Recommendations on FREE anti-virus and anti-spyware that work great.

Question

I just bought a laptop and didn't want to pay the extra Geek Squad fee for their services.

Answer 1

avast ^^

Answer 2

try the free version of spyware doctor in the google pack.

Answer 3

if your computer has got spywares and u need spyware removal tools, u can get free spyware removal software at the google here

http://www.google.com/custom?q=spyware+r...

OR

http://darfuns.com/spyware-removal/

or u can also get anti virus tools at google here

http://www.google.com/custom?q=virus+sec...

Answer 4

Jibbarjabar (1st answer) has it spot on. Go for these recommendations.

Answer 5

1. For your anti-virus needs, I would suggest Avast, the newist version 4.8. Avast now includes anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-rootkit components. And all for the low low price of free. You can get it here:

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.ht...

Avoid an anti-virus called AVG (free version). It is wildly popular with children and the computer illiterate but has poor virus detection rates.

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2. For your Anti-Adware and Anti-Spyware needs...

SUPERAntiSpyware:

http://www.superantispyware.com/

Answer 6

do not use avg, the new version is full of bugs and doesnt work very well

Answer 7

You can try AVG Anti-Virus Free, it works great.  You can find it at Downloads.com

Answer 8

the two current best anti-virus software is

Avira antivir

and

ESET NOD32

this information was gained from http://www.av-comparatives.org/

which is by far the best place to research anti-virus software.

In my opinion Avira this year specifically has a good chance (considerable lead in retrospective/pro-active scans over NOD32) of winning best antivirus software for 2008 and they have a FREE addition

Nod32 on the other hand has won best anti-virus software for 2006 and 2007 but they do not have a free version.

I choose Nod32 simply because I was unaware of how good Avira is at the time I bought it.  If your looking for free, Avira is your choice, however the free addition does not scan emails which I think is extremely important.  Also the free version of Avira has annoying pop-up ads for buying the retail version.

*UPDATE*  In case you choose not to do research, AVAST finds considerable false positives (it reports more viruses that aren't really viruses. ) Also it can slow your computer a bit more than NOD32 or AVIRA