Pros and Cons of Free Antivirus Products

We all have heard of the popular saying, “there’s nothing called a free lunch”. But does the same apply to anti-virus products as well, particularly the protection offered by the free variety? One visit to CNET reveals that thousands of netizens happily download popular free anti-virus software’s like AVG, AVAST, Avira every week. And the downloads aren’t stopping, no matter how effective—or ineffective—these software’s are.  Of course, budgetary constraints are the single major factor that determines whether people go for free or paid antivirus programs.

But anti-virus software’s offer more than just monetary benefits that determine their usefulness, at the same time they also have some shortcomings. So what are these, let’s find out.

Pros of Anti-virus software’s

The first is the most obvious advantage: they’re free. Many individuals and small business owners can’t afford costly proprietary antivirus programs like Norton or McAffee and make do with the free ones.

But apart from this obvious advantage, free antivirus programs offer other benefits as well. As per tests carried out by AV-Test.org on 3 different free anti-virus scanners—AVAST 4, AntiVir Personal Edition and AVG Free Edition—the results were quite a revelation. All three detected wild or zoo viruses quite effectively and also detected the root kit viruses that are generally the most troublesome and rampant. This implies that free antivirus programs can also effectively detect the most potent viruses.

Another advantage of free antivirus software’ is that they are regularly updated, obviously, some are more frequently updated. But on the whole you need not worry about the current status of your anti-virus definitions.

These free antivirus programs also comparatively take up much smaller memory space as compared to their paid cousins. Not that this really matters in the modern age of almost limitless storage, but there are people who still run Windows 98 and have to make do with at most 40GB storage space. Guess, every byte has its bite.

Flipside of Free Antivirus Software’s

Free antivirus software’s generally are not as effective at detecting and preventing spyware and adware. So you will need to dig into your pocket, after all, to purchase some standalone adware and spyware remover if you desire complete PC security and not just the basic anti-virus protection offered by the free products. This won’t apply to users who don’t use the web at all, but these form an ever dwindling minority.

If you would like some support services along with your free antivirus software, then you’re in for some disappointment.

As releasing any free software is revenue foregone, firms cannot provide dedicated support for their products. Even if they do, as in the case of AVAST, it’s generally paid support that could soon turn out very costly and nullify any savings obtained from using the free antivirus software.

Verdict

All said, free anti-virus products can be a viable alternative for those who either cannot afford paid software’s or who use the internet only sparingly. And considering that even the paid ones cannot guarantee complete protection, the free products will continue to be used by many and happily so.

But if your system is already infected with any malware that your anti-virus program, whether free or paid, is unable to resolve, then you’ll need to go beyond these software’s and seek expert antivirus advice on how to free your PC of malware infections and  protect it from future attacks. Automated intelligence has its own limits, after all.

Vimlaksh G

vimlaksh@hotmail.com