Anti-Virus Tools

avast! Home Edition is a complete anti-virus package, that is is free for registered home non-commercial users. It contains an on-demand scanner with two interfaces (simple for novices and advanced for experienced users), an on-access scanner with Standard Shield (which protects against execution and opening malware programs) and an embedded e-mail scanner which scans incoming and outgoing email messages. avast! Home integrates with the Windows Explorer right click menu and also includes a special screen saver which is able to scan your system while your computer is not in use. Updates are incremental and frequently made available for manual or scheduled download. You will download a 60 days demo, if you would like to continue free usage beyond that time, you`ll need to register from the home page to obtain a free activation key by email.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is an anti-virus scanner that offers Resident Protection, e-mail Scanner, On-Demand Scanner, and Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files and automatic updates. The free version is limited in features, but includes all basic scanning functionality as well as real-time protection. It uses the same scanning engine as the commercial version, however updates are provided on a low priority basis.

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The product replaces Windows Defender for malware protection and adds additional anti-virus, rootkit and Trojan scanning capabilities. It offers automatic updates, optional scanning of archive files, support for removable drives, email attachment scanning and more. There are also some advanced options to exclude files by type and location as well as customizable alert actions. Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a remarkably clean and easy to use interface.

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. The product replaces Windows Defender for malware protection and adds additional anti-virus, rootkit and Trojan scanning capabilities. It offers automatic updates, optional scanning of archive files, support for removable drives, email attachment scanning and more. There are also some advanced options to exclude files by type and location as well as customizable alert actions. Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a remarkably clean and easy to use interface.

PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition is an anti-virus scanner, that provides real-time protection against viruses, worms and Trojans. It also offers on-demand scans, as well as automatic updates and real-time scanning of incoming and outgoing mail. Other features include heuristic scanning and scheduled scans. The Free Edition offers limited support and non-priority updates.

Avira AntiVir Personal offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. It detects and removes more than 50,000 viruses and an Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating. The built in resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically, for example when downloading files from the internet. Heuristic scanning protects Protection against previously unknown macro viruses. Note: This free version brings up a daily nag screen that advertises the Professional versions which are available from the company.

RISING Antivirus Free Edition is a full-featured antivirus program that protects your computers against all types of viruses, Trojans, Worms, Rootkits and other malicious programs. It offers real-time protection, email scanning (POP3/SMTP), automatic updates, scheduled scans and all others standard features, as well as a set of advanced system protection tools that monitor for system changes, suspicious application behavior and other potential issues. The free version offers the same level of protection as the commercial version but does not include a firewall.

Dr.Web CureIt is a standalone anti-virus and anti-spyware scanner that scans your PC for viruses, trojans, adware, spyware, hack tools, rootkits, and other malware. The program does not require an installation and can be run from a USB drive. This is an on-demand scanner only, it can detect and remove virus infections but does not provide any real-time protection. Dr.Web CureIt is based on the ICSA certified Dr. Web scanning engine and should provide reliable detection. Free of charge for non-commercial use only.

ClamWin is a free anti-virus scanner that is based on the Clam AntiVirus engine. It can detect and remove a wide range of viruses and spyware and offers email scanning (Outlook integration), automatic Internet updates, scheduled scans and email alerts on virus detection. ClamWin does NOT include an on-access real-time scanner, you need to manually scan a file (or run scheduled scans) in order to detect a virus.

ScripTrap traps scripts when they attempt to run on your computer and provides the option of blocking them or letting them continue to run. You can also check the intercepted script with your anti-virus program before you decide to run it or not. This provides you with a chance of catching possibly malicious code before it causes damage. ScripTrap is particularly useful for trapping scripts that arrive in email attachments, such as the ILOVEYOU virus.

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a cloud-based antivirus client that uses collective intelligence to analyze executable files, protecting you from malware, viruses, Trojans and other threats. The program is designed to have 50 percent less impact on system performance compared to the industry average. [Note: Panda Cloud Antivirus is not compatible with Microsoft Security Essentials.]

ClamAV/SOSDG (formerly ClamAV For Windows) is a Windows command line version of the GPL licensed anti-virus solution. It includes a set of command line tools, including a high speed scanning daemon, that can be used to scan computers for viruses, or used by mail servers or proxy servers (via command line) to clean incoming messages. The program offers free definition updates and comes with detailed (PDF) documentation. Suited for advanced users only.