Anti-Virus Essentials. And protecting yourself from hackers!

[Si3Rra_7]

I use Avira antivirus free xD

[s0nrise]

Eset Smart Security is crap, I use avast at the moment, and its been really good.

[bartekxx12]

I switch between Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast every once in a while. I seem to be virus free, well... me and my computer :P

Although apart from the "live" protection I do a full scan of all the drives overnight every week or so.

[Charlie]

I have been a Norton internet security use since 2006, it has never let me down, I plugin pen-drives which have malware, viruses and it cleans them well! :)

anyone else a Norton user?

[SquadHero]

SuperAntiSpyware is a must.. run it when ever you are going to bed and be surprised how much any antivirus programs are missing

(download the latest from "Ninite.com")

and am i the only one that using Norton??

[PcBlackBelt]

AVG free since 2006.

used to be the best for least amount of performance impact.

right before i came to windows 7 from xp there were a few viruses made to look like microsoft security essentials. have kinda stayed away from it but after a couple searches it sounds like a good light program.

[ahmad_sh96]

I use Windows Defender on Win8 (Microsoft Security Essentials on Win7).

​I love the fact that Microsoft included an Anti-Virus with their OS, it's very light on the CPU even when doing full scans.

[DuRoble]

I'm using MSE right now....I used to have Kaspersky which I believe is still a very good AV solution...but when my license ended I just thought let's read some test and ask some people who know what they're talking about...And the overall response I had was: use MSE, save the money and do a little malware scan from a linux live system (Is it really called live system?! What I actually mean is running a linux from a cd... ;) ) from time to time....

[Emil]

I use ESET Smart Security 6.

[KevinJ]

I've been using ESET for a while now. It's pretty good except for when you switch on interactive mode, and it doesn't pop up with the allow/deny box, forcing you to either restart the application and alt + tab out to see if the box has appeared, or turning off your firewall until you're actually in the game or whatever other application you were using.

[dchen12]

My current (and favourite) AV setup: ESET Smart Security 5 http://www.eset.com/ Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware PRO http://www.malwarebytes.com/ Browser plugins (I use Pale Moon x64): - HTTPSEverywhere - Adblock Plus - BitDefender TrafficLight - DoNotTrack Plus Anti-phishing and other features with my modem SmartScreen' date=' Defender, and Firewall are included features with Windows 8.[/quote']

I currently use ESET Smart Security 5 and it's awesome! Definitely recommend.

[W4RL0K]

I am currently using Avira on this system after running AVG forever on my old one. They both seem to work just as well. No problems yet!

[W4RL0K]

I have been a Norton internet security use since 2006' date=' it has never let me down, I plugin pen-drives which have malware, viruses and it cleans them well! :) anyone else a Norton user? [/quote']

Norton is too resource hungry, I had it on an old P4 system and it was unusable. There are much better free options available in my opinion.

[le_Queso]

I believe that the best anti-virus is common sense.

I currently use Malwarebytes though...

[StromPC]

No.1 Anti Malware has to be Malwarebytes And it's free! For actual antivirus' date=' i use Avast, full free and does a great job.[/quote']

Don't forget that the free version doesn't protect you in real time. The free version is used for a clean up purpose only. The PRO version protect in real time and like Dave said it's really a must have these days.

[StromPC]

As for the Anti-Virus, in the free side it's Avast who have the strongest results recently. On the paid side : BitDefender, ESET, Avira have a good balance between system load and protection.

[Zed]

I personally use Kaspersky on two of my computers. I kind of went by Red Alert's "soviet power supreme". One just need to be comfortable with it taking over control of the computer :D

Although it tends to get hoggier with each new version...

For anyone who asks me, I tell them to install the free versions of either AVG or Avira.

PS: This post would have been better as a poll.

[Rhizo]

The best free antivirus at the moment is microsoft security essentials (MSE). Use that with weekly malwarebytes scanning and you will be safe. If you are super paranoid, use NOD 32.

[crispy345]

Am I the only one using AVG? LOL, I just needed one, and considering I'm not usually attractive to viruses, I do not think it's a huge problem :P

[Kidbest100]

I personally use WSE (Windows Security Essentials)

It's free, runs good, and no annoying pop-ups that you see all the time with stupid things like Kaspersky.

[Nit3Rid3R]

I was using Kaspersky, was pretty good, now I've just stopped using AV's, can't be bothered anymore.

[Alex]

Good Guide, you should add some Pictures to separate the text

[SammichThyme]

I use Norton on my i7 beast machine because it can handle it and doesn't bog me down a noticeable amount, but I opted for AVG Free and Malwarebytes on my laptop (Vizio CN15-A5)

[Teapo]

I like MSE with malwarebytes and spybot.

[Linuxury]

My recommendation will be Comodo :D