing I really like to change is the Network monitoring settings to avoid any possible performance and connection issues caused by it. I usually just turn it off completely, but at the very least I disable SSL traffic interception traffic because I HATE the idea of third party software replacing the website's software with their own. I'm basically promoting a man-in-the middle attack on my own machine!

That said, let's see if it keeps working nicely for the next few days. If it does I'll keep it. If not, I'll just give up on third party AVs again and move back to the "good old" Windows Defender.

 

[uninfected1]

It's a while since I used Avast but there were too many problems to mention, and when I tried to uninstall it it proved to be very troublesome, even using the official removal tool plus rezjor's unofficial one. Plus the product is now far more bloated than when I used it and I also don't like the direction Avast appear to be heading.

I tried Avira recently and, as on previous occasions, it made my rather elderly computer noticeably sluggish.

The new version of KFA with System Watcher (actually KSC for me with added configurability) has been a pleasure to use. Paired with OSArmor it has no discernible system impact and I can't really fault it. The only slight issue I've found is full scans cause temperatures to rocket so I've set scans to manual and instead will use alternative on demand scanners.

So for me it's an easy decision. Another vote for Kaspersky.

 

[ForgottenSeer 67480]

Avast is paranormal antivirus and he always been cuz of all his unfunny BSOD'S and slowing down the computer.

 

[DeepWeb]

I would rather have nothing than any of those 3. Paying $20-30 for a discounted AV is not too much if you spread it out to the year. Less than $3 a month. In exchange, no tracking, no ads, all of the features.

 

[harlan4096]

The only slight issue I've found is full scans cause temperatures to rocket so I've set scans to manual and instead will use alternative on demand scanners.

I think full scans are overrated... I don't run one in my systems for long years, that option should be deleted from most of the products , I only run a Quick Run Scan, tweaking the settings and adding some other risky system folders where the malware usually attack...

 

[JM Safe]

I would suggest Kaspersky Free, simple to configure and powerful.

 

[Kuttz]

The new version of KFA with System Watcher (actually KSC for me with added configurability) has been a pleasure to use. Paired with OSArmor it has no discernible system impact and I can't really fault it. The only slight issue I've found is full scans cause temperatures to rocket so I've set scans to manual and instead will use alternative on demand scanners.

So for me it's an easy decision. Another vote for Kaspersky.

Just fix your PC cooling rather than trying to fix it through Anti Virus ?

 

[cruelsister]

I am no fan of Kaspersky on the Enterprise level, but for Home Users the AV definitions are the absolute best. Avira has lost any meaningful consideration quite a while ago, and Avast- even with the bogus "hardened mode"- cannot hold a candle to K.

 

[Duotone]

Kaspersky Free would be the best option...

 

[Behold Eck]

Edit NOT Avast purely because of the zero day protection it offers is a bit soft.

Regards Eck

 

[cruelsister]

Eck- Not even close to K, and I hate K.

 

[Behold Eck]

Eck- Not even close to K, and I hate K.

CS - Really that bad ?? I`ll go with your"heads up," Kaspersky it is then and will change my vote accordingly.

I hate both

Regards Eck

 

[cruelsister]

Eck- Understand that I have the upmost contempt for all traditional AV's- this being said, for all malware D+3 or older the detection capabilities of Avira, Avast, Kaspersky will be identical.

For D+2 malware, Avira fails (see one of my recent videos), but Avast and K are pretty much similar.

For D+1 malware K edges out Avast, but it is close.

But for malware newer than 24 hours,, K cleans Avast's clock. Sadly, having no life, I actually monitor these things; it gives me no pleasure confessing that K is excellent and that I am so much a Geek.