Battle Bitdefender Free vs. Avast Free vs AVG Free vs Panda Free

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Hello!

I have tried AVAST Free before (before acquiring AVG), AVG Free(before being bought by AVAST) and Panda Free. I was never infected because I am a careful user.
Now I am using Bitdefender Free and found it to be strong in protection and light. However, it becomes suddenly heavy and stalls my old netbook when it finds malware to clean. Also, even if I turn off its shield, its AVC will still take action - this irritates me so much (Sometimes even if exclusions have been set.)
What free antivirus could you advise which is light and effective, even those not included in the list? thanks.
Running Windows 10, Creators Update
 

Cats-4_Owners-2

Level 39
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Honorary Member
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Well-known
Dec 4, 2013
2,800
Hello!

Actually I have no grunts against Avast, it is one of the companies who respect most your privacy (with Emsisoft), great protection and lightness.

I have only one negative comment for the new software.....

GUI Glitches!

Sometimes the Main Screen is almost blank.....only showing the placeholders for the images and texts...experiencing now on my old netbook (after 30 mins of fresh install), and have seen this too on our desktop...the GUI goes blank sometimes :(
Sadly, so called "Glitches" can often be the bane in many new updates of software, and very frustrating too!:confused:
 

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Sadly, so called "Glitches" can often be the bane in many new updates of software, and very frustrating too!:confused:

Yes, this new GUI glitch is never present during their Nitro days....after some time after acquiring AVG then this glitch occurred. But of course it has nothing to do with AVG
 

JakeXPMan

Level 17
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Oct 20, 2014
804
For me it doesn't leave slow system depends on how configures, but it is fact Avira has many processes and general consumption revolves around 300k

I had opposite experience, my Avira was extremely light, and no slowdown at all. (lack of behavior block compared to others) and if it was heavy at all it was a bit of CPU during the start up but calmed to 0 to 4 percent.
 

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
I had opposite experience, my Avira was extremely light, and no slowdown at all. (lack of behavior block compared to others) and if it was heavy at all it was a bit of CPU during the start up.

When it finds malware, Avira immediately starts a system scan - then my system halts.
 
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JakeXPMan

Level 17
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Well-known
Oct 20, 2014
804
When it finds malware, Avira immediately starts a system scan - then my system halts.

I guess laptop/netbook is different. As my old single core PC was able to use Avira very well, with no conflicts, even when removing 2 minor threats.

Can you try Comodo Cloud? it has a nice sandbox, or maybe Avast ?
 
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Kuttz

Level 13
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Top Poster
Well-known
May 9, 2015
625
Bitdefender Free simply a fuss free AV with absolutely no ads. BD Free is a bit heavy on RAM but not necessarily a slow AV by any mean. General usage scenarios like opening apps, folder navigation etc BD Free is more responsive than WD despite the latter consuming much less RAM.

The other thing which is a personal opinion is that Avast runs their Free AV as a business by selling user data to 3rd parties for advertisement purposes and there is always the possibility of Avast classifying files as good adware/spyware and bad adware/spyware. BD, Kaspersky on the other hand maintains Free AVs to promote their paid AVs and also to strengthen their intelligence collection network in order to capture zero day threats even better a debatable topic indeed:whistle:.
 

Sathya

New Member
Aug 8, 2017
2
Bitdefender free uses the same engine for scanning as the one used in commercial one. No difference at all. You miss some features thats it. We all know of bitdefender reputation. Kaspersky and all other av use poor scanning engines.
 

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Bitdefender free uses the same engine for scanning as the one used in commercial one. No difference at all. You miss some features thats it. We all know of bitdefender reputation. Kaspersky and all other av use poor scanning engines.

Well I think Kaspersky has good scanning engine.

About Bitdefender, it has good engine and good behavior blocker for a free product.
 

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Bitdefender Free simply a fuss free AV with absolutely no ads. BD Free is a bit heavy on RAM but not necessarily a slow AV by any mean. General usage scenarios like opening apps, folder navigation etc BD Free is more responsive than WD despite the latter consuming much less RAM.

The other thing which is a personal opinion is that Avast runs their Free AV as a business by selling user data to 3rd parties for advertisement purposes and there is always the possibility of Avast classifying files as good adware/spyware and bad adware/spyware. BD, Kaspersky on the other hand maintains Free AVs to promote their paid AVs and also to strengthen their intelligence collection network in order to capture zero day threats even better a debatable topic indeed:whistle:.

I read in some articles before that in many AV today, the two that respect most your privacy are:

Emsisoft and Avast.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
 

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