In this article 3 of the leading free
antivirus where examined:
AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
AVAST
AVG
- Free Edition
in order to test the efficiency of these software they where tested in several categories:
Virus detection
Response Time to new threats
Scanning compressed files
system effect (running processes and disk space)
Support
For each of these categories the software got a grade which build the final grade. from a maximum of 125.6 points the softwares got the following grades:
1st Place with 94 Points:
AntiVir PersonalEdition
2nd Place with 89 Points:
AVAST
3rd and last with 66 Points:
AVG - Free Edition
Take notice that spyware detection was not one of the categories since non of the
freeware are equiped with a spyware scanner.
Summery: freeware can provide only Basic protection from Internet threats, in order to protect your computer effectively you will need to spend some $$.
relevant links:
http://www.free-av.com/
http://www.avast.com/
http://free.grisoft.com/