Battle Avira vs AVG vs Panda (since I'm having problems with Avast)

[petersaints]

Hey guys, I'd like to know which of these two antivirus would recommend? After I upgrade to Windows 10 I'm having a few issues with Avast. I think it's related with me having VirtualBox installed, since they seem to be lessened/go away whenever I uninstall it. Maybe it's some conflict because Avast also packages VirtualBox as the virtual machine hypervisor for its sandboxing/behavioral blocking component. It has been hard to determine because the problems seem mostly to be random explorer.exe freezes and crashes, which are hard to test and reproduce consistently but that are very annoying. Nevertheless, this is not the first time that Avast has let me down by buying a bit buggy and by "messing" a bit with my system, so I guess that I want to leave it behind for now.

That said... I'm thinking about leaving Avast alone, at least temporarily. Turning myself to one of the other "classic" free antivirus, Avira or AVG, was what immediately came to my mind. So I took a look at a few tests (e.g., AV-Comparatives and AV-TEST), reviews and opintions by Googling and came to realize that Avira seems to be a superior product. It seems better in every way, except that it seems to lack any kind of behavioral blocker, such as Avast DeepScreen and AVG Identity Protection. Avira is a purely signature based antivirus with an heuristics engine that runs some static analysis, it has no dynamic analysis that runs a suspicious file through a dynamic behavioral analysis like Avast and AVG? Am I right? This is the only thing that is giving second thoughts on whether I should go with Avira or AVG.

Meanwhile, while doing my research about Avira and AVG, I also came across Panda Free Antivirus, which also seems to do well in some lab tests. Does it have behavioral blocking? Do you recommend it over AVG or Avira (or even Avast)?

Please share your opinion about these products, and also if Avast is vastly superior to all of them so that if I may actually want to go back to it in the future if I find that the issues I'm experiencing have been fixed. And also feel free to leave other suggestions besides your opinion that may make sense as viable alternatives.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

It seems you are an intermediate-advanced user.

Have you tried Comodo? Give Comodo Internet Security a try....

 

[nissimezra]

i know qihoo do cheating on that test, but Tecent and Baidu no do have any document for show they do cheating also?

Yes. Avira is extremely good, being able to compete directly with BitDefender and Kaspersky in terms of signatures. But I'm afraid that it lacks in the zero day departament. However, I usually don't do anything that dangerous on my PC that would expose me to zero days threats (or so I believe). So Avira may actually be a good choice. It is also extremely light from what I've seen. It seems lighter than Avast, even though there are tests that place it as a little bit heavier.

AVG signatures are a bit more "average", but they have a behavioral blocker component. However, on most tests, even the ones that are supposed to contain zero day threats, Avira usually comes o top of AVG. So it is probably not that good. Also, from the little bit I tested it seems a bit heavier to run than Avira in terms of CPU power (the only resource that I'm really concerned since I have more than enough RAM).

Regarding Panda, it seems interesting... but as I said above I tried to install it after I posted the opening post and it just killed my Internet connection. I didn't troubleshoot much, but as soon as I uninstall it (even before rebooting) the Internet connection starts to work well again. Maybe it's some incompatibility with Windows 10. Either way, for the time being is out of the table.

I also tested Qihoo 360 Total Security and it immediately detected a service I use (https://www.pushbullet.com/apps) as being malicious. So it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. On top of that their extra stuff is a bit intrusive, so I'd probably prefer Qihoo 360 Total Security Essential if I would go with their product.


1. That's what I've done for years. In fact, I used caution and actually disabled Windows Defender for extra performance. However, I still don't know how, I've got a ransomware into my PC a few months ago so I decided to look for something better. I mean, the best free options are usually better than the built-in Windows Defender, right?
2. I'm not sure if it is the best, but it sure has a lot of features and engines. That said, what would you recommend enabling? BitDefender or Avira? So that I don't have as many engines enabled slowing down the system?
3. That would be an option if I felt that I was really really in danger and that the free options are not enough. But thanks for the advice.
4. That's also true, I'll probably check Avast in a few months.

The only thing that will protect your files from ransomware is offline back up, meaning not connected to the internet only for back up. no other AV will protect you files.
Once your files are backed up and you have an image to restore you could use the built in Windows.

I wouldn't buy an AV as long as Qihoo 360 is around.
As for Qihoo engines I would stick to the cloud engine since in all my tests it is more than enough.
But, make sure that you have a stable internet connection. Qihoo is a dummy if the internet connection is dropped.
Even slow internet connection can cause qihoo not to response.

 

[omidomi]

It seems you are an intermediate-advanced user.

Have you tried Comodo? Give Comodo Internet Security a try....

Worst detection
Good BB

not recommanded

 

[MagicTrout]

Yes. Avira is extremely good, being able to compete directly with BitDefender and Kaspersky in terms of signatures. But I'm afraid that it lacks in the zero day departament. However, I usually don't do anything that dangerous on my PC that would expose me to zero days threats (or so I believe). So Avira may actually be a good choice. It is also extremely light from what I've seen. It seems lighter than Avast, even though there are tests that place it as a little bit heavier.

AVG signatures are a bit more "average", but they have a behavioral blocker component. However, on most tests, even the ones that are supposed to contain zero day threats, Avira usually comes o top of AVG. So it is probably not that good. Also, from the little bit I tested it seems a bit heavier to run than Avira in terms of CPU power (the only resource that I'm really concerned since I have more than enough RAM).

Regarding Panda, it seems interesting... but as I said above I tried to install it after I posted the opening post and it just killed my Internet connection. I didn't troubleshoot much, but as soon as I uninstall it (even before rebooting) the Internet connection starts to work well again. Maybe it's some incompatibility with Windows 10. Either way, for the time being is out of the table.

I also tested Qihoo 360 Total Security and it immediately detected a service I use (https://www.pushbullet.com/apps) as being malicious. So it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. On top of that their extra stuff is a bit intrusive, so I'd probably prefer Qihoo 360 Total Security Essential if I would go with their product.


1. That's what I've done for years. In fact, I used caution and actually disabled Windows Defender for extra performance. However, I still don't know how, I've got a ransomware into my PC a few months ago so I decided to look for something better. I mean, the best free options are usually better than the built-in Windows Defender, right?
2. I'm not sure if it is the best, but it sure has a lot of features and engines. That said, what would you recommend enabling? BitDefender or Avira? So that I don't have as many engines enabled slowing down the system?
3. That would be an option if I felt that I was really really in danger and that the free options are not enough. But thanks for the advice.
4. That's also true, I'll probably check Avast in a few months.

The only reason with Qihoo and it's large amount of false positives is because of it's base engine, if Avira and Bitdefender engine are enabled the false positives will be extremely minimal. I found from when i tested it was that it detected Steam files as being rogue malicious files which is obviously untrue. You will have a much better time with the other engines enabled.

 

[JakeXPMan]

I would have voted Panda, it works great... too bad it stopped internet connection ??!

I VOTE: Avira ! Could use a good firewall but its a nice AV, light and smooth scans, removes pretty well.

I like AVG as well, but can be a "love it" or "hate it" for its user. I'm in the middle of that opinion

 

[hjlbx]

@petersaints

I have tested Avira against malwares. While Avira has excellent signatures and is a scanner on steroids, there are problems:

• It will not protect Windows firewall.
• It will not protect browser settings.
• It will not protect against malicious scripts.
• It does not add outbound notifications to Windows firewall.

In short, there are much better freeware options than Avira, AVG and Panda.

Qihoo in all likelihood would work well for you. It is much more comprehensive and performs better than those you are considering. Plus, it's got a high-degree of automation that appeals to certain users.

Qihoo is perceived negatively, but in all honesty, it's all based upon principles rather than the practical aspects of the soft itself.

You should at least consider it, if not evaluate it outright on your specific system. You just might love it.

If Qihoo doesn't work out, then you can take a gander at Bitdefender free.

There's Comodo too - but, be forewarned, CIS can be over-whelming for the absolute novice. If you opt for Comodo then stick with default settings and then explore it over time until you are comfortable with advanced configuration.

 

[nissimezra]

3 free AV to consider
avast
qihoo
MSE\WD
why?
these 3 will not kill your system.

 

[Rolo]

The only reason with Qihoo and it's large amount of false positives is because of it's base engine, if Avira and Bitdefender engine are enabled the false positives will be extremely minimal. I found from when i tested it was that it detected Steam files as being rogue malicious files which is obviously untrue. You will have a much better time with the other engines enabled.

I can say that this isn't the case: QVM will still be false-positive-happy and, even worse, the trusted files somehow get flagged again at some point in the future. This is why I stopped using Qihoo and would recommend for it's detection and other capabilities but seriously caveat that with really annoying false-positives.

 

[Rolo]

Avira & Panda have popup ads--those things, y'know, that malware does. Antimalware shouldn't act like malware. If AVG Free (I just installed it to give it a whirl) doesn't have popups (I'm assuming unchecking the "advisor" notifications will have that effect), then I'll vote for AVG.

So far, it flagged all the PUPs I have (which is a greater concern of mine than viruses and such), which is nice.

 

[petersaints]

Avira shows a popup once a day. I think that Avast does the same.
I went with Avira for the time being due to the great reviews from independent test labs and because it seemed to be lighter on resources than AVG. AVG's signature based engine is weaker than Avira's. However, they seem to have behavioral blocker on their Free version, which a plus over Avira (they don't have one at all, Free or Paid version). Right? I mean, they call it "Identity Protection" which doesn't make much sense to me, but does it work like a behavioral blocker or not?

 

[JD15]

Try Bitdefender Free Edition or Fortinet's Forticlient (Alongside Comodo Firewall it gives you great protection)

 

[Raul90]

The guys have shared some good point for you to consider here. Personally I'd pick Avira but as hjlbx has pointed out there are some lacking. If I will use Avira I'll pair it with Comodo firewall with HIPS but then again it's just me there. The best way for you to see if to make a system image backup and then try them and see how it feels to your computing style. Let it grow on you. If you decide to try another, then you just have to recover the system image that you have created and you are good to go for your trial again. Goodluck!