Battle FREE AV for absolutely clueless users? NO YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION

[Evjl's Rain]

hello, I would like to pick an AV for other people when they ask me to install an AV

I love avast free but the problem is avast does not automatically renew its license or users are most likely to ignore all messages to confirm license subscription

what I want are
- FREE AV for complete noobs, who can only open the browser, word, excel and refuse to learn everything else
- no yearly subscription system, or it can renew automatically without user's interaction
- Relatively good signatures
- as light as possible
- Good proactive features
- If the proactive features are not the best, it should be able to pair with other security tools
- no Chinese AV, please. Too many nags and traps
- I don't care about privacy thingy. I just need it to work. In my country, privacy is close to 0 and almost nobody cares. Online banking is not a frequent activity
- works on windows 7

My initial options
- Bitdefender free: not the lightest but good enough
- panda free: the lightest but it's panda
- Kaspersky free??? it has a 356-day subscription but not sure it would renew automatically
- AVG free: the last time I saw it didnt have subscription like avast free

against:
- sophos free
- Qihoo 360
- Tencend
- Mcafee
- (avast)
- MSE

 

[Evjl's Rain]

@Evjl's Rain

A few things about Bitdefender Free based upon previous years' experience:

1. BD Free will not always move the malicious file to quarantine; it will leave it in-place and it must be manually deleted (clueless person is like "What ?").
2. During an infection BD Free will also reset browser homepage (e.g. IE to blank About) and Windows Explorer to default settings (clueless person is like "What ?" again).
2.1 BD Free just "does stuff" without explanation (clueless person is like "What ?").
3. There is little to no support for BD Free from Bitdefender.
4. BD Free doesn't get updated like it should.

Kaspersky Free would be better alternative if the subscription question is answered.

Some clueless person would love BD Free while another would love Kaspersky Free, but their systems wouldn't. LOL.

thank you for this
I also tested BD free myself in the past but I wasn't impressed and there is no way to force an update or to know what the update interval is
I admit there is zero support from BD. Very poor. My question is never answered

I'm looking forward to KFA's subscription confirmation but not sure where to ask

 

[509322]

The truth is, because clueless types require so much intensive support, one is better off providing them a list and letting them figuring it out for themselves unless they are someone to which one is committed - like a family member or close friend.

 

[bribon77]

Well my first option would be KFA seems simple, I'm not clear about Renew. Another serious option, Panda I do not know what you think?

 

[509322]

thank you for this
I also tested BD free myself in the past but I wasn't impressed and there is no way to force an update or to know what the update interval is
I admit there is zero support from BD. Very poor. My question is never answered

I'm looking forward to KFA's subscription confirmation but not sure where to ask

I am going to run Kaspersky Free in VM with only 2 GB RAM in a VM. I will let you know how it performs.

 

[legendcampos]

My suggestions
1 option WD + VS
2 option BD Free
3 option Sophos

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Well my first option would be KFA seems simple, I'm not clear about Renew. Another serious option, Panda I do not know what you think?

I don't have a chance to test panda thoroughly on my own machine so I don't have the final conclusion
but in malware hub test I did ~2-4 times, panda was really poor compared to avast free. Perhaps, panda is good against widely spread malwares, not rarer malwares. The impression is it's super lightweight

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

I use Windows Defender+Malwarebytes Premium+Zemana Premium(realtime protection turned off, I use it as an on-demand scanner)+Heimdal Pro+Voodoo-Shield Pro+HitmanPro and some good VPN services, I know all this is not free but Windows Defender is, and is it not as good as any free alternative you can find?

 

[Evjl's Rain]

I use Windows Defender+Malwarebytes Premium+Zemana Premium(realtime protection turned off, I use it as an on-demand scanner)+Heimdal Pro+Voodoo-Shield Pro+HitmanPro and some good VPN services, I know all this is not free but Windows Defender is, and is it not as good as any free alternative you can find?

the problem is most people are using windows 7 in my country because many of them don't have enough resources to handle windows 10, they would install w7 back anyway
MSE on windows 7 is no where near windows 10's WD and because they are happy clickers, I truly think WD or MSE are definitely not good enough. There is no Windows version in my language and English skills of people are very very basic or they don't understand English at all
That's why I would like to opt-in an absolutely automated AV which decides without user interaction
avast is a great option but because of the licensing problem, I have to find another one

 

[show-Zi]

Until several years ago avira met the requirements ...
Until "connect" comes out ...

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

bitdefender is real good.

 

[Daegia]

my opinions
_______________________________________________________
Good AV Overall
Bitdefender Free Security has a small, compact, and a flat simple interface easy for people who are just looking for a lightweight but effective security solution on their system.

Pros:
+ Protection from Viruses and Malware.
+ Protection from Threats on the web.
+ Lightweight operation.

Cons:
- Lack of settings in the program.
___________________________________________________________________
Good AV Overall #2
Kaspersky Free Antivirus is also a good option for people looking for free protection but with a lot more settings.

Pros:
+ Protection from Viruses and Malware
+ Lightweight operation
+ Has Web Protection
Cons:
- A lot of settings so the user might get confused.
___________________________________________________________________
Avast and AVG...
They are literately the same program, but just has a different UI, although somethings are identical to one another.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

FortiClient with caveat.

You need to go into settings and toggle 'Automatically download and install updates', this is program updates. Otherwise it will lock itself into whatever LTS version you install and it upgrades to and NEVER upgrade without a manual install over the existing install. Ensure all of the extra protection is on, enable Zoo signatures and walk away.

As long as you do that, I find FortiClient to be perfectly good for normal Joe's for 'years and years' without any hassles.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Note that Panda does not auto-update itself, so I would not really recommend that one, unless you are maintaining that computer, then it is a great choice.
I am always looking for AV to install and forget. Out of question (for one reason or another): WD (MSE), AVG, Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, McAfee, Sophos, 360.
That leaves Kaspersky and Fortinet (my pick, it is great). Tencent is a viable alternative to BD with customizable settings, but since you do not want Chinese AV.

EDIT: It seems, that BD displays ADs now.

 

[Faybert]

If I were to use a free one, it would certainly be Kaspersky Free, other alternatives would be ZoneAlarm Free or Avira.

 

[509322]

@Evjl's Rain

Kaspersky Free installs Kaspersky Connect - the VPN client that the user will have to manually uninstall. There is no way to opt-out of it during the installation - that is even with the paid products; it has to be uninstalled manually afterwards.

And it is a subscription. I would bet that throughout the year, product offers are going to be sent to the user's email address, as well as pop-ups on the desktop, unless they disable the product notifications in the settings.

Consumer Support Contacts

 

[Stopspying]

I know that the OP doesn't want to use Avast Free but I think its worth mentioning for others in a similar position that Avast has started to add a number of new modules into its AV, often only for paying users, but there were an increasing number of pop-ups and other actions connected to these new additions appearing in recent months. The type of user the OP is looking for an AV for might find this very confusing and/or distracting.

 

[Weebarra]

Personally if you like Avast for a windows 7 system then i would go with that or Kaspersky and drum it into the client that they need to renew it themselves, once installed, your job should be done and the onus is on the client to check when it runs out surely ? There are plenty of online translators that can give a basic translation of the renewal dates or simple instructions for them which could help, if they can browse the web then they can find a translator i'm sure.

I was and still am a novice (ish) user and even i can take the time to at least try to understand my security solution in some small way but and it's quite a big but, i only took the time after i was infected with malware as i was one of those "happy clickers" i guess and i was using MSE but even if i had had a better security solution, i probably wouldn't have understood any warning pop up i was given anyway and just proceeded with what i was doing.

 

[Ink]

Did you Ask them if they want to understand basic computer security? You could bookmark some sites containing these types of information and advice.

An AV is one-part of a multi-layered prevention solution, but most risks enter from the browser due to human error, un-patched vulnerabilities and external sources.

• Install an Ad-Blocker extension for them

Thoughts on Quad9 DNS by IBM? Some sites are blocked, click here. And few ms won't hurt the connection.

Not sure if still relevant, so check with Avast Forums if it's possible to remotely re-new licenses - you will need to be the account holder and link your PCs to this one Avast account.

It is no longer necessary to register your Avast Free Antivirus as your initial free license automatically activates after installation. When your free license expires, you can let the program automatically renew it.

via Activating Avast Free Antivirus | Official Avast Support

In my opinion, this threads sums up the following:

1. Incompetent users are dangerous and place themselves at risk! Data-loss, Privacy Invasion, Loggers and ID Theft
   
2. Running an AV on a vulnerable and out-dated OS with a medium chance that Windows Updates is disabled or pending from 6 months ago.
   
3. Expectations for a Free AV may be over-estimated.
4. Affordable Chromebook (Chrome OS) with Play Store support for Android apps
5. "Not my PC, not my problem" -- my personal choice

 

[bribon77]

Well, I think if you want to install Avast and after a year, I think you'll learn to renew it, it's not that difficult to send an email. We have all been newbies ... at least in my case I have not studied computer science, what I have learned has been the desire to learn and the mistakes made.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Thoughts on Quad9 DNS by IBM? Some sites are blocked, click here. And few ms won't hurt the connection.

Indeed, a good DNS is basics. I prefer UltraDNS though.

Try Our Free Recursive DNS Service | Neustar

Nextcraft extension is also a must to block phishing.