Free Anti-Virus software

[Gromgor]

So, had a really nasty virus hit my comp hard (complete wipe required, life sucked)

Looking for really good, free, downloadable Anti-Virus software.

Thanks

[Pae]

I've used three recently:

AVG - It worked fine, kind of grinded resources a lot (though less than Norton, but what isn't less than Norton). It eventually 'broke' when AVG 7 came out and it would no longer update automatically. You had to actually uninstall it and then reinstall it. After that it worked fine to my knowledge. Should be a fine solution.

AntiVir - Lightweight and fast. Problem is there's a nasty pop-up window that fills your screen once in a blue moon. Not fun when fighting big bad Cindrax.

Avast - This is the one I use and recommend. It's a middleweight between these two, but has caught everything I've ever had and offers a nice boot-time scan should anything be severely wrong. It is free for personal use but you have to sign up with your email addy to get a key (that's only valid for 6 months, then you have to go get another key). I would also recommend disabling all Avast sounds. They are all voice things and quite loud. Scares the crap out of you at 4am when the computer loudly announces in the silence: "Your virus database has been updated!"

[Grantref]

Originally posted by Elvion
I've used three recently:

AVG - It worked fine, kind of grinded resources a lot (though less than Norton, but what isn't less than Norton). It eventually 'broke' when AVG 7 came out and it would no longer update automatically. You had to actually uninstall it and then reinstall it. After that it worked fine to my knowledge. Should be a fine solution.

AntiVir - Lightweight and fast. Problem is there's a nasty pop-up window that fills your screen once in a blue moon. Not fun when fighting big bad Cindrax.

Avast - This is the one I use and recommend. It's a middleweight between these two, but has caught everything I've ever had and offers a nice boot-time scan should anything be severely wrong. It is free for personal use but you have to sign up with your email addy to get a key (that's only valid for 6 months, then you have to go get another key). I would also recommend disabling all Avast sounds. They are all voice things and quite loud. Scares the crap out of you at 4am when the computer loudly announces in the silence: "Your virus database has been updated!"

All three are excellent choices, however, one should keep in mind that while AVG and Avast include antispyware, Avira free version does not. So it's an excellent choice IF you also install Windows Defender, Spybot S&D, and/or some other free antispyware programs.

[Haizakem]

My preferred set up includes Bitdefender Total Security 2008 and Super Anti-Spyware or Spysweeper.

If you are looking to budget, I would suggest AVG along with Spybot.

[xaxer]

I use AVG it works great....

[kestra]

I've been super happy with Trend Micro PC-cillin. Downloaded a torrent file off of utorrent, and works great.