It doesn’t take a genius to tell that the threat of viruses and
malware has been growing exponentially with time! Their shadow looms
over the entire internet. Threatening to engulf your personal
information and use it for maligned intentions or simple disclosure to
the public. Newer and newer viruses keep popping up everyday thereby
making it essential to guard our system from the constant threat posed
by them!
Most people would prefer to turn to the paid Antivirus software such
as Norton or McAfee to disarm and protect their system from harm. But
the exorbitant price charged by these companies in exchange doesn’t make
much sense! Free Antivirus software have been under development and
some of them can easily give the paid ones a tough run for their money.
So we at fossBytes, bring to you some of the Best Free Antivirus of 2015
along with all the details that you might want to know about them.
Platform: Windows XP or higher
Lavasoft’s AdAware has been a pretty reliable spyware tool. It offers
smooth installation, non intrusive notifications along with detailed
custom scanning. The UI of the latest version has been vastly improved
as compared to the previous version. Several features have been
incorporated such as Sandbox emulation, scheduler and a command line
scanner.
That being said there is a lot of scope for development of the rootkit
detection and phishing protection provided by the Antivirus.
Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or higher; iOS 5.1 or higher; Android 4.0(ICS) or higher
FortiClient is an effective and efficient Free Antivirus which boasts
of web filtering, a firewall, network optimization and parental
controls. It also provides very good phishing detection and even
includes a VPN Client. With no per-seat license fees, FortiClient with
its on-access /resident protection enables users & guests to work
efficiently anywhere, without compromising on their security.
Although the network optimization seems only to be effective for
FortiGate Devices and it is also less effective at blocking certain
malicious URL’s. Moreover the functions of the VPN Client and Parental
Control system are also limited.
Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OS X 10.7 or later including OS X Yosemite; Android 2.2 and Up
Based in China, Qihoo 360 offers a wide range of comprehensive,
effective and user friendly Internet and mobile security products aiming
to protect the user’s computer and mobile devices against malware and
malicious websites. Supported by cloud-based security technology, the
360 sets itself apart from all other Free Antivirus softwares through
the usage of three different AV engines comprising of Qihoo’s very own
‘checksum-based’ engine; a machine learning QVM engine and a BitDefender
local engine. These comprise Qihoo’s own ‘checksum-based’ engine in the
cloud; a machine learning QVM engine. It provides a sandbox too through
which one can check out for the threats posed by unknown programs.The
program lacks out in providing a parental control system, Firewall or
Backup facility.
Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OS X 10.4 or above; Android 2.2 and Up
One of the best Free Antivirus currently available! The Comodo
Antivirus includes a full range of detection engines for viruses,
rootkits, spyware and other malware. It uses Comodo’s proprietary
Defense+ technology thereby guarding your system from all unknown files
by treating them as a threat. It also provides On-Access/Resident
protection, cloud-based protection and an automatic sandboxing function.
Since the program occasionally asks for User input it may not be
suitable for amateur users. The Host Intrusion Prevention System and
phishing protection still have a long way to go.
Platform: Windows XP or higher
Malwarebytes is one of the most widely acclaims and highly
appreciated malware detection solution. It is pretty small, lightweight
and doesn’t require signatures as well. It also shields Java and perhaps
is one of the most effective software against zero-day attacks that
have never been seen before.
The biggest drawback with it is the requirement for proactive
antivirus software that can work alongside it. It just acts as a
complement to your regular antivirus program. There is also a major lack
of features in the free version as compared to the Premium version. But
that being said, Malwarebytes still is one of the premier and most
reliable products when it comes to catching the newest, most
cutting-edge threats that other antivirus companies may not have caught
yet.
Platform: Windows XP or up; Android 2.3 or up
The BitDefender Free Antivirus is one of the most unobtrusive
antivirus available on the Internet today. It provides for a Real-time
Shield, Active Virus Control, Intrusion Detection, Rootkit scanning and
HTTP scanning as well. The newly introduced feature of Profiles, which
adapt the software for particular tasks like watching movies, playing
games or general office work has improved its user-friendliness by a
huge margin as compared to the previous versions. Moreover, it even
includes online banking protection, a 2 way firewall and a parental
control system. Although, poor technical support combined with the
difficulties faced in installing on systems that are already infected by
malware may cause problems to the average user.
Platform: Windows XP or above; Android 2.3 or up
The Panda Cloud Antivirus takes Free Antivirus to a whole new level
with its cloud based scanner. The software is also lightweight and runs
of a local cache when the network is unavailable. It offers effective
phishing protection and impressive detection rates combined with
top-notch rootkit blocking. But it falls behind other Free Antivirus
software due to its inefficiency at eradicating malware from already
infected system.
Platform: Windows XP or above; Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) or higher; Android 2.2 or up;
Ranked as one of the best amongst Free Antivirus software, Avira
boasts of exceptional detection and blocking rates. Its small footprint
makes it ideal even for older PC’s. Offering seamlessly fast scans it
also boasts of anti-malware protection, anti-spyware protection, browser
protection and cloud based scanning as well. Although one could find
the interface too cluttered and the installation and execution process
to be quite slow as compared to other Free Antivirus software.
Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OSX Mountain Lion or Later
Definitely one of the most popular Free Antivirus software, AVG needs
no reckoning. Furthermore the 2015 version has been revamped to provide
a better user interface, a cloud based scanning system and the ability
to block infected links besides the usual detection and eradication of
viruses. It is also one of the smallest Antiviruses and also provides
script malware protection.
The excess of advertisements may prove to be irksome. Phishing protection could be improved as well.
Platform: Windows XP or above; Almost all Mac OSX versions;
Editor’s Recommendation: I would prefer Avast over
other free antivirus hands down. The plethora of features that it boasts
of sets it apart from all others. Effortless installation, an all
encompassing heuristic search engine and on access protection pack quite
a punch. Its features such as real-time protection of files, email, P2P
transfers, web surfing, instant messages and even suspicious behavior
are a notch above your average Free Antivirus software. It has been
praised for its performance and light use of system resources and has
also proved itself efficient in catching malware as well. Further
developments made in the 2015 version to enhance the user interface
merit Avast its place on the top of our list.
