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I have a brand new hard drive and need to get it protected asap! What is the best free antivirus software available? I had avast on my old one but still somehow got infected with something that eventually took the machine down permanently. Im deperately trying to prevent this from happening again. I plan on getting some sort of paid protection asap but until then, what should I go with?

Thanks :)

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The following are my recommendations for antivirus protection along with links to downloads for them (free trials for those that require a purchase so you can try them before deciding):

Note: If you decide to use one of the trial versions of one of the paid antiviruses then you will either need to purchase it or uninstall it completely and install a replacement antivirus before the trial expires so that your PC is not left unprotected.

MSE Downloads:

Definitions Installers:

Note: if installing the definitions in Windows Vista or Windows 7 you MUST right click the definitions installer and select Run as administrator and click Continue at the User Account Control prompt.

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Hi, the way I see it Adware Spyware etc all falls under the term 'Malware'.

Antiviruses like Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, .... Will also protect you against these threats.

You can try SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes (free). For an extra layer of protection you can buy either MBAM or SAS . (includes realtime protection)

A neat free program that has more of a 'watchdog' function is WinPatrol: http://www.winpatrol.com/

Hope this helps :) .

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Realtime means it blocks the infections before they reach your computer. Example: Malwarebytes IP protection module.

This also goes for Panda Cloud, for example, or Avira.

The free version of MBAM or SAS do not protect you realtime, but should you've been infected, they can clean it afterwards.

Winpatrol:

WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge.

For example, if malware adds a startup entry, Winpatrol will notify you about this event.

My (personal) suggestion is you use (free) Avira or Panda Cloud, then buy Malwarebytes full version. This will be a powerful combination :) .

Hope this was clear enough :) .

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Please read

Real-time protection, on-access scanning, background guard, resident shield, autoprotect, and other synonyms refer to the automatic protection provided by most antivirus, antispyware, and other antimalware programs, which is arguably their most important feature. This monitors computer systems for suspicious activity such as computer viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious objects in 'real-time', in other words while data is coming into the computer (for example when inserting a CD, opening an email, or browsing the web) or when a file already on the computer is opened or executed, in other words loaded into the computer's active memory.[1] This means all data in files already on the computer is analysed each time that the user attempts to access the files. This can prevent infection by not yet activated malware that entered the computer unrecognised before the antivirus received an update. Real-time protection and its synonyms are used in contrast to the expression "on-demand scan" or similar expressions that mean a user-activated scan of part or all of a computer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_protection

My watchdog is WinPatrol

WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge. WinPatrol was the pioneer in using a heuristic behavioral approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. It continues to be one of the most powerful system monitors while staying a single small program.
http://www.winpatrol.com

WinPatrol Free vs PLUS

http://www.winpatrol.com/compare.html

I do not use AVG but I do like avast! V5 and gave up on Avira due to its invasive Full page advertisement that pops up whenever the definitions are updated in the Free version several time a day.

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@ Blaze

Thanks :) It's from Exile, but I recommend all of those too, and those are the exact links I would use, so. :)

I've gotten Avira onto three machines so far, and it blocked a nasty rogue on a friends computer. Didn't totally block something on my family's computer, but Mbam cleaned up the rest :)

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I've gotten Avira onto three machines so far, and it blocked a nasty rogue on a friends computer. Didn't totally block something on my family's computer, but Mbam cleaned up the rest :)

I've heard Avira does a very well job too. The detection rate is supposed to be very high. Also does very well in testing. :)

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I'm not sure I would recommend threatfire as it's bad on performance like spyware doctor. Although I was thinking about it for my spare computer which will host a website. A wanted something a little quieter that hopefully doesn't need as much attention. :)

I use Threatfire on my spare machine and I have not noticed any loss in speed. It is very very light on my machine. Also it has only shown one alert on my spare machine and it was just Defensewall installing. I have installed about 10 av programs with Threatfire installed and not one alert so it's very good at being silent.

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I use Threatfire on my spare machine and I have not noticed any loss in speed. It is very very light on my machine. Also it has only shown one alert on my spare machine and it was just Defensewall installing. I have installed about 10 av programs with Threatfire installed and not one alert so it's very good at being silent.

Good to know. The last time I used threatfire it seemed bloated and slowed everything down. Although it's been a quite a few months.

Edit: I'm currently trying threatfire and seems slow, but hopefully it's just needs to get used to everything. :)

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