A Decent Free Anti-Virus?

[Earthshine]

Could you guys help me (since I know most people here are a little more educated about this stuff than I)?

I need a new anti-virus as my subscription ran out, and I REALLY do not want to pay $50 to renew it.

I will if I have to though...

Anyway, what are some free/freeware anti-virus software that works well? No, not pirated copies but legit software.

Any suggestions?

My current software is Kaspersky Internet Security, I love it very much but not if it's going to charge me all the time to keep using it (it also holds itself hostage if I don't update the databases regularly). I've already spent close to $180 on it and with that money I could have gotten a permanent anti-virus.

[Juanita]

We currently have Avast Antivirus, and it's pretty good. We haven't had any problems yet so I think it's working fine

[Earthshine]

I heard some good things about Avast. Does it work independent of the internet or does it need a constant internet connection? I don't have internet at my home typically (I borrow the free wifi from a school across the street, it is slow as heck).

[Ruebot]

Have you ever considered switching to an Operating System that isn't prone to becoming infected with a virus as Windows?

If you've never tried Linux you can get a version that runs in memory from a USB stick or DVD and won't disturb your resident OS. Plug it in, boot it up, and you're running Linux. When you remove the USB stick, or DVD, you boot into whatever Windows version you're using like nothing happened.

Puppy Linux runs off a USB stick and is probably the easiest to use for someone who has never used *NIX. It's free, too.

I've run FreeBSD as my only OS for the past 9 years and don't even have an anti-virus program on my machine.

[Earthshine]

No I have not considered this nor is this the right decision for me, but thank you for the information.

[diehard67]

I uae avg free for antivirus, zonealarm free firewall and spi-bot search and destroy for anti spiware



That is when I use windows, withc is only once or twice a month lol
The rest of the time I am using kubuntu linux

[Juanita]

Avg is also really good! I'm not sure why we got rid of it. I think there was a problem with our computer system or something. I think Avast and AVG work without wifi.

[diehard67]

All the tools I use will do there jobs fine even without a network connection, they just can't update without it

[Earthshine]

Yeah that's what I need. A really good anti-virus that will function and scan independent of the internet (I can just update it when at school).

So you guys would suggest either Avast or AVG?

One final question, do they work well with Windows 8?

[Robin]

I have a picture of the answer right HERE: