The Worst AV You've Ever Used?

[Dave Russo]

super anti-spyware (Though not a Av) is about the worst 29 dollars a year you could spend.
What It Does For You(They should say what it can not do)

• Detects & Removes Malicious Threats: Blocks Malware, Spyware, Adware, Trojans, Worms, Ransomware, Hijackers, Parasites, Rootkits, KeyLoggers, and many more.
• Securely Deletes Malicious Files: Quarantines potential threats and completely removes them, even the stubborn ones. Can restore quarantined items, if not harmful.
• Analyzes Your System In-Depth: System Investigator identifies spoofed and malicious files. Shows installed applications, browser plugins, and lets you track system changes over time.
• Cleans Up Browser Cookies & Popups: Removes unwanted cookies. Stops ads with integrated SUPERAdBlocker Technology.

• Stops Ransomware In Its Tracks: Protects your files and prevents hackers from holding them hostage.
• Repairs PC Damage: Fixes parts of your operating system, registry, task manager, broken internet connections, etc. caused by malware.
• Complements Your PC: Lightweight program doesn’t take up a lot of memory or processing power. Works with your antivirus.

• Easy to Use: Receive notifications when product and database updates are available. Scans run in the background and can start when your PC is sleeping.
• Stay informed: Review detailed scan logs about detected and removed threats and their locations.
• Get Support: Receive unlimited customer support via email and a 30-day unconditional, 100% Money-Back Guarantee.

This is my #1 pick

 

[JohnR]

super anti-spyware (Though not a Av) is about the worst 29 dollars a year you could spend.
What It Does For You(They should say what it can not do)

• Detects & Removes Malicious Threats: Blocks Malware, Spyware, Adware, Trojans, Worms, Ransomware, Hijackers, Parasites, Rootkits, KeyLoggers, and many more.
• Securely Deletes Malicious Files: Quarantines potential threats and completely removes them, even the stubborn ones. Can restore quarantined items, if not harmful.
• Analyzes Your System In-Depth: System Investigator identifies spoofed and malicious files. Shows installed applications, browser plugins, and lets you track system changes over time.
• Cleans Up Browser Cookies & Popups: Removes unwanted cookies. Stops ads with integrated SUPERAdBlocker Technology.
• Stops Ransomware In Its Tracks: Protects your files and prevents hackers from holding them hostage.
• Repairs PC Damage: Fixes parts of your operating system, registry, task manager, broken internet connections, etc. caused by malware.
• Complements Your PC: Lightweight program doesn’t take up a lot of memory or processing power. Works with your antivirus.
• Easy to Use: Receive notifications when product and database updates are available. Scans run in the background and can start when your PC is sleeping.
• Stay informed: Review detailed scan logs about detected and removed threats and their locations.
• Get Support: Receive unlimited customer support via email and a 30-day unconditional, 100% Money-Back Guarantee.

This is my #1 pick

At least the installer worked

 

[Islam Gamal]

for me comodo and avira are the worst by far. i just installed each one of them for one day and after the uninstall process, the system crashed.

 

[roger_m]

I thought I was the only one who didn't like Norton

To be fair, I like current versions of Norton a lot. They provide very good protection, with being very light.

 

[South Park]

Norton 2002/3/4 were the worst and most expensive AV products I ever used. A close second was CA Antivirus, which automatically scheduled huge, inconvenient software updates when I was using it on dial-up. After my experiences with those, I started using free AV's, which for the most part have performed better and given me fewer headaches.

 

[Jefferzzz]

I saw an unopened version of this a few months ago at our thrift store. I remember when it was sold in stores too. Cutting edge!

 

[ForgottenSeer 67480]

Bitdefender 2020 is very light and powerfull

Do you have some proofs on it?

 

[Wraith2020]

Do you have some proofs on it?

I second that BD 2020 is in fact really light. It's the first version of BD that feels light to me and without any major bugs. If you have a fairly decent system with a 4 thread CPU, 4GB RAM and a SSD, you won't notice any system impact except for a high RAM usage (around 250 MB). If you decide to switch from an AV vendor to another, it's advisable to do a clean install or to restore the PC to a backed up image that had no 3rd party AV installed. This avoids a lot of problems.

 

[Wraith2020]

The worst AV that I had recently used was Sophos Home. I installed it on my mom's PC which had ESET (expired) and it started to show bsod randomly after installing Sophos. The worst part is that the built in uninstaller kept failing to remove the product and Sophos does not have an official removal tool. So I have given up and will do a clean install of windows today .

 

[ForgottenSeer 67480]

The worst AV that I had recently used was Sophos Home. I installed it on my mom's PC which had ESET (expired) and it started to show bsod randomly after installing Sophos. The worst part is that the built in uninstaller kept failing to remove the product and Sophos does not have an official removal tool. So I have given up and will do a clean install of windows today .

When i used Sophos Home on my PC, i didn't had any problems or BSODS, just a bit slowed PC boot start. My current AV is Heimdal Thor Premium Home with free 3 year license key and no problems in using him.

 

[Stopspying]

I remember the old versions of Norton well and the issues with updating. Very regularly Norton would make some changes that would stop it from automatically updating its signatures. When this happened, not only would it be unable to download any signature updates, it wouldn't show any error message (for a week or so anyway), so it would appear that there were no problems. I think after a week or so, it would display an alert about having outdated signatures.

To fix the update issue, you had to manually run Live Update. It would find and download some needed updates and then it would be able to automatically download new signatures again. But soon, it would stop updating again and you would have to run Live Update once again to fix it.

I've got no idea why this even happened, but I do know it was an ongoing issue. I guess being very heavy wasn't enough of a problem by itself. However, it wasn't the only antivirus which has update issues at the time though. I think the free versions of AVG and/or Avira sometimes had update issues, due to the free update server getting overloaded. I remember there being a guide on how to get the free version of at least one of those antivirus, to update from the update servers used by the paid version, in order to avoid that issue.

It could also be a big problem getting rid of all the traces left behind by Norton, and Symantec, when uninstalling them to install an alternative AV.

 

[roger_m]

It could also be a big problem getting rid of all the traces left behind by Norton, and Symantec, when uninstalling them to install an alternative AV.

You just need to run their removal tool after uninstalling and it will delete all the traces.

Download and run the Norton Remove and Reinstall tool for Windows

Norton Remove and Reinstall tool helps to uninstall and reinstall most Norton products such as Norton Security, Norton 360, and Norton Internet Security on Windows computers.

support.norton.com

 

[Stopspying]

The worst AV that I had recently used was Sophos Home. I installed it on my mom's PC which had ESET (expired) and it started to show bsod randomly after installing Sophos. The worst part is that the built in uninstaller kept failing to remove the product and Sophos does not have an official removal tool. So I have given up and will do a clean install of windows today .

Its a pain having to do a Windows re-install. I'm a bit surprised to read about your experience, as I've installed Sophos Home on a number of computers where the user wanted something simple in the way of an AV and it ran well. But, hardware and the component software differ widely, so it could have been any number of causes for that disappointing experience. Its a real pain when Avs don't have their own un-installer considering how deep into a system elements of the software can be found.

 

[Wraith2020]

Its a pain having to do a Windows re-install. I'm a bit surprised to read about your experience, as I've installed Sophos Home on a number of computers where the user wanted something simple in the way of an AV and it ran well. But, hardware and the component software differ widely, so it could have been any number of causes for that disappointing experience. Its a real pain when Avs don't have their own un-installer considering how deep into a system elements of the software can be found.

That's why I always recommend rolling back to a clean windows state without any AV installed before you change your AV. Many times changing AV leads to problems. I was just annoyed with the fact that Sophos does not have an official removal tool for their AV whereas most others have.

 

[Kermit80]

The worst AV that I had recently used was Sophos Home. I installed it on my mom's PC which had ESET (expired) and it started to show bsod randomly after installing Sophos. The worst part is that the built in uninstaller kept failing to remove the product and Sophos does not have an official removal tool. So I have given up and will do a clean install of windows today .

I would rather uninstall ESET in safe mode. At least you should get rid of BSODs. Than manually uninstall Sophos. It will take some time though. I did it too and it was a pain. I will not install Sophos again just for the lack of the uninstaller.

 

[mlnevese]

When uninstalling security software always use the company's uninstaller afterwards or you may have unexpected conflicts from leftovers. In my experience Kaspersky, for instance always leaves network drivers behind, Bitdefender will often leave services and ESET usued to kill Windows networking but this seems to have been solved on version 13, etc....

 

[Azure]

Avast is one of worst antiviruses ever, because he have heavy usage on CPU due scanning + he's a spyware. Same thing i can say to AVG what works with Avast. Bitdefender is a lot more worst because of his worst performance ever and very high usage on CPU & RAM, he almost killed my PC by attempt to eat 6.5GB RAM. Comodo... Well, it could be better if performance would be a bit improved and less annoying in aggresive mode. ClamWin/AV... Stay away from this AV. Dr Web also have a problem with performance and with false-positives alerts. ESET maybe is light, but he is glitchy from time to time and he stopping you from removing him acting as a Rogueware or Crapware. I had this situation few times already and i almost not reinstalled my system because of this. Kaspersky... Well, he could be better if performance would be a bit improved. Webroot…? Well, i never used this Antivirus, but i can say he's another worst AV ever because of heavy performance problems. Windows Defender is useless because he can't even protect you on Windows 10 so good. That's my list of worst antiviruses.

What do you mean that ESET stops you from removing it? That it requires you answer an UAC prompt?

 

[Kubla]

10 years ago, Norton was a nightmare, Panda, apart from heavy breaks the system and Bitdefender could not have it more than 5 days, Kaspersky was a slab.

All that has changed, today everything has improved.

Back then Norton was the worst, it was bloat ware that degraded your entire systems performance with lack luster protection on top of that.

When uninstalling security software always use the company's uninstaller afterwards or you may have unexpected conflicts from leftovers. In my experience Kaspersky, for instance always leaves network drivers behind, Bitdefender will often leave services and ESET usued to kill Windows networking but this seems to have been solved on version 13, etc....

Or use something like Revo uninstaller that will scan for and remove anything left behind.

 

[Wraith2020]

Or use something like Revo uninstaller that will scan for and remove anything left behind.

Believe me mate....I tried several times to uninstall Sophos in safe mode and normal mode with revo. But every time the tamper protection would kick in and stop the uninstall. Revo would ask me to restart the PC but upon restarting Sophos was still there in the system tray alerting me that real-time protection is disabled.

 

[Wraith2020]

I would rather uninstall ESET in safe mode. At least you should get rid of BSODs. Than manually uninstall Sophos. It will take some time though. I did it too and it was a pain. I will not install Sophos again just for the lack of the uninstaller.

+1
I will never touch Sophos again just because they don't have an official removal tool/uninstaller. Avira seems to be on the same boat too without any official removal tool.