ESET NOD 32.
Later
IMO, AVG from Amazon with AVG’s PCTuneup as part of a package deal.
From what I’ve been told, PCmatic and others advertised on tv are bad and become a virus themselves.
I use MS Essentials with Win7 on both my desktop and laptop.
It is free as part of Win7.
Screw Norton .. McAfee too.
I’m using ESET NOD32
1. Remove, destroy, burn, incinerate, and take a bodacious Obama on anything written by Microsoft or Adobe.
2. Get a computer that runs Unix or one of the many variations.
There, that’ll do it.
MS Security Essentials used to be highly regarded, but they have let it slip.
I use and recommend Avast Free Antivirus.
Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware Free Antivirus
AVAST Software’s avast! Free Antivirus 2014
AVG AntiVirus Free 2014
Avira Free AntiVirus
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
Comodo Antivirus 6
and many more
I currently use Kaspersky Internet Security. Less headache then AVG. http://usa.kaspersky.com
AVG is free http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
Only problem was the interface which was confusing to me and it’s aggressive scan. You can set files to be ignored but it was a hassle. It always worked.
My routine is MS Security Essentials real time and run Malwarebytes once a month as a backup.
Lots of good suggestions here.
I’ve always had great luck with Kaspersky. I think it costs around $40 for a one year, three computer license. (I’ve always gotten it ‘free’ through work)
SpyBot S & D Free
AVG Free
ZoneAlarm Free
I have used the above for the last 15+ years.
or
Never connect to the .net
norton SUCKS!!!
Anything on TV is a scam.
JMHO
AVG free edition + Spybot search and distroy + Auslogics registry cleaner + Auslogics disk defrag
Run once a week.
For what it’s worth
http://www.pcmag.com/reviews/antivirus
Everything changes every couple of years. Looks to me like ESET & Avast both rate ‘up there’. And, parroting others’ comments, Norton & McAfee are to be avoided. I wipe new systems that come with either and both cause more problems than they solve, imho.
As with everyone else, I have my own experience: Microsoft Security Essentials on Win7-64 platform, backed up with periodic Malwarebytes scan.
Worst thing you can do is have multiple antivirus/malware applications running processes at the same time. I like Malwarebytes as a backup as I can activate it at will.
I’ve gotten ZERO infections with MS SE. I used to use Avast, but like happened with Norton years ago, Avast left my system unprotected during a ‘renew’ period (prior to expiration) and I got infected. Couple that with their CONSTANT messages to UPGRADE, I tired of Avast and went with the free MS SE. We used MS SE at the office on Win7 platforms for the past 6 years with no problems as well after dumping Avast.
If I had an inclination to do something different, it would probably be to go back to Avast (not the free, which has limitations I’ve always been suspicious of).
Again, FWIW...
None of the antivirus programs for Windows actually works. I see infections from all of them. They ALL also consume big chunks of resources, popup annoying messages, and raise false alarms.
Your best bet is to establish a second login id, giving the new one Administrator privilege, and then revoking Administrator privilege from your current account, changing it to a limited/standard account. You do your ordinary work from your old account, but do all adds/updates/removes of software and peripherals like printers from the new account.
If you do get a virus, it affects only the limited account and cannot alter the system itself in any way, and is easy to get rid of as you just logoff, login to the Admin account and run antimalwarebytes to find and delete the virus files.
Both Avast and AVG offer free anti-virus software that is quite effective. Periodic scans with a top notch anti-malware software like Malware Bytes or Super Anti-spyware scans are a necessity regardless of what anti-virus software you might be running.