This posting will discuss which of the following three programs deserves the title of “best freeware antivirus program”: Avira Antivir, Avast, or AVG. My conclusion: all three are very worthy contenders that can hold their own or surpass any heavyweight for-pay antivirus; however Anitvir and Avast are definitely in the first tier, while AVG is a close second tier.
There’s been a vigorous debate going on in the little “cbox” message box (in the sidebar) over which freeware antivirus program is best. This posting will explore this issue more closely. The objective is to go beyond the ubiquitous “I have used program x for y years now and it has kept me completely virus free” to a more substantial comparison.
The findings presented here are not my original work but come from a single source: AV-comparative.org’s antivirus comparison tests conduced in Nov 2008 (test #20) and Feb 2009 (test #21), which are the latest as of this writing. It is somewhat difficult to reference these as sources because the av-comparatives site disallows direct linking to the test results and requests that all links be to its root domain (presumably because new tests are always published and they do not want links to results that may be obsolete).
The choice of programs: Antivir, Avast and AVG are the most used and most well known freeware antivirus programs, and I use or have used all three for long periods of time. They are also most likely the top three best freeware antivirus programs. The reason I am not expanding this discussion to other programs is because it is much easier to limit the scope to software tested in AV-comparative.org’s tests, where there are hard numbers to back up any claims. Having said that I would have personally liked the addition of at least two more: Comodo Antivirus and Rising Antivirus (both of which have a lot of fans).
By way of comparison and to provide some perspective I will also include some of the numbers for two of the best paid antivirus programs: Kaspersky and ESET NOD32.
Summary of findings: Antivir and Avast and both have excellent and comparable detection rates. Not only are these on par with the best commercial program, Antivir in fact has the best detection of any program free or paid according to AV-comparatives.org’s numbers. AVG, however, lags behind the other two somewhat in that area (although it is still by all means an excellent program). Antivir has what seems to be a significant advantage in terms of predictive, behavioral-based “heuristic” detection (for brand new threats that are so new they have not yet been added to the antivirus program’s database).
Where AVG has a good advantage is in the number of false positives (lower than both Antivir and Avast, both of which exhibit comparable numbers of false positives). However, AVG scores another strike against it in terms of its scanning speed, which is significantly slower than the other two.
The freeware version of Antivir displays an advertisement on every update, which is rather undesirable; however, this can be easily disabled (look here, here, or here). It also “does not support email scanning”; however, this is also a non-issue in my opinion, a red-herring designed to scare less tech-savvy users into purchasing the paid version. The reason I say this is a non-issue is because although Antivir may not scan your email for virus as it downloads, it will still protect you from it afterwards, not just during normal scans as it will also intercept it once it is on-disk and/or if and when it tries to act up. In fact email scanning as such may be completely redundant and a waste of time; see this article for more info.
Antivir is my favorite freeware antivirus. It is best in terms of performance and, with the recent addition of an antispyware component it has become even more desirable. However, if asked to recommend a freeware antivirus Antivir comes with too many caveats and explanations (the nag screen, the email scanning (non)issue). It is easier to recommend Avast, as it provides comparable protection and performance, and is an excellent product.
AVG is my third choice. It also provides excellent protection and has the edge with respect to the least number of false positives, but its performance and detection rates lag behind the other two.
The numbers (and other issues considered):
- Detection Rate / on-demand scans
- Detecton Rate / predictive “heuristic” detection
- Number of false positives
- On-demand scanning speed
- Versions tested
- Links and downloads
1. Detection Rate / on-demand scans: this data comes from AV-comparative.org’s Feb 2009 test (#21). The programs tested were subjected to 1,274,928 instances of malicious code collected between Apr 04-Apr 08. The reason: any malware collected prior to this is considered fairly well known by now
- Avira Antivir: 99.7% detection rate
- Avast: 98.2%
- AVG: 93.0%
- Kaspersky (*): 97.1%
- ESET NOD32 (*): 97.6%
* Note: no free version of these offered. They are listed here to give ’perspective’.
The data seems to show that overall the detection rates are very similar (the differences are unlikely to be meaningful), with the exception of AVG which has a somewhat lower rate of detection than the others.
2. Detection Rate / predictive “heuristic” detection: this measures the program’s ability to detect new threats (based on their behavior), before they becomes known and are included in the program’s updates. The data in this section comes from AV-comparative.org’s NOV 2008 test (#20). The programs tested were subjected to 45,831 “new” instances of malicious code collected between Aug 4th-31st 2008 (4 weeks in total).
- Avira Antivir: 71% (over 1 week), 67% (over 4 weeks)
- Avast: 40% (over 1 week), 39% (over 4 weeks)
- AVG: 43% (over 1 week), 40% (over 4 weeks)
- Kaspersky(*): 71% (over 1 week), 60% (over 4 weeks)
- ESET NOD32(*): 54% (over 1 week), 51% (over 4 weeks)
The results above seem to show that when handling yet unknown threats (malicious code that is so brand new that it has not been added to the program’s database), Antivir and Kaspersky have an advantage over the others.
3. Number of false positives : false positives can be as much of a problem (or even more) than undetected malware, in that deleting innocent files can cause unpredictable errors and problems. This data comes from AV-comparative.org’s Feb 2009 test (#21).
- Avira Antivir: 24
- Avast: 28
- AVG: 17
- Kaspersky (*): 14
- ESET NOD32 (*): 13
Interestingly, Avast and Antivir have significantly higher false positives than the two paid programs, with AVG having the lowest number of false positives of all three freeware antivirus programs.
4. On demand scanning speed : this data comes from AV-comparative.org’s Feb 2009 test (#21). The throughput rate is in MB/sec.
- Avira Antivir: 13.6 MB/sec
- Avast: 15.4 MB/sec
- AVG: 6.8 MB/sec
- Kaspersky (*): 13.3 MB/sec
- ESET NOD32 (*): 13.2 MB/sec
On this metric AVG significantly lags behind the others, who are otherwise very similar, with Avast having a slight overall advantage.
5. Versions tested: note that the versions tested were the paid versions. I am assuming that the basic engine is the same in the free version as well, and that the results apply there. For Antivir, the freeware version is different in that it does not perform email scanning and displays a nag screen, but these have already been addressed above. Also, as of this writing the newer version of Antivir includes an antispyware component.
- Avira Antivir: 8.2.0.374 (test 21), 8.1.0.362 (test 20)
- Avast: 4.8.1335 (test 21), 4.8.1229 (test 20)
- AVG: 8.0.234 (test 21), 8.0.156 (test 20)
- Kaspersky (*): 8.0.0.506a (test 21), 8.0.0.454 (test 20)
- ESET NOD32 (*): 3.0.684.0 (test 21), 3.0.669.0 (test 20)
6. Links and downloads: go to the respective program pages to download the latest version. Note that the freeware versions are for single computer home use. License(s) required for commercial use.
- Avira Antivir free: see my Mar 2007 review of Antivir here.
- Avast free: free registration required
- AVG free
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Forgot to say: use Safe Mode
) it’s a best way!!
Seems Panda antivirus is giving away their pro 2012 antivirus software for a 6 month free license. So you can keep if if u like it or just throw away after 6 months.
http://www.skipser.toolsbysk.com/p/2/p/free-panda-antivirus-pro-2012-license.html
Yawwwnn. I have used all three of these antiviruses. I guess they are good if you don’t know anything else. The best anti-virus freeware is called “Comodo”. It can be downloaded from http://www.majorgeeks.com. None of the antivirus mentioned in this article holds a candle to Comodo.
Need to be updated.
The biggest issue nowadays is rootkits..
http://gmer.net which is used by ComboFix..
Thanks,
Kent
Yep, need to be updated, you can find last report here: av comparatives http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_feb2011.pdf Avast improved a lot!
Now Microsoft Security Essentials has taken place in the top list of Free Antiviruses. I don’t know about it’s detection rate and False positives… Thanks for the Info.
I have been using Avast for quite a long time already. This is after big disappointment with AVG. I am very happy for it.
Forget all those virus only protection…get COMDODO INTERNET SECURITY…by far the best…why?…it adds a firewall, spyware, malware and whatever you consider ‘ware protection. And those skeptical can go to any site and test it. Comodo Internet Security is rated #1 at http://www.matousec.com it reached 100% and is practically bullet proof. Don’t take my word for it, just visit and see for yourself. Keep in mind that this program is for a bit more than basic users as it can be a little alarming due to the alerts it gives. Please all you CIS users give feedback so people can really be assured that they are protected from the hell hole that the internet is becoming lately.
There are numerous performance reports about best antivirus, which lead us to nowhere, as their top rankings differ widely. It appears to be more of an advertisement scam than something true. Can someone suggest the best antivirus with promising results and equipped with good PC clean up/tunner?
I will go with Kaspersky.
Thanks but really, this post should be removed since it refers to reports 3 years old from collected data even older. Top rankings change almost weekly nowadays. but I’m with woody, and feel that Comodo’s free antivirus, HIPS and firewall suite called CIS Premium is the best free deal out there.
avast is great free antivirus…….and those who are suggesting comodo internet secuirty……really!!!!!!!!……it is antivirus with extremely high false positive and has very low detection ratio…..
The best antivirus is McAfee, this antivirus can stop even the deadliest virus, the ILOVEYOU virus, with low pc performance impact, using just around 30-40 MB, and a scan speed of around 200-300 MB/s, it’s size only uses 150 MB space on your hard disk drive, it’s full of features, and its specifications are all 100%, the only disadvantage of this antivirus is because it’s expensive.
I use Avast and Avira on two PCs and Microsoft Security Essentials on another. Both the Avira and MSE are free beta testing versions that I applied for and was soon permitted to try them out from their websites. Both I have been using for less than a week, so it is bit too early to report how well they both work yet.
I also use Zone Alarm, PCTools Firewall Plus, and Online Armor for free software firewalls.since like trying out different software just to see how well they perform, just like the many browsers I often use, such as Chromium Dev, Chrome Canary, Seamonkey, Firefox Opera Tor, Kamelion, Orca, Midori, Avant, Palemoon, Iron, and several others. I also still use Comodo Dragon, but no longer like their free AV or bundled with firewall, as Comodo’s free versions have become very buggy to use over the past year or so, and I had a LOT of trouble uninstalling them, they left behind many registry entries and scanning tools that I had to manually delete (by using another portable software program called “ZSoft Uninstaller) from the Windows OS registry one-by-one. ]
I also use ClamAV portable as a backup AV scanner, since I have discovered that it doesn’t conflict with the installed AV I am using, and it uses the “Cloud” to download its AV updates.
Comodo is OK, but has one advantage over others – you can install it on business servers for FREE. Not bad – for those who are extremely budget-strapped. However, if you are protecting your business critical data with free AV…then you should really putting that saved money into your backup and DR budgets.
As far as how Comodo compares with the others on this list – it is far below all of them for proactive and reactive detection rates. I would say it is an average AV solution at best.
See Virus Bulletin’s ratings here: http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index – Virus Bulletin is a/the major authority on AV testing…personally I would not trust a site where they are paid by the security software vendors to test their solutions.
I put on my blog a few antivirus programs that I think are the best. Visit my blog and download that you like.
http://freeware-computer-protection-software.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Simbad
i have Zenok Free Antivirus
i have to say is the best antivirus i install on my computer keep my computer safe .. i some one dont know about zenok try a check 
http://www.zenok.com/en/free-antivirus/