Serious Discussion Free Anti-Virus?

Your post was thorough and complete, I just want to add a small update about Avast nagging popups, there is a new setting to control it so you can get rid of it without a hassle:
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Blocking "avastui" in your firewall or Avast firewall can stop upsell popups without interfering with protection or alerts.
 
Avira shot.png
Does Avira have any ads? Can those limited free and paid features be removed and just antivirus component left?
Yes it has a few alerts but nothing in comparison to Avast/AVG but you can`t turn the pop ups off without upgrading. I`m finding it pretty unobtrusive overall.

Regards Eck :)
 
For a good free AV I am always torn between Avast Free and Bitdefender Free.
In terms of resource usage (CPU and RAM) Avast Free is lighter than Bitdefender Free.
In terms of add-ons to the basic protection Avast Free has the basic firewall, second level ransomware protection and control of violations of your email address associated with the Avast account.
As for behavioral analysis both have a good behavioral analysis even if some say that Bitdefender's is better than Avast's (I have not seen certain proof yet and cannot express an opinion. Avast's seems to work well anyway).
So the balance seems to tip more towards Avast Free, even if Bitdefender Free is an excellent choice.
 
Can any of you say if Bitdefender Free's behavioral protection is better than Avast Free's?
Possibly an opinion from the most experienced.
From my personal experience while testing BD Free's Advanced Threat Defense seems equal compared to Avast Free's behavioral protection features...

You might take a look to the tests done in 2022/2023 for the Malware Hub, Avast Free is also included there: Malware Hub: Samples