We test free antiviruses: Kaspersky Free, Avira Free, AVG Free and Avast! Free. How to choose a free antivirus? Comparing Kaspersky, Avira, AVG and Avast

To the question Which is better antivirus Avira or Avast asked by the author Anarchist the best answer is You can install the antivirus "Avira AntiVir Personal Russian" (FREE), which
available here: and works/updates on Windows 2000, XP and Vista.
For more information about Avira AntiVir Personal, see the table on
It is officially free, however, it has several quite
serious advantages over all nonsense, such as Avast, Nod32, DrWeb,
Kaspersky, AVG, etc., etc.
Avira has an excellent heuristic analysis - that is, it is much more
It detects new, polymorphic, or modified viruses more effectively than others.
Now in the free Avira, in addition to the antivirus,
a module "AntiSpyware" has also appeared, which, in addition to viruses, also catches this rubbish (spyware),
and he does this in real time (“on the fly”). In a similar way, also “on the fly”,
The free "Avira" can also stop attempts at "phishing" (another type of Internet espionage).
The speed of this antivirus is much higher than that of many (paid and free)
analogues I myself have been using the free Avira for more than 8 years and would like to change it to something else
I'm not going to do it under any circumstances.
Currently, Avira’s virus databases contain almost two million signatures. There are not only viruses,
but also Trojans / spyware / macro viruses (infecting office documents) / rootkits / worms
and other evil spirits.
"Avira" works much faster than others and at the same time it is much more efficient
catches new and/or hiding colds :) Does not conflict with other programs
and firewalls. Requires very few system resources to operate.
When registering free "Avira", you can specify any EMail, you can also enter your temporary address.
When her key runs out, it is automatically renewed.
I once saw aggressive attacks against her, but they were all written
brainless dummies who know nothing but stupidly play games.
Avast has a lot of false alarms and very weak heuristics.
p.s.:
Sometimes some smart people advise installing two or more antiviruses at once.
It's like using several condoms at the same time.
Nothing can be achieved with this except completely unpredictable glitches and system slowdowns.proxy
Enlightened
(23713)
I saw a little higher (in the answers to your question)
conversations about Outpost. I don't use it because... He,
In my opinion, it has become a little “heavy” for the average user.
I installed PC Tools Firewall Plus, and although it is free, despite this,
has all the necessary features. In addition to the functions inherent in each firewall,
can monitor the system registry and the priority of certain services.
Completely unobtrusive. Fast. In Russian. Free registration.
His rating:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php#products-ratings
Description:
http://www.pctools.com/ru/firewall/
I've been using it for a long time, almost every day
on hacker sites and on sites for “hacking” information.
He has never let me down.

Answer from Nick_fack[newbie]
Avast

Answer from Stab[guru]
Tests showed that AVIRA

Answer from *Queen Night_of_Dreams*[guru]
Avast or better nod32

Answer from D.S.N.[guru]
Avast+comodo

Answer from Aleksey kuznetcov[expert]
Avast

Answer from Victoria Semyonova[newbie]
Avast

Answer from (((Kisa))[guru]
Avira is shit
Avast is better

Answer from And Rey[guru]
NOD32 ESET Smart Security 4.0.474.0

Answer from Yotepan Ivanovich[guru]
There is no better Kaspersky. At work, Weber is updated every two hours, and viruses regularly sneak through Kaspersky at home without any problems.

Answer from ? [guru]
Avira.
And anyone who writes negatively about any antivirus is a noob

Answer from Dj Kosh@[guru]
Avira detects new viruses a little better, they are the same in old ones =) if you compare the free versions of Avast and Avira, Avast will be preferable since it has both a web and a firewall, while Avira has file protection! And another piece of advice is to add both Avas and Avira, depending on what you choose, with a firewall, any free one, for example Komodo Internet Security or alarm free zones or outpost =, this will significantly increase your level of security =)

Good day, dear readers of the blog site. Surely your home computer has some kind of anti-virus protection, no? If not, then I strongly recommend getting one; why this is necessary was discussed in one of the previous articles, specifically here. This can be either a paid antivirus or its free analogues; in most cases, free antivirus versions are installed, which, by the way, are not much inferior in terms of protection to many paid antiviruses, and you can download them completely free of charge. This is perhaps the most important advantage of free antiviruses (your “Cap Obviousness”).

For about a year, I had a free version of the Avast antivirus on my home computer (if anyone doesn’t know, this company also has a paid version “Avast Internet Security”, which in addition to the antivirus contains a firewall and a bunch of other any functionality). So this year I haven’t gotten a single virus! I periodically checked with the free Kaspersky virus cleaning utility, but it also didn’t detect anything. All this made me think that in most cases, installing a free antivirus is the best solution, since such an antivirus provides a sufficient level of protection, does not slow down the system (unlike...you know who) and is inexpensive (free).

Based on the results of numerous antivirus tests on various resources, I selected four candidates for the title the best free antivirus of 2014. Of these, only two antiviruses have been on my computer for quite a long time as the main protection, these are Avast and AVG. The comparison was made using tests (antivirus ratings) + my experience of use, I will try to be objective. By the way, do not pay attention to the order in which antiviruses appear in the text, this does not mean anything, you just have to start somewhere.

Before continuing, I suggest you take a look at where our antivirus is in the ranking. Rating taken from pcmag.com.

As you can see, the only thing in which Avast is inferior to the other three contenders is in performance. Indeed, scanning takes a little longer than we would like. However, I would not call Avast a “slower”; the difference in the speed of the OS with and without it is absolutely not felt. The anti-virus engine itself is presented in the form of three screens: the file system screen (scans files and programs when opening and closing), the mail screen and the web screen (partially acting as a firewall).

Please note that after installation is complete, you will need to register, otherwise you will only be able to use the antivirus for 30 days.

But after registration, you will be able to obtain a license for at least a year, and then you will only need to renew it once a year (theoretically, the license can be renewed an unlimited number of times). All registration information can be obtained by going to the “Registration” item of the same name in the antivirus settings menu.

I decided to omit the installation procedure; there is nothing unusual there. Among the “amenities” we can note: a good translation into Russian of the entire interface down to the very last detail, Voice acting of pop-up notifications in Russian in a pleasant female voice (even without an accent) - which, by the way, can be turned off if you suddenly get tired of it. In general, it is clear that a lot of time and attention was devoted to the development of this antivirus product, and continues to be given to this day.

AVG antivirus from the Czech Republic

You can download AVG Free from here. After downloading and installing, you will be able to see this interface, designed in the style of the Windows 8 start screen.

You can clearly see that at the bottom of the screen there is an advertising block, which can be minimized by clicking on the link in the lower right corner (it doesn’t fit in the image). However, if you close and then open the main antivirus window, the advertisement will appear again, regardless of whether you minimized it before or not. There are no problems with registration at all, everything is done even with a certain amount of humor, look for yourself.

Again, the Russian language is present everywhere, everything is very well done, but I liked the Avast interface more, although the “taste and color...”, as they say. And yet, in the settings I found the sound notifications item, there is a checkmark there, but I was not able to hear any speeches (such as “the scanning is completed, the virus databases have been updated,” etc.).

German quality

So we come to non-Russian-language antiviruses, which, nevertheless, are quite easy to use and provide an excellent level of protection. I'm talking about Avira Free Antivirus. Just look how modestly they speak about themselves.

To be honest, I seriously doubt the adequacy of this rating; well, a free antivirus cannot be on par with Kaspersky, which does not have free solutions in its product line, apparently the developers slightly exaggerated. Or, there is a situation where a paid product from Avira was used to build the graph, which can also be the case, because there is no specifics on the graph.

And in the very first rating (third image from the beginning of the article) it is clearly visible that in the “Protection” section the German scores only three stars, while all competitors have four. The only global difference between this antivirus product and alternative options is that it uses the so-called cloud technology, which allows you to significantly increase the performance and reliability of the antivirus.

As previously mentioned, this antivirus does not support the Russian language, however, even without it, using the antivirus is quite convenient, it has a truly intuitive interface, what else can I say.

Using the "FireWall" slider in the right column of the main program window, you can enable or disable the firewall built into Windows, and by clicking on the gear to the right of it, you can set additional settings for it. I wonder if it will be possible to control a third-party firewall through this function, for some reason I think not. There is no need to register here; rarely does anyone have Windows for more than two years without reinstallation, so you most likely won’t need to renew it.

Before installation, it is better to disable the built-in firewall and (or) antivirus; Avira was installed on my computer only 3 times, only after I disabled the firewall built into the system.

"Not speaking Russian" - Bitdefender

“Everything ingenious is simple” is a fairly popular phrase, which can be said to be a sort of slogan for an American product called Bitdefender. The apparent simplicity of the interface actually hides very impressive capabilities for detecting and eliminating all kinds of threats.

This antivirus, according to the developers, uses a combination of cloud scanning and behavioral analysis, which allows it to detect and neutralize new and even unknown threats faster than others. Moreover, the antivirus works as if unnoticed by the user, only occasionally showing him text notifications, for example, about a successful scan, a detected threat, an update, etc. This is definitely a “Smart and Silent” antivirus that just does its job.

What's the end result?

Yes, everything is very simple, if you need an antivirus in Russian with good technical support and you are not bothered by advertising, a little more intrusive in the case of AVG, and a little less in the case of Avast, then opt for one of these two solutions. Remember that AVG scans a little faster, but its interface cannot be called unambiguous; some will like it, others will be repulsed; subjectively, Avast looks better in this regard.

If you are not afraid of the absence of the Russian language in principle, then I definitely recommend installing Bitdefender; nevertheless, in terms of protection, it is doing somewhat better than Avira; in short, fans of ardent minimalism should like it. All four contenders presented today are worthy of being installed, in the end it all comes down to your personal preferences.

I myself have not yet decided, I constantly compare Avast and Bitdefender, they both suit me, but still the presence of the Russian language is doing its job for now. What free antivirus do you think is the best? I suggest discussing this in the comments.

Many security software developers produce free antiviruses. Even Kaspersky Lab JSC presented a free version - Kaspersky Free. How much of the basic functionality is enough to prevent infection in real-world conditions - for example, when surfing the web? How do you pay for free cheese? Let's find out.

Testing methodology

We provided the most identical conditions for all participants in the experiment. Using VirtualBox, a test system was created - a virtual machine with a clean Windows 7 OS in the “Maximum” edition with the first service pack and all updates. Then it was cloned three times and only one antivirus was installed in each of the clones. Analysis of changes and current activity was carried out using portable software (TCPView, Autoruns with the VirusTotal plugin via API, ProcessExplorer, Regshot, AVZ and other utilities from the system administrator’s first aid kit).

The sources of threats were sites from the Clean MX database that were marked as infected and/or potentially dangerous. Only active sites added in the last 24 hours were selected for the test. We visited them one by one through the IE browser and logged the results of antivirus activation (if any). During the test, the antivirus and firewall on the host system were disabled.

All tests were performed with default settings. Any free antivirus only reduces the likelihood of infection, but does not completely eliminate it. To improve security, you should use more aggressive settings and additional tools - a firewall, proactive protection tools, isolation of potentially dangerous code, anti-phishing and others. In paid antiviruses, most of them are already integrated, but if you wish, you can make a similar set of free utilities yourself.

Like any program, virtual machine managers also contain errors. Using various vulnerabilities, malware can go beyond the test system and infect the main operating system. Be careful!

1 Kaspersky Free

The volume of the distribution kit version 16.0.1.445 is 147.8 MB. After installation and update, Kaspersky Free takes up 232 MB of disk space. It provides basic protection that includes a virus scanner, resident monitor, automatic updates, quarantine management and report viewing. Additional functions are marked as inactive - this is a kind of advertisement for the full version of KIS and KTS.

When you first launch it, a full-size window appears on the main page of the antivirus asking you to register. You can click on the inconspicuous button with the image of a gear in the lower left corner, and it will disappear. However, then the registration reminder will constantly appear again in the form of pop-up messages. Additionally, when you first launch it in the default browser, the Google Play store page opens with an offer to install Kaspersky Internet Security, and the Kaspersky Protection Toolbar is built into the browser itself. It is impossible to refuse its integration at the installation stage - there are simply no settings in the installer. However, the toolbar can be deactivated using the browser itself.

In our test, Kaspersky Free did not miss a single real threat. Some malicious sites were blocked by the Microsoft SmartScreen filter, while access to others was blocked by the antivirus. Sometimes they worked simultaneously.

However, the antivirus is not strict enough to prevent the user from “shooting himself in the foot.” If you select a potentially dangerous executable from the download list that was previously blocked by the smartscreen and forcefully launch it, Kaspersky Free will allow you to do this with Buddhist indifference. It allows the installation of a program with an invalid digital signature, which 17 antiviruses of the VirusTotal online scanner complain about.

Moreover, Kaspersky itself recognizes it on VirusTotal as Downloader.Win32.Bundl.aq, but ignores it when checking locally with the free version. Even if it is not a virus, but a means of delivering a “combat payload”, this does not make it any easier for the user.

2 Avira Free Antivirus 2016

Avira Free antivirus also has limited functionality and quite annoyingly advertises the transition to the paid version. Advertising for various Avira products pours out like a cornucopia even during installation by the web installer. That's probably why it took so damn long. Tired of watching the progress indicator, I managed to finish writing another article.

After installation, Avira took up 1329 MB including databases, and only half of this space was in the \Program Files\Avira\ directory. The rest was in \ProgramData\Avira and other places. Avira Free includes a software firewall (which is rare for free antiviruses), but its presence does not explain such a high appetite for disk space.

The interface itself is also surprising. The entire installation is displayed in Russian. After clicking on the tray icon, the language turns into Russian-English, and in the main window it becomes simply English. It’s not a problem, but it’s strange to see such superficial localization.

The antivirus allowed the executable file from Downloader.Win32.Bundl.aq to be downloaded. When I forced it to run, a message appeared stating that the file was being analyzed by Avira. Seconds later it was recklessly declared safe.

Having detected a malicious java script, Avira displayed a warning. By chance, it coincided with the design of the site and looked like part of it - an inexperienced user may not notice.

After clicking Remove, the script was blocked and no redirect to the phishing page occurred. Then Avira immediately launched a quick system scan - I think this is a justified additional measure.

Avira also did not notice the malware packaged in ZIP at first and only discovered it after manually unpacking the archive.

After forcing the download of an executable file blocked by the smart screen, Avira determined that it belongs to the PUA (potentially unwanted programs) category.

If you try to navigate to a page containing multiple exploits, Avira immediately displays a warning but allows you to download the content. In this case, no infection occurs.

Just like Kaspersky Free, sometimes Avira antivirus worked together with the SmartScreen filter.

3 AVG Antivirus Free Edition

The Czech antivirus AVG has undergone significant changes since last fall. Now it is actually a utility for collecting user data with some antivirus functionality. On disk, AVG Free occupies 192 MB, but this value quickly increases as data is cached and sent to the company's servers. According to the official version, this is done for cloud scanning and analysis of suspicious files. Just what can you suspect in a clean OS, where, apart from the AVG Free antivirus, there are no third-party applications and user files?

The installation itself is quick and almost without advertising, but there is a catch in the installer. At the next stage, it suggests installing a 30-day trial version of a paid antivirus instead of the initially selected free one. You must manually select AVG Free and continue with the installation.

Immediately after installing AVG Free, a pop-up window prompts you to install the AVG SafeGuard by Ask toolbar and make Ask the default search engine, and a page with an advertisement for the AVG application for Android opens in the browser.

A potentially dangerous executable that Kaspersky Free ignored was blocked by AVG when I tried to download it. Foolproofing worked clearly better.

Another malicious executable file AVG allowed to download and only then recognized it as a threat.

However, malicious files in the ZIP archive were detected by AVG only after manually unpacking the archive.

Web pages often contain malicious Java scripts that try to redirect the user to another page or infect his computer. AVG detects them and displays a blocking request, but after the message “the threat has been successfully removed”, a redirect to the phishing site still occurs, which is already blocked by SmartScreen... if you're lucky.

Sometimes there are several threats on websites at once. In this case, AVG displays summary information and usually prompts you to select the desired action. Sometimes it prohibits all elements itself. In this case, no action is required - you can only view the description of the found infection.

One of the web pages, which was considered infected by six antiviruses on VirusTotal, was ignored by AVG. He discovered the infection only when it was on the hard drive and trying to become active.

4 Avast! Free Antivirus (11.1.2245)

When installing Avast! You also need to be careful: by default, the installation of Google Chrome and Google Toolbar for IE is checked. After installation without additional components, the antivirus takes up 604 MB - a lot, but half the size of Avira Free.

Even the main antivirus window is full of hidden advertising. The promised gift turns out to be a formal discount on paid products. The “Tools” tab does not list additional protection modules, but advertising links to their descriptions. Once you click one of them, the offer to select the option of additional paid protection will reside in the main Avast window for a long time.

When trying to manually launch a blocked MSS executable from Avast! We do not meet any resistance. A potentially dangerous file (downloader) with an invalid signature is ignored by the antivirus.

Malicious Java script and Avast exploits! blocks immediately, and infected web pages do not load at all. However, the message about detected threats does not look informative - it is the same for different malware and does not even allow one to judge their number.

Avast malware archive! allowed me to download, but checked it myself and immediately detected a threat - even before I tried to look at the list of downloads.

Another executable file that is detected as malicious by 34 antivirus programs on VirusTotal, Avast! ignored. He silently allowed it to be downloaded and forced to run, bypassing the MSS block.

Big Brother Footsteps

With the instigation of Microsoft, which released "", the practice of open surveillance of users is becoming generally accepted among software developers. It is directly stated in the user agreement, but who reads it? For example, for Avira this item looks like this:

“We may collect, store and use information that identifies you, your device (as defined below), and your device's interactions with other devices (such as device ID, device IP address, location, content, language preferences, IMEI code device, device brand and model, battery status, device OS version, device phone number, SIM number, network provider name, memory status, geo-information based on GPS/Wi-Fi/network location and any other technical information... Some This information may be used to identify you, including, but not limited to: name, address, telephone number, email address, social security card number, credit card information, facial image, voice sample or biometric information (collectively, “Personal Information”) and may include data stored on your device. We may also transfer your personal information to other countries where our product providers' equipment is located.".

Other developers have slightly different wording, but the general principle remains the same. They collect all the data that is technically possible to obtain. Since the antivirus is deeply integrated into the OS, installs its own drivers and intercepts system calls, it has access to all information - including encrypted information, since the user himself has decrypted it at least once.

Against this background, the statement Evgeniy Kaspersky made when announcing the release of a free antivirus named after himself is encouraging:

However, even here it is not without a share of slyness. Kaspersky Free itself collects only general anonymized statistics, such as the number of threats found by type. However, it includes the Kaspersky Security Network cloud service by default, and KSN is known for its appetite for collecting information. Detailed logs are sent to it, which include a list of installed programs along with paths, detailed monitoring of user work, lists of running processes, application usage statistics and other private data. You can disable it on the corresponding tab.

conclusions

As you can see from this little experiment, all free antiviruses reacted slightly differently to the same threats. Some blocked the link by displaying a warning at an early stage. Others did not allow the infected file to be downloaded or prevented the launch of a malicious script, while others responded only to the local launch of the malware or skipped it altogether. The point here is not that a paid antivirus is better than a free one from the same developer - they have the same engine and base. It’s just that the paid versions use additional protection modules, thanks to which threats are recognized and blocked not only by signature analysis.

Overall, Kaspersky Free did not cause any significant complaints. It is very similar to a stripped-down KIS, from which optional components and foolproof protection were removed, advertising was added and KSN was hidden deeper.

Avira was distinguished by its monstrously long installation time and gluttony. It took up the most space, and the computer with it significantly slowed down during basic operations. It practically does not work with archives. In any case, it does not check those downloaded from the Internet before manually unpacking them.

Avast! ignored a couple of serious threats (one is enough for the user) and is also replete with sly advertising. It blocks detected malware immediately, but it is impossible to understand what happened without a detailed analysis of the log. Antivirus messages look the same and do not imply a choice on the part of the user - usually they are simply notifications about a decision made.

AVG generally looks adequate, but the company's policy regarding user data leaves much to be desired. If it weren't for the information collection ultimatum, it could be recommended as a good free antivirus.

WARNING

All tests were performed for research purposes only. The necessary files were downloaded from publicly available resources. The developers of the tested antiviruses received automatic notifications about the scan results. The editors and the author are not responsible for any possible harm.

Testing methodology

INFO

All tests were performed with default settings. Any antivirus only reduces the likelihood of infection, but does not completely eliminate it. To improve security, you should use more aggressive settings and additional tools - a firewall, proactive protection tools, isolation of potentially dangerous code, anti-phishing and others. In paid antiviruses, most of them are already integrated, but if you wish, you can make a similar set of free utilities yourself.

Like any program, virtual machine managers also contain errors. Using various vulnerabilities, malware can go beyond the test system and infect the main operating system. Be careful!

Kaspersky Free

Avira Free Antivirus 2016

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The choice of antivirus should always be taken with great responsibility, because the security of your computer and confidential data depends on it. To fully protect your system, it is no longer necessary to buy a paid antivirus, since free analogues cope with the tasks quite successfully. Let's compare the main features of Avira Free Antivirus and Avast Free Antivirus to determine the best one.

Both of the above applications have cult status among antivirus programs. The German Avira antivirus is the world's first mass free program to protect computers from malicious code and the actions of intruders. The Czech program Avast, in turn, is by far the most popular free antivirus in the world.

Of course, evaluating an interface is a very subjective matter. However, objective criteria can also be found in assessing appearance.

The Avira antivirus interface has remained without significant changes for many years. It looks somewhat ascetic and old-fashioned.

In contrast, Avast is constantly experimenting with the visual environment. In the latest version of Avast Free Antivirus, it is maximally adapted to work in the latest operating systems Windows 8 and Windows 10. In addition, managing Avast, thanks to the drop-down menu, is quite convenient.

So, regarding the evaluation of the interface, you need to give preference to the Czech antivirus.

Virus protection

It is believed that Avira has somewhat more reliable protection against viruses than Avast, although it also sometimes allows malware into the system. At the same time, Avira has a very high number of false positives, which is not much better than missing a virus.

We’ll still give a point to Avira, as a more reliable program, although in this regard the gap from Avast is minimal.

Avira 1:1 Avast

Areas of protection

Avast Free Antivirus protects your computer's file system, email and Internet connection using special screen services.

Avira Free Antivirus has a real-time file system protection and Internet surfing service using the built-in Windows firewall. But email protection is only available in the paid version of Avira.

Avira 1:2 Avast

If in its normal state Avira antivirus does not overload the system, then when scanning, it literally sucks all the juice out of the operating system and the central processor. As we can see, according to the task manager, the main Avira process takes on a fairly large percentage of the system’s capacity when scanning. But, besides it, there are three more auxiliary processes.

Unlike Avira, Avast antivirus hardly strains the system even when scanning. As you can see, it takes up 17 times less RAM than the main Avira process, and loads the central processor 6 times less.

Avira 1:3 Avast

Additional tools

Free antiviruses Avast and Avira have a number of additional tools that provide more reliable system protection. These include browser add-ons, proprietary browsers, anonymizers and other elements. But it should be noted that if in Avasta there are shortcomings in some of these tools, then in Avira everything works more holistically and organically.

In addition, it should be said that Avast installs all additional tools by default. And since most users rarely pay attention to the subtleties of installation, elements that are completely unnecessary for a particular person can be installed into the system along with the main antivirus.

But Avira took a completely different approach. In it, if necessary, the user can install a specific application individually. He installs only the tools he really needs. This approach of developers is preferable, as it is less intrusive.

Thus, according to the criterion of the policy of providing additional tools, Avira antivirus wins.

Avira 2:3 Avast

However, the overall victory in the competition between the two antiviruses remains with Avast. Despite the fact that Avira has a slight advantage in such a fundamental criterion as the reliability of protection against viruses, the gap in this indicator from Avast is so insignificant that it cannot radically affect the general state of affairs.