Battle Free Antivirus hunting (opinions welcome)

[JakeXPMan]

Okay these are my top 4 based on my research,

Forticlient or Lite / AVG / Comodo / Panda

Now, my Modem/Router is firewalled does this mean I have no need for another firewall besides Windows?

I'm trying to avoid bugs, Bitdefender free worked great for a few months, light, effective, caught 2 threats and a site with malware, but! a few missing functions and quick scan went funky on the 13th and stopped its cycle, won't fix. I don't like the SLOW boot time either.

MOST IMPORTANT: Low CPU for old PC processor/Quick boot time/Installer 200MB or less/Medium to Great Detection rate.

Panda is cloud only, is that a big deal? and I read conflicting stories of praise and distain.

Foritclient , I really want to try, but don't know it that well, but sounds good from privacy policy, web block, firewall etc.

RAM use : 0-80 / CPU (I want light on CPU!, RAM doesn't matter)

Comodo, sounds interesting as well, kinda like Forticlient... but worry about interruptions, bloat and complicated setting for this "advanced-basic" user.

AVG Could it be improving in time? How's the boot up, smooth or heavy?

I don't want a China antivirus, and Avast has IP address "collecting" and unwanted extras, without the firewall However, if I'm let down, I could go this direction before Qihoo-Baidu.

Thanks and lets see your votes and talk about your past or present thoughts of using these.

 

[darko999]

Quihoo will protect your system better than all these quoted in your post, If you can afford a little fp ratio of course. Panda would be the second one, great cloud protection. Comodo is great for it's firwall with HIPS, delivering a great proactive defense against unknown threads, but Comodo suite has a poor signature detection, but it comes with a free sweet sandbox <3.

 

[Anupam]

Out of these 4 my vote is for AVG. I used it for many years. Very simple and light. Never user Forticlient so can't comment on that.

 

[Puchku Chele]

Every Antivirus has IP address collecting and I am not sure which unwanted extra you are talking about for Avast. WIth Avast you can install only the component you want to. Just use custom installation and remove whatever you don't need . Sorry I am kind of a hardcore fan of Avast Free

 

[jamescv7]

For forticlient not sure on how it performs on other way since the reviews I've saw was their web guard/filtering does very well on test.

Panda Cloud is another good choice as free AV even though undergone of problems for detection still worth to install on a system for ease to use and needs an active internet connection.

For Comodo its an obvious where the components are stronghold enough to configure for maximum protection + all components were active besides of their AV from interaction popups.

 

[JakeXPMan]

Every Antivirus has IP address collecting and I am not sure which unwanted extra you are talking about for Avast. WIth Avast you can install only the component you want to. Just use custom installation and remove whatever you don't need . Sorry I am kind of a hardcore fan of Avast Free

I had trouble uninstalling Avast once, and performace was poor, but it was two years ago.

I didn't know it had a custom feature install. + 1

 

[viktik]

use AVG.

get AVG internet security 2015 giveaway
http://malwaretips.com/threads/avg-...us-pro-2015-for-1-year-version-updated.18118/

 

[Bill7]

I would recoment comodo for it s HIPS and sandbox features

 

[jerzy601]

this list would choose AVG easy operation and good detectability.
the other on this list that I did not use them, I can not speak.

 

[tonibalas]

At first i must tell you that i have never used Forticlient so i can't help you with that.

AVG is my favorite Free AV just install and forget and the detection is always above 90% which i believe is pretty good.
As for RAM/CPU usage AVG has a lot of processes running but it isn't heavy at least on my system.

About Comodo i have been using it for a few months and i am satisfied with.
Important note: I have Comodo Antivirus not Internet Security, i don't like third party firewall and i am happy with my router firewall and Windows firewall.
Now let me begin from the end, yes Comodo offers better security when tweaked and advance users may appreciate it more BUT i am not an advanced user and i learned to config without any problem.
When Comodo is tweaked you should expect a 10% increase of boot and shut down time ( for me this is ok ).
As for RAM usage Comodo right now uses about 15MB ( tweaked ) and CPU about 1-2% on idle.It's a little heavy on CPU only during updating which is quick.

Now Default settings.
I used Comodo AV at default settings for about a month and i was surprised how light it is on my system.
About protection you have to do one change to Sandbox settings and you you are good to go.
For me, an average user, protection at default is very good. Detection is about 80% but sandbox takes care the rest.
About HIPS at default is disabled but if you want to enable it put on Learning Mode for a week and then on Safe Mode
( this is what i have done and i have very little pop ups ).

One last thing about Comodo.
You can select custom install and install just the AV and nothing else, the installer will be under 200MB.

I hope i have helped.

 

[eight]

Forticlient is a product of Fortinet Inc. :

 

[Ink]

Custom installation of AVG Free Antivirus, not used the latest version but it performs well and includes a behavioural guard (ID Protection).

No need to install the toolbar.

Various browser extensions are available for Chrome.

Microsoft Security Essentials + Sandboxie is another alternative to the above mentioned.

 

[JakeXPMan]

A lot of good options..., FortiClient I read has an easy installer, and great world protection, webblocker, with a Firewall. (runs a lot of processes)
Comodo, has HIPS, weblock, sandbox but poor/average detection. (heavy use during updates)
Panda has USB vaccine, great but at times uneven detection. (light on system, also could be heavy in some case)
AVG has Behavioural Guard, good detections and some other options. (many proccesses)

Now with Forticlient and AVG running around 6-9 processes, does that help the CPU or put more strain on it?

Now my internet usage is social media/Forums/YouTube/Net surfing (yahoo/duckduckgo) /USB flash drives, and eBay.

Does this point me into any specific direction based on how I use the internet?

 

[ifacedown]

Forticlient is very good in detection... BUT... no 0-day module. When a malware bypasses its engine... then, Forticlient has no way of resolving that, it relies heavily on signatures. Its web blocking is superior and aggressive. But also heavy. I have a 2012 netbook and could feel its heavy drag. Also, it updates veerrryyy sslllooowwwllly.

AVG - haven't tried it since version 2014. Many AVG users report of being infected.

Panda is my choice then... with MCShield to protect u against removable media viruses when ur computer is offline.

 

[JakeXPMan]

I'm actually leaning twards Panda and AVG ... which of the two has quicker boot, or lower memory usage at the welcome/desktop screen...?

 

[yigido]

You can choose Comodo, and use these settings as the @cruelsister showed Regarding Comodo
use this setting and lets try to infect your PC

 

[tonibalas]

I agree with yigido but as i said tweaking Comodo will affect your boot and shut down time.
On the other hand default settings are very good you just need to do a change in sandbox settings and you will be safe

 

[jamescv7]

I'm actually leaning twards Panda and AVG ... which of the two has quicker boot, or lower memory usage at the welcome/desktop screen...?

As Panda Cloud installed on our auntie's low spec laptop well it boots like 15-20 seconds, and considered the components are not heavy based on cloud.

 

[JakeXPMan]

I agree with yigido but as i said tweaking Comodo will affect your boot and shut down time.
On the other hand default settings are very good you just need to do a change in sandbox settings and you will be safe

There's a lot of versions of Comodo. but 8 sounds better then 7 ?

 

[yigido]

There's a lot of versions of Comodo. but 8 sounds better then 7 ?

CIS8 sandbox is stronger than all the previous versions.