Top 5 Free Antivirus Software
Has your PC performance degraded due to continuous virus attacks and other malware infections? Although the market boasts of various antivirus tools, there are free versions of antivirus applications that can be downloaded for safety of your computer. Installation of simple antivirus software can be a great option if you do not intend on buying one.
What is an Antivirus Software?
Antivirus software is a computer application that is designed to identify, obstruct and eliminate computer viruses or any other malware (harmful applications) that might be dangerous for your computer security.
How Does an Antivirus Software Actually Work?
Usually any antivirus software will primarily scan your computer for presence of previously known viruses that are already defined in the virus dictionary. The computer scans through all your files to find out known viruses to identify suspicious behavior existing in any computer programs. Once detected the infections can be deleted or quarantined according to the seriousness of the infection.
How to Use a Free Antivirus Software
- Download your free antivirus software from a secure website, or else you can end up having additional virus infections and spyware attacks.
- Choose a software program that is easy and quick to download.
- Choose an antivirus program with simple and easy-to-use features that will spare you all the technical jargon but will do a great job at virus removal and protection.
- Make sure your free antivirus software is efficient in the basic removal and quarantine of virus and malware infection.
- Look for other features, like live updates and removal of malware.
- Many antivirus programs come with spyware and malware protection, choose the one that gives you the maximum benefits.
Top 5 Free Antivirus Software
AOL Active Virus Shield
This software is one easy-to-use and most efficient antivirus programs available for free. The virus detection rate is impressive. It also provides an active virus shield that guarantees real-time security for your computer. However the only hurdle is that the installation of this software requires an email activation code that you can get only once you have registered online. So the process might be time-consuming, but it is surly worth the wait.
Avira AntiVir
AntiVir is relatively popular and efficient software that is very fast which comes at the cost of thorough scanning however. One of the disadvantages of Avira is the terribly annoying full-screen pop-ups that open up at random intervals. Overall, the virus detection and protection is good enough for it to be ranked at the second position in our list.
Norton Antivirus
Norton antivirus is one of the best antivirus applications that is extremely efficient on blocking viruses and spyware with advanced protection. This antivirus software not only detects offline virus and spyware and protect the PC from infections but is also active in the background while you are surfing the net. One of the additional perks of this software is that it also scans and cleans all email and instant messaging attachments that provides you safety from receiving viruses and also prevents the spreading of the infection to others. The Norton antivirus also checks for new updates continuously and automatically blocks new and emerging threats.
Avast
This software, which shows sufficient and good enough virus detection and removal, comes with a 60-day trial, after which you must register. A completely free version of this antivirus software requires your email address. Although the performance is not bad, it is not easy-to-navigate and does not provide a progress bar that indicates the progress of the scanning process.
Panda Antivirus
Panda antivirus is an application that offers stable, quick and long-term protection against all types of viruses and spyware. This software does an efficient job with virus detection and removal. The daily updates of this application ensure you are protected against all new threats that appear around the World Wide Web.
