Free Comprehensive antivirus programs

Switch out Avast with AVG, remove Spybot and I am right there with you.

Spybot is very resource intensive and had bottlenecks the last time I used it. Great software but a little too big of a footprint for my tastes. The real time protection that AVG provides has served me well and I recommend it to all my customers.

C Cleaner is invaluable and should be run every single day. Also, just for a pro tip....when you run C Cleaner and are in the mindset to clean up the inevitable junk. Go to your start menu and type this exactly in the blank search bar (type into the "Run" box if you have Windows XP)

%temp%

This will bring up the Local Temp folder which needs to be cleaned out manually. I have seen substantial speed increases when getting rid of the junk that gets left in there. A file or two may say it cannot be deleted which is fine. Usually they are a debug file and you can just skip deleting them.

I own a computer repair business and build custom computers so...don't worry you can delete every file in that temp folder. Promise. : )

All I use is Avast and ZoneAlarm Firewall. Avast seems to cover all the basis for me.

Yes that´s totally right but you need to be aware of the fact that you can´t run two antivirus scanners (with On-Demand Scan switched on in both scanners) at once. But it´s perfect if you use your favorite antivirus scanner for common-day use and scan the whole machine several times a week. Therefore you may download free On-Demand Scanners from the well-known antivirus vendors.

Kind Regards

Steven

Here's a topic I know a bit about! Yes, basic AV programs don't cover all the bases, but the question is, what exactly do you need covered? Until recently I worked in IT, managing a department of over 600 PC's. All we used for the majority of our systems was Panda Cloud (paid business version) for AV and then we ran OpenDNS.

CCleaner is a great program but technically has nothing to do with protection. It's more for optimizing your PC.

I used Avast for a while and it's not bad, but I like Panda Cloud a bit better. Just personal preference.

The other three you listed are all fine but should only need to be used if there's a problem as the free versions all need to be run manually (unless any of them have changed since I last used them). Also, Malwarebytes runs best in safe mode when you do need to run it.

For my home setup, I run an OpenDNS account on my network and Panda Cloud for my AV. Since doing this I've never had a virus, malware or spyware to clean off my PC's...going on at least 3 years now, maybe more.

Hello,

the most important thing is as stated above : do not install two antivirus programs at the same time. You can get some corruption errors and serious problems.

Some of the programs will show up a big number of errors, but in reallity they are not really problems (For example : cookies, I think spybot shows it as problems)

Now, for antivirus, in my opinion, Nod32 is the best antivirus period. Why?
1. Light
2. Modular
3. Easy configurable
4. No problems ever to install or unistall
5. Offers antispyware and other molicious programs protection.
6. Easy upgrade
etc.

For the other stuff, Its just Windows architecture, eventually it will slow down...nothing to do about it. For other OS its less a problem...

Using so many programs is pretty much overkill IMO.

Microsoft Security Essentials + being a smart user is all you really need. If you really want an extra layer of protection just run your browser in Sandboxie.