Free Antivirus Download Page
J-Mac's Recommended Free Antivirus Protection Software
Listed below are four that I recommend for Microsoft Windows users and a couple of ones for you MAC users.
Microsoft Security Essentials
"Use Microsoft Security Essentials to guard against viruses, spyware, and other evil software. It provides real-time protection for your home or small business PCs. Microsoft Security Essentials is free* and we designed it to be simple to install and easy to use. It runs quietly and efficiently in the background so you don't have to worry about interruptions or making updates." - MSE Home
AVG Antivirus and Security Software
"AVG helps you stay safe while you shop, bank online watch videos, search or surf the web, download music, documents and pictures, and email or chat. Every document or file you download, every web page or link you click on, is scanned by AVG before you open it. Unlike other security products, we stop the threats before they reach your hard drive and become a problem. Safe internet surfing is now possible." - AVG Home
Avira AntiVirus Personal
"FREE Antivirus Basic protection: Protects your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers. New: Basic Anti-Spyware." - Avira Home
Avast! Antivirus Home Edition
"Free antivirus software providing desktop security and data protection. avast! detects and removes all forms of malware, including spyware, rootkits and trojans. Free for home users." - avast! Home
ClamXav for MAC
"ClamXav is a free virus checker for Mac OS X. It uses the tried, tested and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end." - ClamXav Home
Antivirus Software Reviews
If you want to see how the antivirus programs rate then check out these links and see how these free versions compare to the $50 a year programs.
This one is my favorite. It is a PDF file last updated July 2012 for research done by an independent research group. Their proactive test shows that Avira, Avast and AVG all outperform the big boys of McAfee and PC Tools in what they call the proactive test. You can skip down a few pages to see the results if you're not interested in reading about the tests: Click here for Real World Protection test or here for Proactive Test.
Here is one from PC-Magazine that allows you to compare different programs against each other. PC Magazine review.
Here is one from Cnet rated by the people who actually use the programs: Cnet Reviews.
Here is yet another one which shows the top 5 Best Reviewed Antivirus Software on Consumer Search. Consumersearch Review.
Other Recommened Software and Sites
I have mentioned several great software downloads and web sites with good information throughout this site. Here, you will find links to all of them in one place.
View by:
- Free Virus Scan & Removal
- Malware, Adware and Spyware Removal
- Personal Firewall Protection
- Norton Removal Tool
Free Virus Scan & Removal
- Kaspersky Virus Removal Tools (Takes you to Kaspersky's site).
- Check the list for your known virus and download the removal tool you'll need.
- Trend Micro Virus Scanner (Takes you to Trend Micro's site).
- This will search your computer for a virus.
- This scanner will also delete the virus files unlike many other online scanners.
Malware, Adware & Spyware Removal
- Malwarebytes
- SpyBot S&D
- AdAware (an adware remover)
- Combofix
Personal Firewall Protection
Registry Cleaners
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CCleaner is one of the top registry cleaners for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online while making your computer faster and more secure. CCleaner is a free download, but they also have a pro version for a nominal fee which includes support with the development team and an auto-update feature.
- CCleaner Pro
- CCleaner Free
Norton Removal Tool
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Over the last couple years, Norton has really improved; however if you are still looking for the Norton Removal Tool, see below.
- Norton Removal Tool