Windows has more antivirus programs than we can count, and none of them are quite perfect.
Right now, we recommend Avira for the best balance between protection, ease of use, and cost.
So, weve decided to update our pick.
It took home awards in real world protection, file detection, overall performance, and malware removal.
Overall, it came in fourth, but its #1 if you only focus on free apps.
Avira also took homeawards from AV-Testfor 2015.
Avira earns those usability awards, too.
While its not quite set-it-and-forget-it, its close.
After you first install it, Avira will be set to run a quick system scan every seven days.
The Real-Time Protection feature will be active as well.
If you want to perform or schedule full system scans, however, youll need to do it manually.
Its a good idea to at least run one deep system scan as soon as you start using Avira.
Avira also has a few annoyances of its own.
It also has a daily popup which is annoying, though still not quite as annoying as Avasts.
The Competition
If you dont mind spending a little money,KasperskyandBitDefenderboth offer top-quality paid products.
Technically, this makes them both the best overall.
Kaspersky also tied with Bitdefender for performance and with Avira for usability inAV-Tests 2015 awards.
you could downloada free trial of Kaspersky Anti-Virus here, howeverthe full version will cost $60after 30 days.
If you want to try BitDefender (and the tests indicate its worth a shot!)
skip the free version and jumpstraight to BitDefender Internet Security.
It ranked seventh overall in AV-Comparatives testing, and its won no awards from AV-Test.
As we mentioned at the start of this article, its started adding many annoying features.
Thats enough to bump it down from our recommendation.
However, there are countless antivirus programs out there and Avast is still better than most of them.
Most of all, remember that no antivirus solution is a replacement forgood browsing habits.
see to it you trust an program before you install it andtest it in a safe environmentif you oughta.
Learnhow to spot a scamand dont punch everything you see.
