Battle Free and paid security software

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Nikos751

Level 20
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Malware Tester
Feb 1, 2013
969
In general I 've come up to the following regarding mainstream free antivirus applications and the majority of average users on this planet.
Let's take some of the well known AV's.
Comodo offers comprehensive security but it's very buggy. Avast cannot provide that level of security but it's more user friendly and has less bugs. Avira is generally trouble free but nowadays it cannot reach the other two mentioned regarding protection.
Summary: Every free AV lacks something so the best for most people seeking a free product is a "well-rounded" solution like Avast free. And as you can see, Avast is the most widely used antivirus product in the world.
For advanced users things change as they may use combo's, add third party tools, harden windows features or just be careful using simple security solutions like MSE, or everything else suit their needs.
I referred to only three products, but I believe they are quite representative.
For paid products it's relatively easy to find a generally better solution like Eset or Kaspersky and it's a fact that they can remove malware better than free AV's. Also, they offer additional support from experts.
What do you think?
 
D

Deleted member 2913

I find Bitdefender free better & effective than Avast & other free AVs for average users.
Avast is becoming bloat day after day.

Bitdefender free is very stable now. The way it works is also good for average users. Every 2 days a quick scan & every week a deep scan is automatically performed. Early boot scan. It has disinfection too, not all free AVs has disinfection. Updates are often. Signatures/generic/heur is very good. Active Virus Control is one of the best in the market. Webshield is very good in both malicious & phishing protection. Quarantine is rescan after every update. Light & effective. No bloats. Provides the same core protection as paid BD products.

Comodo Internet Security is an excellent products but for advanced-intermediate users. Its not buggy. What bugs you faced?
 
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Y

yigido

Which bug did you face on Comodo usage period ? Can you tell me the truth ? I realy wonder it. People say Comodo is buggy, but I did not see any bug in it. (I do not mention about betas)

You said paid ones better than free ones on removing threats.. I think it is not true, sorry about it.
I did not see the difference free vs paid. You paid for security product and you got some features next to essential security. (AV)
Comodo gives all free..in my experience there is no difference between free and paid CIS about detection,protection,prevention and REMOVİNG..

if you want the FREE BEST : Comodo IS
if you want best paid ones : Kasp.. ESET etc ( I have never use a paid AV )
 

Nikos751

Level 20
Thread author
Verified
Malware Tester
Feb 1, 2013
969
I find Bitdefender free better & effective than Avast & other free AVs for average users.
Avast is becoming bloat day after day.

Bitdefender free is very stable now. The way it works is also good for average users. Every 2 days a quick scan & every week a deep scan is automatically performed. Early boot scan. It has disinfection too, not all free AVs has disinfection. Updates are often. Signatures/generic/heur is very good. Active Virus Control is one of the best in the market. Webshield is very good in both malicious & phishing protection. Light & effective. No bloats. Provides the same core protection as paid BD products.

I agree that Avast has become bloated and a bit heavier than before.
Bit defender is said to be buggy, I tried to install BD iS 2014 on my laptop and it could not complete installation, it hang at some point. On my desktop installed just fine. Now I don't have it on any of my PC's.
Except from that, I believe BD free is as you say, there are always exceptions to a rule.

Which bug did you face on Comodo usage period ? Can you tell me the truth ? I realy wonder it. People say Comodo is buggy, but I did not see any bug in it. (I do not mention about betas)

You said paid ones better than free ones on removing threats.. I think it is not true, sorry about it.
I did not see the difference free vs paid. You paid for security product and you got some features next to essential security. (AV)
Comodo gives all free..in my experience there is no difference between free and paid CIS about detection,protection,prevention and REMOVİNG..

if you want the FREE BEST : Comodo IS
if you want best paid ones : Kasp.. ESET etc ( I have never use a paid AV )

Check my post here http://malwaretips.com/threads/why-some-people-think-comodo-full-of-bugs.23800/#post-171116 . I really tried to love Comodo but I just couldn't. Maybe defaults give a somewhat more trouble free experience but a product should not be designed that way if this is the case.
In my initial post, I refer to mainstream free and paid products. CIS paid is not mainstream.

After all I want to share my opinion and hear other members views on it as I may be wrong. ;)
 

Nikos751

Level 20
Thread author
Verified
Malware Tester
Feb 1, 2013
969
Yeah I must say I have been using CIS 7 and I have not encountered a single bug, it's probably the smoothest, lightest AV I have ever used and I have tried a lot and considering it's a suite AV/Firewall I say it's by far the best free product of it's kind I have seen and rivals top paid products.
As for protection I fully agree with you. It's scanner may not remove malware as it should but CCE can do a very good job. When it works ok, it's really smooth and fast.
 

Littlebits

Retired Staff
May 3, 2011
3,893
The only kind of users that might benefit from comprehensive security products are the users who recklessly click and download suspicious files from unknown sources. Products that have comprehensive protection still fail to protect these users because they will simply disable the protection to run a new fake game, fake flash player update, fake codec, etc. (which is really malware). These products are too complex for most users, the users who do know how to use them correctly should also known how to safely download files, keep their system updated and utilize UAC prompts therefore they are not necessary.
Users that pay attention and don't download suspicious files and utilize UAC prompts don't need comprehensive security products.

With that being said, I only recommend a few security products.

Free:
1. Avast- can be custom installed to remove features not needed (therefore it will not be bloated).
2. Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender on 8/8.1- UAC will block any threat if you always make sure you only approve safe processes.
3. Avira- also can be custom installed to remove features not needed, but is a little heavy on false alerts.
4. Panda Cloud- is very light but also a little heavy on false alerts.

The only paid product that I will recommend is ESET since it is worth the price.

Malware don't magically appear on your system, you must do something to allow it.

HIPS products are no longer needed on modern Windows since UAC is available which offers better protection anyways.

Thanks. :D
 

Cats-4_Owners-2

Level 39
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 4, 2013
2,800
Our XP uses Avira Free, though I had to disable our guest account (no Real Time protection) which turned out to be a vunerable Achilles Heel for guests w/o Admin rights on XP. I had Bitdefender Free back when it was not compatible (yet) with Windows 8/8.1, so a system refresh :confused:(back to factory specs) swept everything including :eek:all added apps away!:oops::rolleyes: I understand it was fix & is quite stable now.;) ..but now I'm a true believer in Windows defaults (spelled F-r-e-e) Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, & UAC (with a heaping helping serving of hospitality & "common sense"!):D Little bits & company (+ staff here) have made me a convert! o_O"Luke, if you only knew the power of the free side!:p Listen to the FORCE ..& don't ignore UAC!":D
 
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