2010 Free Antivirus Buyers Guide
BY: Charles P. Jefferies, NotebookReview.com ContributorPUBLISHED: 12/15/2009
By Charles P. Jefferies
Introduction
Over the last several months Notebook Review looked at several free antivirus solutions -- today we compile our results in our 2010 free antivirus buyers guide and declare a winner. Read on to see which one is most worthy of your bandwidth.
Antivirus Software Solutions
The following antivirus products are participating in this review; all are available free of charge:
- AVG 9.0 Antivirus Free
- Avira Home Edition
- Avast! Free Antivirus
- Microsoft Security Essentials
The antivirus solutions will be objectively and subjectively rated over four categories:
- Protection
- Ease of use
- Performance
- Extra features
Section One: Protection
This section focuses on two components: pro-activeness and update frequency. Pro activeness is rated on how fast the application detected viruses and on how frequently and quickly the software updated itself.
Solution | Pro Activeness (0-12) | Update Frequency (0-2) | Total |
AVG 9.0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
Avira | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Avast | 12 | 2 | 14 |
Microsoft SE | 7 | 2 | 9 |
Update Frequency: While all the antivirus solutions allow for manual updating, 99% of people will not do this. The free solutions we tested updated automatically only once per day. This is one area where free antivirus suites fall behind paid solutions, which update many times a day (sometimes several times per hour). Avira lost one point in this category since its updates took an unusually long time.
Section Two: Ease of Use
There are three categories in this section: Interface, simplicity, and free drawbacks; all are equally weighted. The interface rating is based on the presentation -- how well the interface is laid out and how easy is navigation. Simplicity is based on the relevance of terminology and items presented in the interface. Lastly, the free drawbacks rating is based on the inconvenience of using free antivirus, if any -- many have catches since they are free; higher points means there are less drawbacks.
Solution | Interface (0-4) | Simplicity (0-4) | Free Drawbacks (0-4) | Total |
AVG 9.0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
Avira | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Avast | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
Microsoft SE | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
Free Drawbacks: Scores in this section varied. Microsoft received the best score in this category since its only ‘free' catch is that it requires the user to validate their copy of Windows and participate in Microsoft's information collecting SpyNet service. AVG follows closely, only receiving two points off since it tries to upsell to the paid version but does so in an indirect fashion (drop-down below the interface). Avast gets low marks since registration is required. Avira no points since it has a very annoying ‘nag' pop-up screen that tries to sell the full version; we found this to be very inconvenient.
Section Three: Performance and Efficiency
Antivirus software historically has been detrimental to performance. This category rates on two sections: Overall performance impact and scan time.
Solution | Performance Impact (0-2) | Scan Time (0-2) | Cumulative Total |
AVG 9.0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Avira | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Avast | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Microsoft SE | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Scan Time: Microsoft SE was the only true laggard coming in over one hour; AVG bested them all at 23 minutes while Avast and Avira came in at 34 and 45 minutes respectively.
Section Four: Extra Features
It is expected that free antivirus products only provide the bare essentials. The extra features category rewards an additional point to solutions that went the extra mile.
Solution | Extra Features (0-1) |
AVG 9.0 | 1 |
Avira | 0 |
Avast | 1 |
Microsoft SE | 0 |
Conclusion
Solution | Protection | Ease of Use | Performance | Extra Features | FINAL |
AVG 9.0 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
Avira | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
Avast | 14 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 24 |
Microsoft SE | 9 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
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