There are plenty of free choices, and because they are free, you can take the time to consider what's the best free solution for your situation. That's the nice thing about free antivirus; you're not locked in by your choice. You won't be wasting 40 or 50 dollars if you decide to switch. Which is best for you can depend on your situation.
Some Lab Results
Most of the independent antivirus testing labs charge a fee to the vendors that they include in their evaluations. That may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but someone has to pay the bills. ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs work with vendors to ensure they reach certification; that's part of the service. The other labs I follow let vendors know where they went wrong, but their pre-improvement test scores are what gets reported.
Vendors who publish only a free product generally can't afford to participate in testing. Those with a spectrum of security solutions from free antivirus to high-end suite definitely can afford it, but the free product isn't always what they submit for testing.
The chart below summarizes recent lab results for vendors whose product line includes a free antivirus and for which lab results are available. If the Bitdefender technology that was tested is actually found in Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition (2014), that's quite impressive, as Bitdefender scored super-high in just about every test. AVG AntiVirus FREE 2014 did quite well, and in a number of the tests it definitely was the free edition under testing.
For a full explanation of how I boil down test results from six labs worldwide into star ratings in five categories, please see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests
The Best Free Antivirus for 2014 lab tests chart
Cleaning Up the Mess
In the lab results chart, you may note that Sophos also gets high marks from the labs. However, the labs aren't testing Sophos Virus Removal Tool 2.0 directly. This cleanup-only tool isn't a full antivirus solution. Rather, it's for use in emergency, when malware prevents installation of a full solution.
Cleanup-only tools tend to be somewhat more aggressive than standard antivirus. The assumption is that you've already tried something else, and it didn't work. As a result, they can occasionally cause collateral damage. You'll want to make sure the vendor's available to help in that case. Panda offers full tech support, up to and including remote-control remediation, even for Panda Cloud Cleaner. Comodo will do the same for paid products, but not for Comodo Cleaning Essentials 6.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.70 remains PCMag's Editors' Choice for free cleanup-only antivirus. In my hands-on testing, I didn't get a chance to explore what tech-support options were available, because it just did the job quickly and efficiently, with no collateral damage. AVG also did well in that test, but getting it installed on my malware-infested test systems required a lot of help from tech support.
I've had to curtail my use of actual malware-infested virtual machines for testing, as I can't guarantee they won't bring in other, worse threats, malware that could cause damage outside my testing regimen. An opportunistic infestation of GameOver Zeus that appeared in one of malware-infested virtual machines was my wake-up call. Testing these cleanup-only tools will be harder going forward; I'm working on it.
Real-Time Protection
If your computer isn't afflicted with malware, or if you've taken care of the infestation using a powerful cleanup tool, it's time to set up a protective perimeter, so no new malware can get in. In my hands-on tests of malware protection, AVG and Avira Free AntiVirus (2014) scored highest, with 9.4 points and 97 percent detection.
More recently I've added a new test that relies on a super-fresh feed of malicious URLs from MRG-Effitas. I specifically use URLs that point to executable files, since that makes measuring success easy. If the antivirus doesn't block access to the URL or quarantine the file on download, it failed.
I've only tested seven products this way, and only three free ones. As more results come in, I'll give more weight to this test. It's worth noting that the highest scores so far, 79 percent, went to avast! Free Antivirus 2014.
For a more complete explanation of my hands-on malware blocking test, please see How We Test Malware Blocking.
The Best Free Antivirus for 2014 malware blocking chart
Free Suites
Two of the products I've included aren't technically free standalone antivirus tools. Both Comodo Internet Security Premium (2013) and ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 2013 include firewall protection and other security suite features. But really, if you need free antivirus protection, why not grab a free suite?
It turns out this isn't necessarily a great idea. ZoneAlarm's firewall is the Editors' Choice in its category, but the antivirus component doesn't match its quality. If you're after a free suite, Comodo is a better choice. You might also choose to combine ZoneAlarm's firewall with AVG for antivirus.
More recently, I evaluated the unusual FortiClient 5.0. Though it's designed to work with a network appliance, it actually works fine as a standalone. In addition to antivirus protection you get Web content filtering and a built-in VPN client. Note, though, that if you run into trouble you won't get remote-control remediation from tech support. That level of support requires a contract.
No Excuses!
Clearly there are plenty of choices for free antivirus protection, some of them quite good. The nicest part is, if you're not fond of the free antivirus you've installed, you're free to replace it. You'll definitely find something to like from among these products.
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