Battle FREE AV for absolutely clueless users? NO YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
Thread author
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
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 :rolleyes:
- 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
 
Last edited:

Transhumana

Level 6
Verified
Well-known
Jul 6, 2017
271
It's quite hard to pinpoint a single free AV that would be the best choice for people who don't know anything about cybersecurity or they don't want to be bothered with it at all. If I had to choose, I'd go either with KFA + VS or Avast + VS, accompanied by Unchecky and browser extensions like uBlock Origin and HTTPS Everywhere. KFA has great signatures but I don't think that having only signature-based protection without some kind of behavior blocker is good enough. If we're talking about people that only use browser and Office, there probably wouldn't be too many prompts by VS.
But whatever you pick for them, their computers still remain vulnerable if they don't want to make some effort and learn basics, as the user himself and his decisions are probably the greatest security 'bug' and risk there.
 

RoboMan

Level 35
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jun 24, 2016
2,487
Stay away from Panda. Some months ago I installed Panda on some family member computer and two weeks later I saw it was completely disabled because it demanded to create an account or confirm with an e-mail the suscription. The interface was so laggy even I couldn't activate it.

I used to install Avast on the computers I fixed or built, but since recent updates and the bit heavy it has become, I left it out. I now install AVG Free everywhere I go if a novice user is the owner. I just configure a little bit, enable PUA and PUP detection and set the web shield and antivirus shield to maximum sensitivity.

That's all. Minimum performance impact and decent protection. Paired with Windows Firewall to avoid trouble (and works great tbh in Windows 10). AVG demands no registration nor subscription.
 

GonzitoVir

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
May 16, 2017
200
Personally using WD, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free and ZAM Free w/o any issues.
Guess what WD detected on my PC.View attachment 179397

Almost same configuration here. I tried most anti virus/malware softwares but I finally made my decision for WD + ZAL which are doing very well.
with zero resource impact in my laptop.
 

harlan4096

Super Moderator
Verified
Staff Member
Malware Hunter
Well-known
Apr 28, 2015
8,948
my opinions
___________________________________________________________________
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

Cons:
- Does not have web protection.
- A lot of settings so the user might get confused.
___________________________________________________________________
KFA has Web Protection: Web Anti-Virus settings
 

show-Zi

Level 36
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 28, 2018
2,464
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

The free version of BitDefender remembers that there are not many items to set.
In other words, even if the user is not familiar with English, it is not difficult to use.
Also, real-time monitoring by MSE. There is also a way to run on-demand scans once a week.

bitdefender is real good.:)
Your avatar looks like "Dr.Web" which turned off the green light:)
 

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
Thread author
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
it has done well on av tests but it's garbage on my personal tests on malware hub :rolleyes:
https://malwaretips.com/threads/malware-big-pack-02-02-2018-26.79539/#post-708980
https://malwaretips.com/threads/11-10-17-12.76149/#post-679426
https://malwaretips.com/threads/9-10-17-11.76075/#post-679269

by the way, the URL filtering is not working without installing the malicious Panda Safe Web extension/toolbar. Even the Toolbar in IE blocked nothing
Evjl's Rain
and Panda Security Forum - View topic - panda safe web doesn't work.
 

darko999

Level 17
Verified
Well-known
Oct 2, 2014
825
If you can't even manage to manually renew a free 365 days free license for your AV then these people should stay away from any AV. The more autopilot the AV will work the less they will be able to undo when stuff starts getting quarantined or locked down. Teach them the basics or just leave the Windows Defender for them, there is no more room.
 

tonibalas

Level 40
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 26, 2014
2,973
My suggestion would be BD Free and Kaspersky Free.
I think both of them offer good protection.
I would also like to suggest AVG Free, it was my set and forget av but i haven't use it for quite some time so i don't know how it performs these days
 

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
Thread author
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
If you can't even manage to manually renew a free 365 days free license for your AV then these people should stay away from any AV. The more autopilot the AV will work the less they will be able to undo when stuff starts getting quarantined or locked down. Teach them the basics or just leave the Windows Defender for them, there is no more room.
it's not easy to teach them unfortunately one because their english is below average or they don't want to learn more about computing. I tried but they kept forgetting after 5 minutes
I think the more lockdown the computer is, the more problem they have. They can't diagnosis and understand any problem themselves. I have been adding avast (without hardened mode) in all PCs I can and I can it has been working perfectly for them. No false positive, no malware for years
I genuinely think MSE and windows defender are not enough for them,~happy clickers. My friend told me when he first bought his laptop that it was so slow -> WD was the culprit. After switching to avast, it was much faster
 
Last edited:

darko999

Level 17
Verified
Well-known
Oct 2, 2014
825
it's not easy to teach them unfortunately one because their english is below average or they don't want to learn more about computing. I tried but they kept forgetting after 5 minutes
I think the more lockdown the computer is, the more problem they have. They can't diagnosis and understand any problem themselves. I have been adding avast (without hardened mode) in all PCs I can and I can it has been working perfectly for them. No false positive, no malware for years
I genuinely think MSE and windows defender are not enough for them,~happy clickers. My friend told me when he first bought his laptop that it was so slow -> WD was the culprit. After switching to avast, it was much faster

Well, I think language shouldn't be a problem at all. I mean I don't even speak English that well, but even if I couldn't speak english I can sure understand the basics of how today software works, I mean kids born with damn iPhones like they barely speak but can use a damn tablet believe me it's not that hard. You can surely make people understand any graphic user interface if the actual GUI is clear, software have been making big effort on simplyfing language by using symbols that are kinda universal, that stuff is present in many browsers today in their GUI and buttons, same happens in AV interfaces all over the globe, I mean in software in general. I don't think they are that ignorant and that they lack inspiration to just memorize a few symbols and concepts. But if they forget about 5 mins like you said and have no interest at all in computing why are they even bother by having or not a damn antivirus in the first place?. And good you find Avast like a good solution to your issue, but if you say they are happy clickers it's just matter of time for any AV solution on default or weak setup/configuration to fail. I can tell you that because I have clean many happy clickers computers and they had plenty of different AV installed yet they all failed on default settings. I hope Avast will keep these computers safe, and WD has improved a lot, it's not like it used to be.
 
D

Deleted member 65228

I don't think lack of willing to learn is language related either, I think it's maybe because people who aren't into security just aren't into security. Some people strive to work in a hospital, some people strive to work as a mechanic, some people strive to work in game development, some people strive to work in designing, some people strive to work as a farmer... others strive to learn in cyber-security, others don't. It's a bit like wondering why someone isn't knowledgeable about cooking lasagne, of course if they do not like the food, they likely aren't going to be great at cooking it (or have much experience at it at-least).

In fact, I don't see what your native language has anything to do with this. There's content in English, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, and also from my own native lang... Portuguese. Regardless of where you are from, there is usually content to learn from. And even if there is not, at-least they taught English from a young age here and it was pretty much wanted of you to keep doing it during schools.

Many people have responsibilities like holding down their main career, looking after their children, keeping their house clean among many other chores which are required on a daily basis, shopping for food, doing things to relax like watching some TV or going out on days off from work, family events, etc. No offence to anyone who disagree's with me but honestly I don't think it is fair to blame people, because not everyone really has time to study cyber-security even if they wanted to given the amount of tasks they may already have on their every-day to-do list.

Awareness can be increased, businesses can start ensuring that employees are properly trained in cyber-security for the sake of the protection throughout the enterprise infrastructure, but at the end of the day... There will always be weak-links in terms of cyber-security. Some people take martial arts for self-defence and thus they can better protect themselves but not everyone does potentially due to time, interest, and other factors I cannot think of right now - it's the same logic.

The security industry is never going to die, it's been more than 18 years and Anti-Virus is still in business. The popular vendors make bank from their Home end-user consumer versions of their product and they make 5x bank from their endpoint services, bear in mind I'm referring to "popular" in the real-world, vendors like Avast, Norton, and maybe not anymore but in the past, AVG and McAfee. Why? Because people grow up to using such vendors services, probably believing that it's mandatory to purchase and use them to truly be safe, and that premium will always be better than free. More often than not, they may even believe that an infection means the product doesn't work because it should have made them invincible, and this is natural expectations from them because they aren't educated.

At the same time, the malware industry is never going to die. It was huge when it was just about destruction, and then ransomware came along and helped push it into being all about generation of income via exploiting weaknesses in people (e.g. pressuring them via ransom demands to get back critical documents or prevent the leak of stolen documents). Now in the wild we have threats ranging from ransomware, banking malware, crypto-currency miners, we used to have a lot of rootkits and Win32-based "phishing" utilities if we back-step 4-6 years, among your average other malware variants.

Things aren't going to change in terms of uneducated people when it comes down to the attacks out there and general cyber-security. People will learn more often yes, but the whole world isn't going to become educated overnight. Maybe things will be better in 10 years time from now. Then again, we said this 10 years ago and look where we are now.

When I was a young teenager I said to myself, "Okay I want to be a gardener". So you know what? I became a damn good gardener. But at the same time I always had an interest in cyber-security, so I took on that interest as well. I also had a phase of wanting to be a mechanic, so I studied that for 3 years. And I also managed to gain experience in plumbing. Oh, I was also a prince and had my own real-life fire-breathing dragon and lived in a castle for 300 years. Did I tell you about the time I transformed into an alien and flew to the moon and back? But at the end of the day, I was interested in cyber-security... So it was natural of me to want to find time to study it, when I had the time I did that.

People will study what they are interested in. If it leads them down a path of becoming infected and losing money to attacker's or being damaged in any shape or form due to an attack, it's on them for not becoming educated, especially if people had tried to make them aware and they refused//simply didn't care. People learn from their mistakes, and if they don't, well... Ever heard the saying, "You cannot help someone who does not want to be helped"?

Threats in the wild will evolve, security software will evolve, we just have to deal with it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

bribon77

Level 35
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jul 6, 2017
2,392
@Evjl's Rain I think that you are taking responsibility for things that are not within your reach because if they do not want to learn you are not to blame, the English of the programs is not so difficult. You are offering them the best but if they do not put their part it is not your responsibility.
It is also inevitable that a novice will have his own experiences to learn from his own mistakes:)
 
Last edited:

show-Zi

Level 36
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 28, 2018
2,464
it's not easy to teach them unfortunately one because their english is below average or they don't want to learn more about computing. I tried but they kept forgetting after 5 minutes
I think the more lockdown the computer is, the more problem they have. They can't diagnosis and understand any problem themselves. I have been adding avast (without hardened mode) in all PCs I can and I can it has been working perfectly for them. No false positive, no malware for years
I genuinely think MSE and windows defender are not enough for them,~happy clickers. My friend told me when he first bought his laptop that it was so slow -> WD was the culprit. After switching to avast, it was much faster

It is not easy to turn people who are not interested. I am not good at English, but even software that is not translated will learn by checking and listening to whether I am interested or not.

I think other parties probably do not care about security. You think that only by advice and watching the state is enough.
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top