Anti virus and Anti spyware/malware

[Smoke]

My current AV and AS software's both outdated and inefficient.

I'm looking for good free alternatives, I tried the search function but I got dozens of irrelevant threads, help me out please.

Pretty please.

 

[phantomdesign]

Adaware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Zonealarm

 

[Raziaar]

I have been really satisfied with AVG free for the longest time for virus protection.

 

[Asus]

The only decent free one I know of is AVG.

 

[infection]

For AntiVirus there is also Avast made by Alwil Software.

 

[Nemesis6]

From the scanning results I've seen, Avast is way inferior to other products like, say, Antivir, if you're aiming for free ones.

But you know what would help? Using Firefox for your daily browsing. That would be a much better solution than loading up on various anti malware software and praying to God that they catch something before it executes.

 

[Javert]

I recommend AVG for Anti-Virus and Ad-Aware for spyware. Both are free and do the job well.

Some "research" on the "interwebs" can also net you their Professional Editions for "free".

 

[function9]

AVG is ok for anti-virus. One thing that really bugs me with the free version is that it's set to update automatically at a certain time during the day (I believe the free version can't be set to hourly update checks). But even right after the time it's set for I'll check for updates manually and theres always at least one.

 

[Russian Mafia]

Use Avast.

 

[Raziaar]

I recommend AVG for Anti-Virus and Ad-Aware for spyware. Both are free and do the job well.

Some "research" on the "interwebs" can also net you their Professional Editions for "free".

I once got the professional version of AVG, but it later notified me I had a pirated version. Out of respect and also a little tugging feeling of fear, I uninstalled it and went back to free.

 

[Laivasse]

I found AVG (both free and professional) to be more or less useless in all the time that I used it. By the time it told me I was infected it was always beyond the capability of AVG to deal with the infection. If you're talking free AV, though, I don't know any better ones.

However if you fancy shelling out money or, ahem, 'researching' another AV then go for NOD32 or Kaspersky.

None of that changes the fact that the best AV is:
a good knowledge of your running processes
a browser that isn't easily susceptible to hijacks
and a couple of utilities like hijackthis and Process Explorer.

 

[Lucid]

I use Avast, It's sort of free... for a year or so.
It's decent.