We all make choices in life, some good, some bad, and some really bad. Choosing to go without antivirus protection because you can't afford it falls in that last category. A quality antivirus utility fends off all kinds of malicious software, from annoying adware to disastrous ransomware, and the best free products are extremely effective, beaten only by the best commercial products. We've analyzed and evaluated 16 free antivirus utilities to help you choose the one that best fits your needs.
Quite a few of these products are free only for noncommercial use; if you want to protect your business, you have to pony up for the paid edition. At that point, you should probably consider upgrading to a full
security suite. After all, it's your business's security on the line.
Your antivirus should definitely have the ability to root out existing malware, but its ongoing task is to prevent ransomware, botnets, Trojans, and other types of nasty programs from getting a foothold. All of the antivirus programs in this collection offer real-time
malware protection. Some take the fight upstream, working hard to ensure you never even browse to a malware-hosting site, or get fooled into turning over your credentials to a phishing site.
One easy way to keep your PC protected is to install all security updates, both for Windows and for browsers and other popular applications. Windows 10 makes it easier than ever to stay up to date, but there are plenty of security holes in older Windows versions, in popular apps, and in add-ons. Scanning for vulnerabilities in the form of missing updates is a feature most often found in commercial antivirus products, but it does turn up in some free ones. In the chart above you can see which products include these useful features.
This article reports only on free antivirus products that received at least a good rating in our reviews—three stars or better. Among those that didn't make the cut is
Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center, with 2.5 stars. All of the independent labs I follow do include Microsoft in testing, but most use it as a baseline. If a product can't do better than the baseline, it's got real problems.