Top Antivirus Software. What’s your Favorite? [Poll]

MUO-poll-2 It’s time for another poll. Today we are asking you to vote on your favorite antivirus program. Actually the goal is to find out what is the most popular free antivirus program among MUO users. So please vote !

If you don’t have a favorite antivirus program and you’re using the one that came with your PC then you can see what others have to say about it. If you decide to give something a try then check the antivirus download links right below the poll.

So here you go …

Download Links

* Among top 5 most downloaded security software on Download.com.

Stay tuned for Mark’s AVG 2008 review tomorrow.

Tagged: •

Aibek Esengulov

The guy behind MakeUseOf.com. Follow him and MakeUseOf on Twitter @MakeUseOf. For more details check out MakeUseOf about page.

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  • http://www.techsmartly.com/blog Joe Boomer

    I haven’t really tried out any free anti virus, except for AVG which didn’t work well for some reason. I bet whatever the issue was, it was fixed since I haven’t tried it in a long time. My favorite anti-virus would have to be NOD32. It’s very lightweight, and scans extremely quickly. It’s the best I’ve had so far, and very light on system resources. The UI used to be archaic, but it has been jazzed up to keep up to date with the Vista look. The main reason I got it was for the low usage of resources, unlike that hog Norton, which I used to have.

  • 2600

    clamwin on my usb drive

  • Luke

    Avast

    • thomas blake

      Do Question AVAST is the man!

  • http://www.betterthantherapy.net Mark O’Neill

    Just to let everyone know that we are aware of the technical problems surrounding the poll and we are working to resolve them.

  • http://www.softinquiry.com Dan

    You tell us to vote for a free antivirus but you write (not free) next to some of them. That’s more than lame…

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      That was not intentional, I simply forgot to change the title.

  • http://www.betterthantherapy.net Mark O’Neill

    The technical problems surrounding the poll have now been resolved. VOTE AWAY!! :-)

  • http://www.adarshcha.blogspot.com Adi

    AVG is the way to go. Ofcourse its a bit heavy on the system but considering the protection that we need and the daily updates that they provide its the best. It has been protecting many computers from the past two years, in which I have installed it personally. No problem with the so called virus till date.

    • http://pctonic.blogspot.com/ Ashutosh Mishra

      AVG and heavy? So what are Norton (excluding 2008 version) and McAfee – sumos??

      • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

        Heavy ? I don’t think so, at least when compared to Norton, Panda or Kaspersky. The only antivirus that I think is faster is Nod32. But what I dodn’t like about Nod32 is that sometimes it causes huge delays on Windows startup.

        • http://www.adarshcha.blogspot.com Adi

          It is heavy but not in comparision to Norton or Kaspersky. It slows down your startup a bit. Ofcourse I am asking for more but that’s how you get the firms work for you, right.

  • Famf

    I use to like AVG, but it just doesn’t seem so great anymore. I’ve moved on to Antivir. I never did like Avast. Clamwin is nice to have on a USB Drive, just in case. I hear NOD32 is the best non-free anti-virus.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      See my comment above

  • http://www.camera-shake.com Fraser

    I would have voted for AVG but the free version 8 may have caused serious problems with my DVD writer after I installed it on Saturday. I’ve reverted to Avast and voted accordingly.

  • Plat

    My company pays for the Norton license for employee’s home computers. Works out as free for me.

  • Ben

    I got CA antivirus and spyware free from TigerDirect and it is really good. I may buy it when my subscription is up. Great piece of software. Highly recommend.

  • http://MeetMeHereLater.com Dan

    Antivir because it updates automatically. AVG never did that for me.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      I have AVG and it auto-updates as well.

  • Jerry

    I don’t use any. I have not for years. If you are opening unknown .exe files, you are taking a risk. If you just surf the web, read email, play online games, you do not need a resource hogging, system crippling, impossible to uninstall AV program.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Opening unknown .exe files is not the only way you can get infected. If you’re using an email client like Apple’s Mail, Mozilla’s Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook etc. the virus can arrive together with the message.

  • http://www.shankarganesh.com/ Shankar Ganesh

    I <3 Avast! ;)

  • http://vale-g.livejournal.com/ Vale

    Avast. definitely avast!

  • http://www.adarshcha.blogspot.com Adi

    It looks like AVG is way ahead of its nearest competitor and both avg and avast are having good fan following, huh

  • http://pctonic.blogspot.com/ Ashutosh Mishra

    Great way of promoting AVG by putting up their logo in a “should-be-neutral” poll!

    Anyway it really matters how effectively you use your antivirus that what antivirus you use for better protection.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      I added their logo because I think it looks cool. I dont think anyone but people who use AVG will notice it. :-) Nonetheless you have a good point, I will try to use something neutral next time.

  • http://www.softtechreviews.com/ Alisha

    I’m not really a fan of any of the free ones. They don’t really do as well as the non-free ones in my experience. On my laptop though, since I don’t want to purchase another license, I do go with a free one, but I don’t care about the laptop. :D

    My favorite is NOD32, which has kept my main computer clean for years now.

  • GK

    I use clamwin, good lightweight antivirus, it uses small amount of memory than avg.

  • Brian

    I moved to Avast after Norton became more of a problem than any virus I ever got. Avast is unobtrusive. It regularly automatically updates in the background, and it is extremely effective. I haven’t been hit by a virus since I started using it a couple of years ago. Unlike Norton, I have never thought it was a nuisance and it has never interfered with a program.

  • RegUser

    AVG 8.0 beta (free) is out. Spyware search included.

  • maven2k

    I’ve run AVG Free Edition for years on every computer I’ve ever had and never had a problem. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself!

  • http://www.josephang.com Jawker

    was using AVG previously, but switched to avast recently and i never looked back.

    but im still a little tempted to try out AVG Free 8.0 though

  • http://www.askTheAdmin.com AskTheAdmin | Karl Gechlik

    AVG! Small footprint and ease of use. Avast looks good and I will be giving it a good testing in the near future.

    What does everyone this is the best AV for catching almost ALL infections? Anyone have any bad experiences using any of the above??

    Warm geeky regards,

    Karl “TheAdmiN” Gechlik
    http://www.askTheAdmin.com

  • Bob

    AVG is one of the best, but the new version 8 now has that crappy Yahoo toolbar bundled !!! It’s installed automatically, and good luck trying to remove it. I had to unistall AVG, and it still remained in Firefox (had to deactivate it through the ‘add-ons’ menu.
    That’s lame….

  • http://blog.christineleiendecker.com Christine

    I used AVG before my cable/phone/tv provider offered paid McAfee part of the deal. So now I use McAfee. However, if I ever need to get rid of it, I will not be happy – They make it very hard to delete all traces of their stuff off your system. Glad google search found a McAfee delete all.

  • http://www.money-hacks.com Bill

    I use Comodo

  • Miles

    moon secure antivirus
    it’s clamwin with real time protection
    young, maybe still not fully reliable
    but very nice idea!

    :-)

  • Blaine Brown

    Antivirus software? No, I know how to use a computer.

  • Kakang

    AVG Free Edition works for me… it detects and resolves threats. also provide daily updates… try this one… i’ll buy a licensed copy today.. thank you AVG… from DMSFH family…

  • gg
  • surfmadpig

    AVAST, although I’d certainly vote for clamwin if it was there.

  • ZeK

    I’ll go for KASPERSKY..

    i already tried AVG but i didn’t like its performance same also as McAfee.

  • Borislav

    Zone Alarm Internet Security is an excellent program!

  • naveed

    I will trust ESET NOD 32 . Virus never enters my computer.

  • http://www.devicepedia.com/ Devicepedia

    I use avg and it works really well for me. :)

  • friendinme

    I tried Norton and hated it, McAfee, Trend Micro, and Zone Alarm. I settled on F-Prot. After doing some research, I chose it because it is the best on keeping resource usage low.

    It is also inexpensive. One license covers 5 machines and the one license is cheaper than many of the others.

    It works well, as far as I can see, and it doesn’t slow my machines down.

  • James

    Hi-using Norton 360.

  • amit

    NOD 32 ver 4

  • Buffet

    I’ve tried both AVG and Avast for long periods. Each was acceptable. Eventually I gravitated to Nod32 which received the highest acclaim, for good reason. It shone brightly for several years, until it ran amok and rendered my entire copy on Windows inopertive. Nowadays I use Comodo, which seems to be working just fine.

  • rahiz

    i was using avg for few months..i was really happy abt it..but recently i found out that i does not detect certain kinds of worms..so i am searching for a new anti-virus.there is anyone who can advise me to buy or get free version of antivirus please..thanks in advance

  • Buffet

    I’m back with NOD32 and I’m staying there. It’s the best. Aibek, if you’re experiencing huge delays on startup, it’s most likely time to update your processor. Also, try WinPatrol or Autoruns to see just what’s truly going on at startup. Jerry – You are a fool!

  • http://www.sophos.net Antivirus

    AVG Antivirus Free Edition is rightly the number one free software. It takes up the least amount of diskspace on my laptop, so it does not interfere with my normal computer habits. It catches all the right spyware and malware without trying to delete healthy files, which other antivirus software often tries to do. The only downside is that it is not connected to the internet, so I occasionally check the AVG website to see if newer versions have been released.

  • http://www.technisimo.com Stefan

    AVG Free Edition works for me… it detects and resolves threats.

  • Literati

    AVG won’t even detect my sour boot if it isn’t updated! *sigh*