Best free AV software

[realpetertdm]

I know everyone's gonna go "Bruh just use Windows Defender" so hear me out before writing, okay?

 

I go on a lot of sketchy websites and sometimes download sketchy stuff, usually downloading "free games" because I'm a poor gamer not that I can actually play those games because my PC is shit

 

I have gotten infected with malware in the past (due to clicking on sketchy links and never bothering to do a virus scan... I know, it's stupid, but I didn't know anything about tech at that time), and now I want to be more cautious with virus on my PC. I feel like Windows Defender isn't going to really work because the last time I actually got malware it didn't detect a single thing.

 

What would you recommend as a good antivirus/antimalware software solution? Free please because again, I'm poor. I'm currently using Kaspersky free + Malwarebytes, I've seen LTT's video with Bitdefender and Bitdefender seems like a solid solution too. I've used avast in the past but it had too many ads so I deleted it. What would you recommend?

[Gegger]

iirc Linus made a vid on trying to break bitdefender and it was rock solid

[Origami Cactus]

It seems like you get a lot of malware, so you would need a anti-malware program too. I would recommend Malwarebytes for that, just reinstall in every 14 days and you have the PRO version with live threat detection etc.

 

Out of the quiz choices Kaspersky and bitdefender are the only real options, also Avast, i use the Avast Online Security chrome extension.

[FlappyBoobs]

I don't care what your excuse is, you are wealthy enough to get the hardware and pay for an internet connection but apparently not wealthy enough to buy the (much cheaper) software. If you can't afford something you can't just take it, that's not how the world works dude.

 

Because of how I feel about free loading gamers, I recommend you install McAfee, and tick every option for every piece of additional software it offers you.

[realpetertdm]

2 minutes ago, FlappyBoobs said:

I don't care what your excuse is, you are wealthy enough to get the hardware and pay for an internet connection but apparently not wealthy enough to buy the (much cheaper) software. If you can't afford something you can't just take it, that's not how the world works dude.

 

Because of how I feel about free loading gamers, I recommend you install McAfee, and tick every option for every piece of additional software it offers you.

I'm a teenager, please enlighten me on how I can make minimum wage by illegally working at a dirty fast food joint

[realpetertdm]

10 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

It seems like you get a lot of malware, so you would need a anti-malware program too. I would recommend Malwarebytes for that, just reinstall in every 14 days and you have the PRO version with live threat detection etc.

 

Out of the quiz choices Kaspersky and bitdefender are the only real options, also Avast, i use the Avast Online Security chrome extension.

Malwarebytes looks like a very solid software, it worked for me when I first got my malware

 

Would you recommend Kaspersky or Bitdefender?

[FlappyBoobs]

13 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

I'm a teenager, please enlighten me on how I can make minimum wage by illegally working at a dirty fast food joint

I was also a teenager at one point, I mowed lawns, cleaned houses, painted fences, basically did everything I could to work my ass off to buy the hardware and software I wanted at the time. You want things handed to you on a plate, but are not willing to go out and even START to try to do it your self otherwise you wouldn't have jumped to the "fast food joint" job, you'd already know there are a TON of things a teenager can do to make money...it's just that you don't want to do it, clearly.

 

"it's illegal for me to work"  well guess what buddy, it's also illegal to pirate video games, but your morals seem to be okay with that version of breaking the law.

 

Like I said, I don't give a shit that you are a teenager that can't work, that just means you have to miss out on having the nice things until you can afford them. Do you think that someone came up to 19 year old me one day and just GAVE me a sports car? Fuck no, I worked my ass off for years to be able to afford that car, same with my PC when I was 14, I worked solid for 6 weeks doing odd jobs around the neighborhood and then went to the PC shop and bought my components.

 

Turns out that some people are willing to work for their goals and dreams, others want to sit back and have them handed to them or take them for free.

[RejZoR]

21 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

Malwarebytes looks like a very solid software, it worked for me when I first got my malware

 

Would you recommend Kaspersky or Bitdefender?

They are both great and terrible at the same time. Both have great detection, butKaspersky can't seem to make up their mind what will be their free product and some stuff in them is just straight up weird and annoying as hell. Bitdefender on the other hand, HTTP scanner is slow and their free version is just straight up weird in terms of lack of any kind of changelogs for it, what it supports when new OS comes out and just absolute lack of any kind of communication for it. Oh, so there was an update for it. Not even god himself and its programmers know what the fuck was released in it tho. And it's plagued with bizarre problems like having file extensions randomly enabled by it for no logical reason. And since there aren't any changelogs or info I have absolutely zero clue if they fixed that crap or not.

 

avast!, while some popups are a bit annoying at times, at least has this shit sorted out. They regularly keep things in check on their forums, developers hang there, they keep history, changelogs, links, the lot. I have to give them credit for that because very few companies keep things so well organized when you need to find any kind of info or solve a problem with their program.

[realpetertdm]

8 minutes ago, FlappyBoobs said:

I was also a teenager at one point, I mowed lawns, cleaned houses, painted fences, basically did everything I could to work my ass off to buy the hardware and software I wanted at the time. You want things handed to you on a plate, but are not willing to go out and even START to try to do it your self otherwise you wouldn't have jumped to the "fast food joint" job, you'd already know there are a TON of things a teenager can do to make money...it's just that you don't want to do it, clearly.

 

"it's illegal for me to work"  well guess what buddy, it's also illegal to pirate video games, but your morals seem to be okay with that version of breaking the law.

 

Like I said, I don't give a shit that you are a teenager that can't work, that just means you have to miss out on having the nice things until you can afford them. Do you think that someone came up to 19 year old me one day and just GAVE me a sports car? Fuck no, I worked my ass off for years to be able to afford that car, same with my PC when I was 14, I worked solid for 6 weeks doing odd jobs around the neighborhood and then went to the PC shop and bought my components.

 

Turns out that some people are willing to work for their goals and dreams, others want to sit back and have them handed to them or take them for free.

How do I find a lawn near me? I live in a 600000 people inhabited city placed right next to a metropolis. Can you find a lawn for me? I would love to work to earn my own money. 

 

Yes, I legally cannot work for anything except unpaid volunteer work.

 

Regulations differ by country, mate. Don't assume that everyone lives in a suburban US neighborhood.

[5x5]

Didn't you see the news.topic? Windows Defender performs better. Than the freeware junk like AVG, Avast, McAfee and etc. Use that, it's superior

 

[FlappyBoobs]

Just now, realpetertdm said:

How do I find a lawn near me? I live in a 600000 people inhabited city placed right next to a metropolis. Can you find a lawn for me? I would love to work to earn my own money. 

 

Yes, I legally cannot work for anything except unpaid volunteer work.

 

Regulations differ by country, mate. Don't assume that everyone lives in a suburban US neighborhood.

 

You live in a city with 600k people and you can't work out a SINGLE way to earn a little money. You are not me you don't have to mow lawns or paint fences, you can come up with your own Ideas. 

 

I notice you don't want to explain why you are okay breaking a law that benefits you, but not breaking a law that means work for you. 

 

As for your last comment, I am also not in the US, and I don't live in surbibia, I also grew up in a city, but guess what! That didn't stop me. 

 

Like I said before, start with checking your attitude. I am giving you shit because you deserve it for happily saying that you need help with your illegal activities in a public forum. 

[realpetertdm]

2 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Didn't you see the news.topic? Windows Defender performs better. Than the freeware junk like AVG, Avast, McAfee and etc. Use that, it's superior

 

See original post

[realpetertdm]

1 minute ago, FlappyBoobs said:

 

You live in a city with 600k people and you can't work out a SINGLE way to earn a little money. You are not me you don't have to mow lawns or paint fences, you can come up with your own Ideas. 

  

I notice you don't want to explain why you are okay breaking a law that benefits you, but not breaking a law that means work for you. 

 

As for your last comment, I am also not in the US, and I don't live in surbibia, I also grew up in a city, but guess what! That didn't stop me. 

 

Like I said before, start with checking your attitude. I am giving you shit because you deserve it for happily saying that you need help with your illegal activities in a public forum. 

Yes. As far as I know nobody can hire me, I don't have a lawn, I earn most of my money through pocket money and presents from relatives (most of which goes to college funds and stuff anyway). Everyone here lives in an apartment if you didn't notice already, how do I "paint" a fence when the fences are owned by the city government? I'm coming up blank here.

 

For reference the only way I actually earn money is either by presents or watching 30 second ads and getting 50 cents per ad, very lucrative job and enough to pay $60 for an AAA title

 

My playtime on my "hacked" games is 20 hours or lower, and I've "cracked" 3 titles only, one of which is a console exclusive.

 

Stop thinking that everyone lives in the same type of situation as you. Unless you actually live in my country and know how it works then I do think you should be quiet.

[CyDone]

IDK if it is still good, haven't had a PC in almost 2 years....but I used to use COMODO Internet Security, which is free.  Never got any viruses or anything bad like that......but again, that was like 2 years ago.

[FlappyBoobs]

5 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

Yes. As far as I know nobody can hire me, I don't have a lawn, I earn most of my money through pocket money and presents from relatives (most of which goes to college funds and stuff anyway). Everyone here lives in an apartment if you didn't notice already, how do I "paint" a fence when the fences are owned by the city government? I'm coming up blank here.

 

Then you do something that suits your current environment. It's not hard to do, hell you could just talk to your parents about taking on more responsibility in order to increase your pocket money, that's an easy one. Take something they pay for already, and do for them instead. Or you go somewhere where your work IS needed.

 

Quote

Stop thinking that everyone lives in the same type of situation as you. Unless you actually live in my country and know how it works then I do think you should be quiet.

I am not thinking that at all. I am saying that I was also once a teenager with the same opportunities as you. You seem to be stuck on the fact that I painted fences and mowed lawns...But I also cleaned houses and apartments (people live in your city right? so then they need cleaning services!) I just told you what I did, you can come up with your own suggestions. People own pets in your city right? so look after them, walk dogs etc. You could also start up your own magazine, online or paper, you could create a mobile app to generate revenue, start a you tube channel...any thing that makes you money you can give it a try but you have tried NOTHING and then expect something to come out of it. 

 

Telling me to be quiet because I got on you case about the fact you want help with freeloading just makes me laugh. The situation I am in was not luck or circumstances, it was hard work and effort and it started when I was at an age where working in my country was illegal. Also like I mentioned, I grew up in a city, it also had no gardens or fences, so you know what I did? I got on my fucking bike and I rode to an area where they DID have gardens and fences and started asking them if they would like to employ cheap labor. 

 

All of this is besides the point, you still shouldn't be stealing software, and using "it's against the law for me to earn money" as an excuse to break the law is just hypocritical. 

[Arika]

1 hour ago, realpetertdm said:

What would you recommend? 

 

not doing this shit.

1 hour ago, realpetertdm said:

I go on a lot of sketchy websites and sometimes download sketchy stuff, usually downloading "free games" because I'm a poor gamer

[realpetertdm]

2 minutes ago, FlappyBoobs said:

 

Then you do something that suits your current environment. It's not hard to do, hell you could just talk to your parents about taking on more responsibility in order to increase your pocket money, that's an easy one. Take something they pay for already, and do for them instead. Or you go somewhere where your work IS needed.

 

I am not thinking that at all. I am saying that I was also once a teenager with the same opportunities as you. You seem to be stuck on the fact that I painted fences and mowed lawns...But I also cleaned houses and apartments (people live in your city right? so then they need cleaning services!) I just told you what I did, you can come up with your own suggestions. People own pets in your city right? so look after them, walk dogs etc. You could also start up your own magazine, online or paper, you could create a mobile app to generate revenue, start a you tube channel...any thing that makes you money you can give it a try but you have tried NOTHING and then expect something to come out of it. 

  

Telling me to be quiet because I got on you case about the fact you want help with freeloading just makes me laugh. The situation I am in was not luck or circumstances, it was hard work and effort and it started when I was at an age where working in my country was illegal. Also like I mentioned, I grew up in a city, it also had no gardens or fences, so you know what I did? I got on my fucking bike and I rode to an area where they DID have gardens and fences and started asking them if they would like to employ cheap labor. 

 

All of this is besides the point, you still shouldn't be stealing software, and using "it's against the law for me to earn money" as an excuse to break the law is just hypocritical. 

My parents usually do most of the cleaning & chores (because it's an apartment, remember, it's small so there's not much to do)

 

People need cleaning services... so? Why would people hire someone to clean their house when most people clean their houses themselves anyway and they can always call professionals?

"look after pets" Yeah pet hotels (they exist) and pet hospitals already do that, and you think I'm some kind of guy who has free time lying around

"walk dogs" It's not that easy again, there are already plenty of people who do that and most people just walk their pets themselves

"start my own magazine or website" yes my amazing wordpress blog will generate tons of revenue

"make an app" So you're now telling me that I need to invest months of time (that I do not have) to learn to code?

"Start a youtube channel" Like it's that easy lmao (and have you seen my PC specs lol) also note that there are tons of complicated stuff with AdSense and YouTube ad revenue

I've already tried doing youtube, you think it's easy as just shipping stock gameplay

It's a 20 minute bus ride to the nearest area that might actually need any "services" and then again *I simply do not have the time*

 

At this point I won't be surprised if you're a boomer, sorry mate but this is 2019

 

And you're literally recommending McAfee lul

[realpetertdm]

8 minutes ago, Arika S said:

 

not doing this shit.

Insert other media

I've tried using a VM but VMs suck because my PC itself sucks balls

 

I'm an adventurous idiot

[Mitko_DSV]

I've been using 360 Total Security Essential (the Essential version is better since the full version has a bunch of useless things and thus is heavier) for over 2 years. It uses the Bitdefender engine (you have to trun it on manually after installation), so I guess it's good. Haven't had a problem, but I only download torrents from trused websites (yes I'm talking about pirating).

[Guest]

No such thing as a "good" free AV exist.

 

My opinion

 

Edit: Your title is misleading! Are you talking about free or paid or both AV?

Plus you're missing quite a few AVs in your list.

GData, Panda, etc.

[LewisPark]

1 hour ago, FlappyBoobs said:

All of this is besides the point, you still shouldn't be stealing software, and using "it's against the law for me to earn money" as an excuse to break the law is just hypocritical. 

^This^

@OP

 

The fact your that ignorant and so quick to say "There is no work" and "It's illegal at my age" is humorous. Also, posting this stating you pirate software what type of replies did you expect? 

Life isn't fair and things aren't going to get handed to you. I don't mean to come off as a prick, but you should work on your work ethic before you are stuck at a dead-end job hating your life. Be self-sufficient and work for what you want. It feels damn good to finally get something you've wanted and have been working hard for. There is no excuse for not being able to work. Even if it's something you don't like/don't want to do that's just life. Life isn't fair and if you want nice things and to be successful you need to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to get there. 

Best of luck, I hope you realize you can work. You can do anything you want in life as long as your dedicated... 

*Edit: You watch ads for money? Why not create a simple AHK script to automate it. Just my two sense.

[greenhorn]

User behaviour is the most important factor when it comes to avoiding malware. No AV software is invincible, regardless of its price.

Besides being illegal, downloading cracked software can easily lead to your PC becoming infected. If you really are on such a tight budget and cannot for whatever reason generate additional income (legally of course), then I suggest you watch out for sales/giveaways of games on platforms such as Steam. There are tons of older games that are still great fun today and are a real bargain.

[Sousuke]

Look at this guy, Would you trust him with your system  (p.s I know he has nothing to do with the company any longer). 

 

On a serious note, I've always used bit defender for systems I connect to networks/storage in which I do not know much about (When helping with systems). 

 

[Touch My Hamm]

Do people still do door to door lawn mowing/snow shoveling? I know my area (gated community go me for working hard) The kids almost weekly come by because they know id rather pay them $10-20 to mow and shovel than me go out and do it. This is Canada and I am not sure how the USA is on that sort of thing. I did that when I was younger and also a paper route and it paid for my original xbox and first pc back with pentiums lol. 

[Slottr]

-Locked-

This has turned into an argument session and is just touching the line of piracy that I don't want to go any further.

 

OP, leave out any illegal details in your future posts.