Today we have to pay for almost everything, but there are still some pleasant exclusions. I have to note that all free antivirus applications doesn’t guarantee maximum security and defend your computer only against the most widespread viruses. It is said that more than 200 of new scumware applications appear each day. So the key factor is regularly updates. Unfortunately in case of free antivirus applications doesn’t give such opportunity.
There are two kinds of antivirus software. The first one is “on-demand”. Such applications are recommended for those users who don’t use Internet and email and don’t copy too much files to their computes. You can use “on-demand” antivirus only to check new disk or storage device. The second type is “on-access” applications – usually they include “on-demand” scanner but have also special mode which monitors all processes. Such application are more effective but can slowdown your PC (it is not of current importance for present day computers).
Among “on-demand” scanners I can recommend Bitdefender. You can find free version of this application on official web site. Virus definitions bases are updated regularly. Due to this Bitdefender is one of the best of free antiviruses of such class. According to some specialist it is able to detect more than 88% of all viruses.
Another free “on-demand” antivirus is ClamWin. It is assigned for Windows. It can not delete infected files but can move them to “quarantine”. It also can integrate with Internet Explorer and Outlook. It is said that it detects 48.44% of all known viruses.
“On-access” antiviruses have more opportunities. For example avast! 4 Home Edition. It has so much features that it is difficult to believe that it is free) This application supports Windows XP Professional x64 and has an opportunity to monitor web traffic. Virus bases are updated regularly. It detects about 79% of all known viruses.
The next antivirus is developed by German AntiVir. AntiVir® PersonalEdition Classic has no such impressive list of features but nevertheless it copes with a task. Antivirus bases are also updated very often. It is said that it detects 84.5% of present day viruses.
The last antivirus application is AVG Free by Grisoft Inc. . It is rather famous and updates its bases some times per day. Unfortunately according to research the percent of detected viruses is only 54. But it has very nice and usable user interface.