Save your PC from crashing with current antivirus

The internet is a dangerous place. Leave your PC unprotected without an antivirus and, no matter how careful you are, it’s only a matter of time before a malicious program slips through your defenses. All it takes is one accidental visit to a compromised page for your valuable data and privacy to be compromised, and the growing threat of ransom ware means the damage can be immediate and expensive.There is a wealth of free antivirus software there to protect you from such disasters, but not all such free antivirus packages are created equal.

The best free downloads to keep you safe online have been judged based on their effectiveness, speed and ease of use.

Have we missed your favorite? Let us know by dropping your comments.

Below ARE Eight free antiviruses have been selected; you could choose which suits you best!





1. Avira Free Antivirus



Fast, friendly and effective, with added online tracking protection

Fancy benefiting from the experience of 477 million people? That’s the number of times Avira Free Antivirus has been installed, and its cloud-based security pools their history of virus exposure: if a user on the other side of the planet encounters a new nasty, all of Avira’s users get the ability to detect it.



It’s fast, friendly, doesn’t give you too many prompts and alerts, can identify unwanted apps inside legitimate applications and most importantly of all, achieved 100 per cent malware detection in tests – a score shared with Bit Defender and Kaspersky, but significantly ahead of many of its rivals.

It also comes with an optional browser extension that can prevent sites from tracking you online.

This impressive set of functions makes Avira Free Antivirus our top-rated free security program.

2. Bit defender Antivirus Free Edition



One of the best free antivirus tools around, offering fast, discreet protection

Some antivirus programs want to know all about you and pop up excitedly to tell you about new updates or every potential threat they’ve stopped. Not Bit Defender Antivirus Free Edition. It’s the ninja of antivirus software, lurking silently until it needs to unleash its skills.



It’s ad-free and nag-free, maintenance-free and lightweight in operation:

It doesn’t slow down your PC or interrupt your working day for no good reason.

If you like to fiddle then you might find other apps more to your liking, but for those of us who prefer a little peace and quiet BitDefender is hard to beat.

But it doesn’t install easily so ensure you close all programs before installing.



3. AVG Antivirus Free 2016



Feature-packed, with a user-friendly interface and remote-activated scans

We’ve been using AVG Antivirus Free for years, and it’s a very good antivirus program – but a little too keen to inform us about things we don’t really need to know.



The dashboard is user-friendly, the scanner checks links as well as downloaded files, and there’s a clever tool that enables you to scan your PC from your mobile phone if you think it’s become infected.

The paid-for versions attempt to lure you with promises even more robust download protection, data encryption and firewalls to make online threats redundant, but the standard free edition of AVG offers a great deal of protection for no money.



4. Avast Free Anti-Virus 2016



Malware and virus protection, with added security for your home network

Avast Free Anti-Virus 2016 is an impressive offering. It protects against malware and viruses can identify weaknesses in your home Wi-Fi and includes a well-implemented password manager to keep your complex login details safe and easy to access.



As with most free products you get even more features if you’re willing to pay – there’s no anti-phishing protection or spam filtering in Avast Free – but it’s nonetheless perfectly respectable and keeps you safe from the most common online attacks.

But you will need to update online regularly to enable it detect new viruses.