There is a ton of Personal Antivirus to choose from and although I list as many as possible, I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows users – It is completely free and made by the same people who make your operating system. It runs smooth, doesn’t prompt you with ads and once installed, you’ll barely notice it’s running. Also comes with antispyware and protects against other forms of malicious software.
For those of you not using Windows or not satisfied with my recommendation, here is a list of personal antivirus that is completly free:
AVG Antivirus
With AVG Free Antivirus you get anti-spyware and link scanner. I used AVG for personal use for a long time, right up to when Microsoft released security essentials. It’s an excellent package and does the job.
A note about link scanners – it’s a great way to detect phishing sites, but I don’t like the idea of every single site I visit being reported to AVG which is how it works; when you visit a site, that address is sent to AVG to cross check with known phishing (malicious) sites before you see the content.
Mcafee Antivirus Download Free
There is a lot of confusion over this software. McAfee offers a 30 day trial of their antivirus software, but it’s not free (download is, software is not : ) and if you don’t buy, you’re left with uninstalling the software. For this reason, we don’t include them in our list.
Avira AntiVir Personal Antivirus
Avira offers a free product for home use called AntiVir Personal Antivirus which provides basic protection against viruses, worms, trojans and ‘some’ spyware.
Site: free-av.com/en/products/index.html
Avast Antivirus Protection
Avast, like Avira, offers virus protection and home users only. They also offer full versions for a price – it’s called Avast! Professional. I have not used avast, but it has been around for awhile and thought I would mention it.
Site: avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
If you know of a free antivirus that should be included, please leave a comment and we’ll consider adding it to the list.