Serious Discussion Best free antivirus for windows?

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There are several good options available, including Avast Free Antivirus, AVG Free Antivirus, and Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. Each has its own strengths, so choose based on your specific needs.
 
Windows defender is more than sufficient these days and should already be installed on your PC.

But if you want to use a 3rd party antivirus, here are some:
  • Kaspersky Free: Shows good scan detection rate, powerful behavior detection, runs fast with fluid performance, and has the least false positives.
  • Bitdefender Free: Performs decently in scan detection rate and great behavior detection; however, it’s a bit laggy on performance and has high false positives.
  • Avast/AVG Free: Has a nice, organized interface with a great detection rate, decent behavior detection, and has few false positives. The downside is the annoying pop-up and being a bit sluggish.
 

Comparison

www.av-comparatives.org www.av-comparatives.org

Check for real-world and malware protection and performance.

Take note that several of those tested are not the free versions.

Given that, the top four would be Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky.

My interpretation of the results:

The most complete and the one with the highest protection level is Avast. (I think Bitdefender lacks some features needed against ransomware and Kaspersky lacks the firewall.)

The one that's set-and-forget with no nags is Bitdefender. (For Avast, you can block them by enabling game mode and do not disturb, but you will only see warnings via a blue dot in the system tray icon. For Kaspersky, popups will appear once every few weeks and can't be disabled.)

The lightest is Kaspersky. You can test performance by installing, testing, and uninstalling AVs, but you have to use a test machine for that because multiple installation and uninstallation may damage the system.

I found Windows Defender one of the heaviest, but only for some tasks. (It's said to be the lightest for gaming, although several third-party AVs also have game mode.) Avast caused momentary freezes for some apps and the browser. AVG left remnants when I uninstalled. Side note: Kaspersky Standard (paid) felt heavier than the free version, and very likely because more security features are activated.

Given all that, I decided to just use Kaspersky. If they make Avast lighter, I'll switch to that. If they make Windows Defender lighter and better in terms of performance, I'll uninstall Kaspersky.
 
Avast Free and AVG Free. Don't listen to the people complaining about the nags, nowadays if you set it up right you won't get any.

Microsoft Defender is decent, but it slows down your PC, even if you don't hardened it, but if you do it, it's even worse. Its web protection only works with Edge. The ransomware protection blocks everything, you constantly need to be allowing all the new stuff.

You can even get AVG Internet Security for $2 on gaming keys websites, to have a few more extras, but the Free version is very complete, it includes a firewall and ransomware protection that does everything fully automated without asking you for any action.
 
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Templarware said:
Avast Free and AVG Free. Don't listen to the people complaining about the nags, nowadays if you set it up right you won't get any.

Microsoft Defender is decent, but it slows down your PC, even if you don't hardened it, but if you do it, it's even worse. Its web protection only works with Edge. The ransomware protection blocks everything, you constantly need to be allowing stuff.

You can even get AVG Internet Security for $2 on gaming keys websites, to have a few more extras, but the Free version is very complete, it includes a firewall and ransomware protection that does everything fully automated.
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If you turn these two off, you won't get the pop-ups. The only real nag screen is when you run a Smart scan and you have 6 Advanced issues that need to be, can only be resolved with Premium. Otherwise, just disable the Smart scan and run a Quick scan occasionally from the Other scans/Scheduled scans list, no more nag screen. The free version has been working well on 4 PC's so far.

avg no nag.jpg
 
Jonny Quest said:
If you turn these two off, you won't get the pop-ups. The only real nag screen is when you run a Smart scan and you have 6 Advanced issues that need to be, can only be resolved with Premium. Otherwise, just disable the Smart scan and run a Quick scan occasionally from the Other scans/Scheduled scans list, no more nag screen. The free version has been working well on 4 PC's so far.

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Yes, if you disable those and remove the scheduled smart scan, you almost don't get any popups. Top antivirus and lightweight, easy choice imo.
 

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