Battle Free Antivirus of the Year 2017 [Nominations Thread]

[jackuars]

So we're back again after 2 years Back in 2015 Qihoo Total Security was our winner. Let's see who takes the gRAND pRIZE this year.

• The winner will be decided in 2 PHASES.
• This thread will be a NOMINATION THREAD.The 5 most nominated products from this thread will be considered for the POLL THREAD in the next phase
• How many products can you nominate? : You can nominate atmost 2 products [only free]. It can be Antivirus or Internet security or Total Security products
• This thread will be closed on 20-12-2017 and a new poll thread will be opened for the second phase from 20-12-2017 to 29-12-2017.
• The WINNER will be declared on 30st Dec 2017.

So let us begin!!!

(x votes by N people)
-------------------------------
PRODUCT NOMINATIONS below (till userX)
-------------------------------

 

[Sephiroth Source]

1°: Kaspersky Antivirus Free
2°: Avast Free

You could make a poll about the best 2nd opinion scanner of 2017 like: EEK X NPE X HMP X ZAM X Malwarebytes, etc

 

[MITKH]

avira

 

[jackuars]

1°: Kaspersky Antivirus Free
2°: Avast Free

You could make a poll about the best 2nd opinion scanner of 2017 like: EEK X NPE X HMP X ZAM X Malwarebytes, etc

Thanks for the suggestion. But I guess we already have a similar thread here and I don't think the list extends that many because of limited number of products.

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

Avast free and Forticlient (strange that nobody has nominated it)

 

[gin]

avast free +1

 

[Ink]

Free Antivirus vote:
Windows Defender in Windows 10 Home & Pro which is widely available for consumers and small businesses. Must be running the latest OS version to benefit from all security features and enhancements. (Can be run with other non-AV solutions for improved security).

Why I vote against Avast (from previous years):
Can no longer vouch for Avast. It's becoming the next bloatware security company with unnecessary optional and "forced" features in their Free and Paid-tier packages. Free-tier is Ad-supported on Mobile, PC & Mac. Premium requires subscription payments for Android/iOS users. Additional promoted Avast apps fall under the grey-area of so-called performance & optimization tools, which are mostly aimed at Android owners. (May affect Avast-owned AVG subsidiary).

 

[silversurfer]

Kaspersky AV Free

 

[Arequire]

If being used solo:

• Bitdefender for novice users
• Avast for intermediate users
• Comodo Cloud for advanced users

If being used with an effective secondary solution (CF, VS, SAP, HMPA) then I'd vote for Kaspersky Free.

 

[212eta]

1. Kaspersky
2. Bitdefender

 

[AtlBo]

1. Avast-cloud detection is nearly as good as Bitdefender, which can create and implement a sig across all users in like 30 minutes. Hardened mode on Aggressive is powerful, also.
2. Comodo (CCAV), but its signatures should be better, and Comodo shouldn't mess with user trimmed Trusted Vendor List via Cloud Lookup. The lack of a simple, clean, and clear and easy to understand configuration unfortunately creates a disadvantage for Comodo products. I feel the transition from unrecognized to trusted for a file or process is very critical with the program and is managed in a less than ideal manner. As @Evjl's Rain says it is for more knowledgeable users only. Two elements of the program make it worth learning for me...sandbox and firewall. Avast free doesn't have either, so for simple control something must be added...
3. I know Qihoo is down, but I will vote it third. I feel it has the most comprehensive set of options for a free a-v, other than Comodo. However, the program is in an awkwardly transional state. They've done a decent job for sure keeping the program easy to look at and work with and so on (after fighting through the ads). Yet, the shift to a pro version is not exactly smooth at this point. At any rate, looks like the free will contain all the tools now in the free, so that is something to look forward to. Also, Qihoo engineers seem very clever to me, so I am hoping to see a serious Pro version in the next year or two. Of course, I am also hoping that it is built around the free engine, so that the free will continue to receive primary developmental considerations and updates. This is an important issue I am keeping an eye on. Still too bad the ads must be blocked. I won't bad mouth them, because of where the company is and has come to this point. Just hope things become more elegant in the future with the free program and ads. Boot ads are awful ...

Haven't tried Bitdefender free or Kaspersky free a-v, but I sense they are similar. Honestly, Bitdefender's sig deployment is crazy. However, I like the additional elements that are found in Comodo and Qihoo, so I will just say that at this point at least one of these two should be on my list in place of Qihoo and then the other one in 4th. Still I respect the stand Qihoo has made in their free program about baseline protection, as represented in the tools.

 

[Deleted member 65228]

I'll vote for Avast Free Anti-Virus.

Reasoning:
- They offer a whole wide range of protection for free.
- Customisation is simple and effective. E.g. Hardened Mode, configuration for protection components.
- They have a very large team overall for software engineering, maintenance of databases, cloud network maintenance, customer support, etc.

I wanted to go with Bitdefender or Kaspersky, however they don't offer as much as Avast do for free. This doesn't mean that Avast is "better" because they offer more, because more is not always better for protection. However, under the circumstances of which one I think deserves my vote, it is Avast because they do put in a lot of work for a free product, despite making a mint off data collection.

 

[Behold Eck]

1 Kaspersky( closely followed by Avast)

Regards Eck

 

[RmG152]

Comodo internet security.
Windows defender

 

[mike6688]

1. Comodo, for the amount of protection they offer for free and the sandbox. Also their signature detection has improved significantly.
2. Avast, also for the amount of stuff they offer for free.

Whilst signatures may be better with Kaspersky or Bitdefender, I find the free versions lack some of protection offered by avast and Comodo especially: zero day protection; ransomware protection and behaviour blocking.

 

[CMLew]

My only Vote: Window Defender.

 

[Pat MacKnife]

1) Kaspersky Free Antivirus ( no ads and nags)
2) Panda Free Antivirus ( ads can be disabled)

 

[toto]

I am using windows defender on my laptop and testing AVG Internet Security in a virtual machine ( because I have a one year license that I can use).
I used to be a big fan of avast but seeing install through a PUP without any intention by the user to install it, and after the problems it gave me on my own system, I am not using it anymore.
Windows Defender is not enough for the novice user that doesn't look where he/her is clicking but it is light on the system and offers decent protection for my needs. So if windows defender gets to the top 5, it will be my choice.

 

[jackuars]

So the final results for the nominations are out, thanks to all for your votes. The Top 5 highlighted products will finally contest in the next phase for the Free Antivirus of the Year 2017. Do vote in the poll and let's see who all wins the bet
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product (Votes)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avast (34)
Kaspersky (24)
Windows Defender (10)
BitDefender (8)
Panda (8)
Comodo (4)
Avira (2)
FortiClient (2)
Zonealarm (2)
Qihoo (1)
ClamAV (1)
SecureAPlus (1)
AVG (1)
Zemana (1)

 

[CodaPG]

Windows Defender and Panda Free

 

[jackuars]

Hi, this thread is now closed. Your votes are supposed to go to this poll thread: Help Me Decide - Free Antivirus of the Year 2017 [Poll Thread]