Best Free Antivirus Programs for Windows

Let me start by saying I don't pay for any of the programs I use. That's right, they're all free. Free antivirus programs that work? Yes! Ok, most of them have a paid component that you can buy or subscribe to, but I don't and I'm perfectly happy paying nothing.

Some people say "you get what you pay for" and will only recommend a paid version because if you're using free stuff, you're just not protected. I say that's completely wrong. The antivirus companies out there will provide the same virus definitions for their free and paid products. They want you to love the free stuff so that you pay for the extra features of the paid versions. They're not going to make a product that intentionally overlooks a virus in hopes that you buy the full program. That's just insane marketing.

So what do you get with a paid version? Real-time watching (programs stay running in the background and watches everything for possible virus activity), email scanners, link checkers, customer support, automatic definition updates, or maybe even additional non-virus-related features such as a registry cleaner or disk cleanup utilities. I'm not against paid versions whatsover. I just feel that lightweight programs that work are the way to go and quite honestly, the best antivirus programs for me happen to be free.

My list of free programs is simple and all these programs work very well together:
1) Malewarebytes Anti-malware
2) MIcrosoft Security Essentials
3) Superantispyware
4) Advanced System Care (ASC)
5) Windows Firewall

Links are below

MalwareBytes is a free program that defines what an antimalware program should be. It's lightweight, easy to install and update, doesn't hog memory, allows you to pause the scan, doesn't slow down your computer by running in the background, and best of all...it's FREE! If you want to download just 1 free antivirus or antimalware program to combat something, make this it.

You can always pay for more options but quite honestly, I don't want it running in the background. This is the first program I turn to when I suspect something is amiss. Oh yeah, and it runs just fine with all the other programs mentioned on this page. No fighting over who's in charge, just does what I need it to do.

If you're really stuck, you can also check out their antimalware forums for some great help getting rid of any particular bad guy you got installed. Oh yeah, and that's FREE too.

When I first saw MSE available for free download, I thought "Great, another bloated program that does next to nothing and will eventually be uninstalled." Boy was I wrong. MSE is lightweight, doesn't hog resources, doesn't annoy or nag you all day, updates by itself, scans by itself, and stays running QUIETLY in the background while you do whatever it is you do on the computer.

Let's face it, if anyone knows how to make a program that runs well in Windows, it's Microsoft. Say what you will about the company and it's products but what's the biggest complaint of every single Antivirus program out there? Memory intensive, too many components installed, too much nagging to tell Windows to allow it to do something, can't be easily uninstalled, etc. MSE actually runs perfectly quiet until it detects something, has minimal processes installed, is created by the company that knows how to keep other programs from shutting it down, and is JUST antivirus. It doesn't pretend to be a firewall, e-mail checker, link-checker, kids-in-bed checker, or anything else. While other companies are going crazy trying to design the ultimate do-it-all security suites, Microsoft came along and provided a great antivirus program that does just that, nothing else. Oh yeah, and it's FREE!

THANK YOU MICROSOFT!

SuperAntiSpyware is a free antivirus you can download and install quickly. It has killed programs that the others above just couldn't. For that, it gets mentioned here. While I'm no fan of programs running in the background or begging me to update, or making Windows start slower...I'm a huge fan of things that actually work.

Remember the Windows hack programs like TweakUI that would allow you to do oh so much more with your OS? Wouldn't it be nice if MicroSoft gave you an interface that would allow you to close down commonly used registry entries that allow malicious programs to install? Wouldn't it be great if Microsoft allowed you to tweak your computer and it's network settings for optimum performance? Wouldn't that be great? Yeah it would. But until then, may I introduce Advanced SystemCare. It's a free download, of course.

Not only does ASC scan your computer for malicious programs, but it scans your pc for bad file links in your registry, null registry entries, bad hard disk sectors, unused files, etc. This is the ultimate Windows Fix-it program.

My only complaint against ASC is that it might allow you to do a bit too much. I wish it would check to see what you actually do before shutting everything down. I say that because I work on systems on a domain and need remote access, ASC (if all options are checked) shuts that down completely. That should be fine for the average user who just wants their PC to surf the web. I do recommend you read the descriptions of what it wants to do before allowing it to do any actions, and there are plenty of actions it can do. Personally, I customize what it does for each computer I install it on. Some I want it to get rid of all tracking cookies, some I don't, some I want locked down from the network, some I need a bit more open. The good thing is that ASC has many different scans you can run and offers you a lot of leeway in what you want it to fix, being very clear as to what it's going to do, or not do as you may prefer.

Personally, I don't want my cookies cleaned. I like going to any site and having my username and password there. I change them enough that i'm not worried about that info being stored. That's just me. And if you're like me, you can still use this program perfectly fine. Just make sure you uncheck what you don't want it to do.

Advanced SystemCare is a product of IOBit. They make all kinds of PC utilities. A lot of their more popular programs are merged into ASC. On top of the basic malware scan, The quick care option allows you to clean temp files, fix broken shortcuts, and erase browsing trackers. The Deep Care option adds a lot more including deeper cleaning of registry, defrag, system optimization, vulnerability fix, and passive defense.

...Many people, for one reason or another, have the firewall shut off. Usually it starts with "I was trying to do something and I couldn't do it so I thought the firewall was stopping me. I shut it off and forgot to turn it back on when it didn't solve the problem."

Enough said, just go make sure it's on. Allow exceptions. That's how you do the things you want to do. It doesn't hurt by the way to go look at those exceptions once in a while and see what's asked for permission to go through the firewall.

Control Panel > Windows Firewall

A note on firewalls: This article (we call them lenses here on Squidoo) is not about firewalls. That's a whole separate topic. Yes I recommend a strong firewall, but this page here isn't about that. This is about antivirus, so please don't write about how ineffective Windows Firewall is against hackers, that's not the point here.

I like Avast, AVG, and a few other free antivirus programs in theory. The reality of them, however, leaves a bit to be desired. I'm sure there are thousands of people who quietly enjoy these services without any noted problems. There are also, however, many people who feel these free antivirus programs are the cause of system slowdown. That's not just a blind accusation as these programs tend to try and do so much that they sometimes end up being the problem instead of the solution. Some are set to run a scan at each logon, some are set to check for updates every boot, some are set to use way too much in the way of system resources to be called "passive" programs. I prefer the lightweight programs that I never notice running until there's an infected file trying to get on my PC. Am I saying you'll never have a problem with the free antivirus programs I mention above? Not at all. Depending on your system and its (mis)configuration, any 1 program can cause problems. Its been my experience that the free programs above are better than the rest at doing what they're supposed to do, the way I want them to do it.

I just love squidoo. You can write any type of article and it doesn't have to fit any overall theme or go with the rest of your stuff. It's free, and some people even make money doing it!

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