June 25th, 2012 
AVG i am looking for free virus protection. Which do you recommend ‘AVG 2011 Free’ or ‘Microsoft Security Essentials’? Both are free but which is better?
Chosen Answer:
Neither I’d rather have Avast 5 free instead. MSE is the lesser of two evils you mention though because it doesn’t cripple your system as much as AVG does
by: Mikkh
on: 14th December 10
Posted in 
Tags:
Linux =p
Seriously though, AVG is the better of those 2.
I knew I was forgetting something: Avast is best!
AVAST! is better than both of those!
Neither I’d rather have Avast 5 free instead. MSE is the lesser of two evils you mention though because it doesn’t cripple your system as much as AVG does
Hey there, i am a student studying BTEC ND ICT at college and i know from personal experience that Microsoft Security Essentials is the BEST anti virus, since its completely free and doesnt have an expirey date so you dont have to unistall it and download a new one.
Hope that helped
Neither.
Norton,MSE(Microsoft security essentials) and MacAfee are the worst Anti Virus you can get, they are just marketing tools made by Microsoft, hence why they are always free with computers then expect you to pay a fortune to have them permanently, and then you need to download special tools to remove them completely. You will need the Norton/McAfee Removal Tool as well as removing it from programmes and features.
PC Techs like myself check every antivirus, new and old, looking for the best one to provide ourselves with and most importantly our clients. Norton/McAfee never finds the really harmful viruses
AVG, Malwarebytes are going downhill so I no longer recommend them unfortunately. Avast and Avira are absolute dire.
The best anti viruses you can get are Trend Micro or Kaspersky, both offer a free 1 month trial before you buy. Trend/Kaspersky is only £34 a year, so very cheap.
They have there own Firewall, internet and email protection. Kaspersky also has a virtual keyboard that you can use to type in passwords and bank details so that key loggers can’t trace your information. You don’t get this with AVG, Avira, Avast etc
Every qualified PC tech like myself recommends these, and businesses we service also use them.
You can find them here: http://download.cnet.com/Trend-Micro-Internet-Security/3000-8022_4-10567655.html
http://download.cnet.com/Kaspersky-Internet-Security/3000-18510_4-10012072.html
These are only free for a month but are the BEST. The Housecall really proves it to be honest
If you only want a Free one, get Superantispyware (free edition) this is the best Free one you can get :http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
Please do not go with what unqualified people are telling you when it comes to PC Security. I know people don’t agree with each other, but what I am giving is expert advice. I am not spamming, or giving false information ( for those who like to click the report button etc)
You can also Google “Trend Titanium Full version +Keygen free” and download it, this is the best one out there. The Keygen gives you the code so you can activate it for a year and not a month
If anyone tells you to use Reginout , DONT. Reginout is a virus programme itself, alot of people on here dont realise that and tell people to download it.
Avira and avast! are the best free anti-virus programs. (I personally like avast! better…)
You don’t have to take my word for it…
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1597/free_antivirus_software.html
If you go to the link, you will see that AVG is rated below Avira and avast! and that MSE is placed below AVG (though I’d take MSE over AVG all day).
As for UK_PC’s advice to use SuperAntiSpyware as an anti-virus… SuperAntiSpyware isn’t an anti-virus program, so you can see how credible his advice is (considering he also thinks paying £34 a year is cheap).
~~~
I personally use these on all of my computers:
avast! – anti-virus (Avira is good as well)
SuperAntiSpyware – anti-spyware
Zone Alarm Free – Firewall
MalwareBytes – anti-malware (on-demand only)
Spybot S&D – anti-spyware (only used when another program finds something)
avast! (use only one anti-virus) > http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
Avira (use only one anti-virus) > http://www.avira.com/en/download/
Zone Alarm Free Firewall > http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/anti-virus-spyware-free-download.htm
PC Tools Firewall > http://www.pctools.com/firewall/
MalwareBytes > http://www.malwarebytes.org/
SuperAntiSpyware > http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html
Spybot S&D > http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html
_
I use AVG 2011 Free. I would never consider Microsoft for security. Especially considering Windows is their product and look at all the holes it has in it’s security!
Well, until now AVG was the better option, but 2011 has lots of problems. I wouldn’t recommend Microsoft Security Essentials either. For the best free anti-virus protection you should go for Avira.