Free Antivirus Help Blog

     I have heard this line many times before. Is Norton better than McAfee? Is Kaspersky better than Avast? What is the best antivirus? Thankfully there are many ways to validate how an antivirus stacks up against their competitors.

      The first way is to find one of the many antivirus comparison companies and view their reports. One of my favorite is av-comparatives.org . You can view their latest report here. The company basically takes all of the well known antivirus software and runs a battery of tests on them. They use approximately 2,309,850 viruses on their test machines. They then rank each antivirus performance according to a battery of malware including backdoors, viruses, bots, and Trojans etc. The company then takes scanning times (Winners: ranked left to right, Avast, Symantec, Avira, and Sophos.), Detection Rates (Avira McAfee, Symantec, Avast then F-Secure 99.5% through 97.5%) and Missed Samples (Avira, McAfee, Symantec , and then Avast lower is better). Finally they assign an overall score with Avast, Symantec Norton, and Bitdefender ranked the highest.  McAfee is ranked in a tier below the following antiviruses. There are also four levels of certification with the av comparatives rankings depending on effectiveness.

    There are also other ranking services including WestCoast labs. This laboratory again tests an assortment of antivirus variables. Unfortunately, the company only provides two certifications platinum or a regular certification. So, Antivirus software either has a certification or it doesn’t as the company doesn’t rank antivirus software. However, it’s still good to check for WestCoast labs certified antivirus.

     Next, is ICSA labs. I like ICSA labs because they not only test antivirus but antispyware and anti spam as well. I believe that ICSA labs is one of the original malware testing services so I presume them to also have the most experience. However, the company like Westcoast labs only provides a certification rather than a ranking.

     Finally is Virus Bulletin. VB is the same as the last 2 certification companies in that they only provides a single Vb100 certification. This Vb100 certification means that the antivirus product detected 100 percent of viruses in the wild. Only 15 of the 26 security products that they tested passed. However, according to Av-comparatives no antivirus scored 100 percent detection.

      Some things that virus testing services don’t tell you. The first thing is the virus testing or comparative labs do not usually test free antivirus products. Free antivirus usually have modified code or scaled down functionality from the full versions. Therefore, you can’t say that full antivirus software and a free antivirus software detection rates are even close to similar. This is unfortunate because most antivirus these days are free antivirus. Just do a quick Google search for “antivirus” and the first program is free avg. However, don’t be discouraged. Check out av-comparatives and then make sure the software also has certifications on the other three sites listed above. This should answer most users’ questions about what is the best antivirus or what antivirus is better?

Windows 7 has just been released and the big question breaks down to whether previous antivirus software designed for Windows Vista and Windows XP will work.  Unfortunately, most of the legacy antivirus software, especially those with Windows services, will have some problems with Windows 7.  I know this because I ran Windows 7 beta for a few months.  While the antivirus software might not have been completely non functional, I ran into a lot of graphical interface problems and auto protect problems.  Therefore, for those of you who have just upgraded to Windows 7,  I offer a list of free antivirus that are compatible so you do have to go out to the store and buy a new copy.

1) Windows Security Essentials - I reviewed this software a few weeks ago here.  Security Essentials was released especially for Windows 7 users.  It's free and provides great protection.  A very important feature of this antivirus is the fact that it natively supports 64bit operating systems.  Very few antivirus have this functionality*

2) AVG free Edition 9.0 -  This antivirus software was also just released just prior to the Windows 7 launch. It offers full compatibility with Windows 7. You can get the software here.

3) Avast Free Edition 4.8 - The features page of the software here, states that the software is compatible with Windows 7.  However, 4.8 is relatively old so you might want to check out the full version.  The full version comes with the "Windows 7 Certified" logo stating that software has been tested by Microsoft. 

4) McAfee Beta Total Protection for Windows 7 -  this is a new antivirus program offered by McAfee.  The software is free but it is in beta so it still may have some bugs.  Get it here.

5) McAfee Internet Security - I saw this the other day when I was logging in.  McAfee is offering 12 free months of security for Bank of America online users.  Get it here

Finally, most antivirus vendors have made sure their products are compatible with the latest verison of Windows. The thing that consumers need to look for are the "Certified for Windows 7" logos.  This will ensure that the software is completely compatible with Windows 7. Good Luck with making your version of Windows 7 more secure from viruses!

Spyware Doctor 10.0 has just been released and has recieved a significant amount of fanfare.   The software was awarded PC magazines highest rating ever of 95% for an antivirus / antispyware product.  I definitely tend to agree with this award as it's been a featured product on this website for over 2 years.  Unfortunately, the latest version of spyware doctor must be purchased.  While this may seem like a downside, if you want the latest in PC protection definetly think about picking up the full product. However, most of the readers of this website want a free verison.  Therefore,  there are many free offerings that people are unaware of made by PC tools.  In addition to Free Spyware Doctor starter edition, PC tools offers a free antivirus software, free firewall, and threat fire to protect against undiscovered malware threats.

PC tools Antivirus 6.1:

PC tools antivirus is an excellent free antivirus software. The program uses very little resources and is certified by Westcoast and ICSA labs (the main antivirus reviewing companies.) The updates are very fast and the software includes a realtime scanning agent. I'am not quite sure why PC tools doesn't charge money for this antivirus software. 

PC tools Firewall Plus:

The company has an excellent free firewall that works with all versions of Windows including, Windows 7.  The default Windows firewall only includes an inbound firewall.  PC tools firewall will also give a PC inbound protection in addition to out bound protection.  I really like the included support for IPV6 which will soon become the standard on the internet.  Most current firewalls omit IPV6 protection and only protect IPV4 creating a lot of vulnerabilities.

ThreatFire 4.5:

ThreatFire is an antivirus addon that uses behavorial technology to detect viruses even before they are released. ThreatFire has already scanned more than 100 billion programs and counting. 

In conclusion, if you install all of these free programs you are practically ensuring that your PC will be secure even in some of the most mission critical situations.  So head over to the PC tools website and happy downloading :).

    Grisoft has just released a new version of their antivirus software AVG 9.0.  The software improves upon the previous AVG 8.0 in several ways.  The first is faster scanning.  The AVG site states that scanning capability has increased with a new and improved scanning engine. Grisoft has stated that the scanning time has decreased by as much as 50%.  Grisoft has also stated that AVG 9.0 features improvements in boot times, memory consumption, and installation time. Unfortunately, after testing the software some review sites have stated that the scanning has not really improved and the software produces false positives.  In addition to the new scanning features, the internet security package includes a new phishing scanner and a firewall. 
    I think the most important fact about this announcement is its timing.  Microsoft just released their Security Essentials product and the antivirus industry has to be really nervous. I recall that antivirus companies have even stated that they'll take legal action against Microsoft if they release a free antivirus program. AVG probably felt it needed to release an updated product to combat Microsoft's free antivirus public relations frenzy. While users will have to pay for AVG 9.0, I think one can make a sure bet that the technology will be siphoned down to the Free AVG product line shortly. Watch out for a new free AVG version

      I have used the PCI compliance testing software before.  PCI compliance is a set of security guidelines to create a more secure computing environment.  I have used a software utility similar to this service that test vulnerabilities in a windows system.  Often businesses will need to use this tool if they accept credit cards. Basically, the PCI compliance institute issued a survey and found that fifty five percent of businesses only secure credit card numbers and not other other important financial information like SS numbers etc.  The survey also found that ten percent of the qualifying companies weren't using basic security software like firewalls and antivirus.     

      The first thing I have to say is in regards to PCI testing tools.  The testing websites are very unintuitive and I found it almost impossible to complete a security test.  This is because the services first ask you to open your firewall to let the service have access to your computer/server.  This process didn't make much sense to me.  An analogy is the service is basically asking you to let a thief into your home's front door without having to break in. In addition, want happens if a hacker is able to spoof the allowed ip ranges on the business router and enter a server unhindered. Please note that this is not an attack against PCI compliance guidelines.  

      In regards to how to secure business computers, I have a few security tips.  The first is to schedule antivirus scans on all of the networked computers to run daily.  This is because in my experience, auto protection or always on scanning misses a lot of viruses and Trojans.  The full daily antivirus scan will assure that your computer is virus free. My second tip is to get rid of internet explorer and make Firefox the default browser.  I now believe that the auto patching features in Firefox are now good enough for business computers. A third tip is to make sure that all of the available Windows patches are installed at a scheduled time every night.  Finally, a lot of viruses are now utilizing vulnerabilities in programs such as adobe acrobat or QuickTime.  Utilize a full system patch updating program like Secunia Security Scanner.  To make sure these programs are up to date and secure.  These are a few tips that should help your business computers be more secure.