There are many commercial anti-virus programs out there. Some are good and others are not so good.

Generally speaking the average user will chose the anti-virus package that comes pre-installed on their new PC with a ‘free’ but very short subscription. When the subscription ends the user pays for the full subscription without looking at the options. The PC manufacturers do this for a good reason: They get paid by the anti-virus software company to pre-install their software. A lot of these commercial anti-virus packages are overloaded with unnecessary bells and whistles and will slow your PC down substantially.

There are, however, good free alternatives to the commercial anti-virus packages. Some of the free packages do not have all of the protection you would get from a commercial one, for example Parental Controls, Email Protection and Web browser protection may not be included. This considered you need to make sure the free anti-virus covers you sufficiently. If you are a knowledgeable and cautious PC user these extras may not be required, but if you are the trusting sort with limited computer experience they may be essential. I’ve constructed a table of all the popular free anti-virus programs and what they protect you against.

The table below gives a summary of the features offered by the 4 most commonly used anti-virus programs. There are other products available but the ones included below are the products I would recommend. I have provided a brief explanation of each of the column headings under the table and if you click on the product name in the table it will take you to its download page.

 

 

Free Anti-Virus Product	File System Protection	Website Protection	Rootkit Detection and Protection	Scans Emails	Instant Messaging Protection	Peer to Peer Protection	Spyware Protection	Boot-Time Scan
Avast!	Yes	Yes	Yes 1	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AVG	Yes	Yes	No	No 2	No 3	No 4	Yes	Yes
Avira	Yes	No	No	No 2	No 3	No 4	Yes	No
Microsoft Security Essentials*	Yes	No	Yes	No 2	No 3	No 4	Yes	No

1 Has an additional application that comes with Avast! Called GMER. If you suspect you have a rootkit this program can be run to try to identify a Rootkit infection.

2 Does not scan emails as they come into your inbox but will be able to identify malware if as you open or save the infected attachment

3 No direct protection, although any file opened on the PC will be scanned so any malware from Instant Messaging file transfers will be detected when opened

4 No direct protection, although any completed Peer to Peer file download that is opened on the PC will be scanned so malware will be detected when opened

* Microsoft Security Essentials is not compatible with Windows 8

Filesystem Protection

Real-time protection against viruses and other malware threats. The anti-virus software Scans files as they run on your computer to detect malware and remove it. This is the most basic level of protection offered by anti-virus software.

Website Protection

Scans webpages when you open them for malicious scripts, and prevents them from infecting your computer, though they can still be used (for example, a clickable button.). This functionality may also flag known bad websites in the results page of Internet Search Engines such as Google. Rootkit Protection/Detection

Rootkit Protection/Detection

Rootkits are more difficult to detect and remove than normal viruses. This column confirms the product can detect them, although I have found that this protection is not to be relied upon. If your computer is doing odd things and your Anti-Virus software is not detecting anything I would recommend seeking professional help.

Scans Emails

Will scan incoming emails for Viruses. This applies to Email programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail and not Web based email such as Google Mail (although web based email often has its own anti-virus protection)

Instant Messaging Protection
Will scan files as they are transferred by Instant Messaging programs such as Microsoft Instant Messaging.

Peer to Peer Protection

Peer to Peer file sharing is a common source of Malware. The Anti-virus software will scan the files as they are being transferred and stop them if the file is infected

Spyware Protection

Will detect and remove spyware infections

Boot Time Scan

Capability of running a scan when Windows starts and before a virus or rootkit has had a chance to load its anti-detection or anti-removal countermeasures. If a virus is detected while you are in Windows that can only be removed with a boot time scan the anti-virus software will schedule a boot time scan automatically and ask you to reboot immediately.