While paid antivirus suites have many extra features, for example to protect children online, manage security on smartphones, firewalls and other things, for most people a free antivirus may be enough to protect the computer from infections and by malware on the internet. In this article we see what are the best free antivirus of 2020 for Windows PC, based on the reviews found online and especially based on the tests provided by sites such as AVTest and AV Comparatives among the most reliable ever.
When judging antiviruses, there are at least 6 parameters to consider:
- The fact that they do not slow down the PC and are light;
- That they detect viruses before they can act;
- That they don't detect false positives by seeing threats where they aren't.
- That the scan is not too long.
- They update automatically so you don't miss any discovered infections
- That they are also capable of blocking undiscovered malware, just for their suspicious behavior.
Below, my ranking of the best free antivirus for PC, from the best to the worst (but still of an acceptable level).
1) Antivirus Kaspersky free is the free version of the famous Kaspersky antivirus, complete with real-time protection, automatic updates, antimalware scans and web and email protection. The program is rather light on the PC and works very well especially because the Kaspersky detection engine is always one of the best ever.
This is one of the best free antivirus ever, with an intuitive and understandable interface, an impact on light system performance and with Kaspersky's unbeatable anti-malware protection. It has no extra features and is very essential, but for those who don't need anything else it remains the best free antivirus of this list .
2) BitDefender Free is an ultra-compact antivirus similar to Kasperski Free, with a very simple and effective interface, automatic scanning, real-time protection, antivirus and antiphishing. There are very few manual controls in this program, few settings and options, only continuous protection, without even the manual scanner.
This free version has the same protection as the full paid suite and in the latest tests AV-Test was the best, with a 100 percent success rate against malware attacks.
His scans are lighter on the system than Kaspersky's, but they offer fewer options and for example it is not possible to schedule a scan
As a free antivirus it is a perfect choice, especially on the PC of a relative or friend, to have an "install and forget" solution.
3) Sophos Antivirus for PC and Mac is free, light, with an excellent reputation and, although basic, absolutely recommended, to protect up to 10 computers from a single location, with company-level technology even against unknown threats. Among the free functions included there is also the parental control, to monitor the use of the children's PC.
4) Avast Free Antivirus is one of the most used antivirus in the world, which still has an excellent reputation in 2020 and maximum scores in performance and safety tests. The program installs quickly and shows a clear interface with easy access to all features. You can scan manually and there is real-time protection on web traffic, emails, P2P traffic, chats or instant messengers, network traffic, scripts and even behavioral monitoring that includes viruses even if they are not known. Avast automatically updates itself when new virus definitions are available.
The best advantage is that, in addition to being a reliable antivirus, it also includes extra features that other antivirus programs do not have, such as the VPN (limited access). The main flaw of Avast is on the not very fast scan times and on the fact that it is not really the lightest of antivirus.
5) AVG Antivirus free shares the same excellent malware detection engine as Avast (Avast owns AVG), despite having a much lighter impact on system performance. It offers real-time protection, a manual scanner and a linkscanner to protect internet browsing against malicious sites. There is also protection of incoming emails and antispam but there are no protections against rootkits. The impact on the system is very light with little memory consumption even if the PC will turn on with a few more seconds.
The scans are quite fast and, after the first one, the others become very fast with a virus detection accuracy of 98%. AVG always remains an optimal choice for most users looking for an antivirus for your computer. The biggest flaw of AVG is that in the past it was caught installing unsolicited spy plugins, thus posing privacy problems that could repeat themselves.
NOTE: Avast was caught in 2020 collecting user data by spying on online activities. Although Avast said it no longer does, it remains a staggering precedent. The same goes for AVG which is from Avast and Avira which uses the same commercial practice.
6) Avira Antivirus Free is a great antivirus, very powerful and reliable. It is also the most customizable free antivirus with multiple functions, such as the password manager, although often activated only by buying the paid version. In recent years, however, Avira has lost competitiveness compared to competitors and while up to two years ago it could be considered the best of free antivirus, today it remains among the least appreciated of this list.
7) Panda Free Antivirus (now called Panda Dome ) is a light antivirus among the best even for cloud-based detections. A computer is exposed to viruses only if connected to the internet so it makes perfect sense that the antivirus updates and protects the PC only when connected to the internet. Panda's real-time continuous scanner examines files and blocks the loading of suspicious files and malware. The flaw is that in order to function it monitors the use of the computer at all times and this data collection cannot be disabled.
8) Lavasoft Adaware is also a reliable antivirus, very essential in the free version, with real-time protection, which also protects against adware, ie sponsored software.
9) MalwareBytes Antimalware, in its free version, has no real-time protection, but is always the most effective and powerful antimalware scanner to find and remove any type of infection, to be kept always ready on every PC.
10) Zone Alarm Free Antivirus uses antivirus technology which is licensed by the excellent Kaspersky.
So not only does ZoneAlarm offer robust malware protection, but it also provides a strong and powerful firewall against web attacks and port scans.
The firewall can also be combined with another free antivirus.
11) Comodo Antivirus by Comodo Security Solutions is another excellent program, one of the best free antivirus options available above all because it includes many extra functions. Comodo Antivirus is the best free antivirus solution almost exclusively for its Defense + technology which, by default, assumes that unknown files are threats.
Finally, we must remember that Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 are already protected by an antivirus that works well, remains hidden and offers maximum protection against all kinds of viruses, especially the most fearsome ransomware.
This is Windows Defender, which today I recommend everyone to use, because it has nothing less than other antivirus, although it certainly requires you to surf the internet with a little attention (see also what you infect your PC by clicking at random on the Internet).
Microsoft Security Essentials is the version of the Windows Defender antivirus for Windows 7, which however has far fewer protection options and is no longer supported by 2020 (however, the protections for new viruses are updated at least until 2021)
In conclusion
To say that an antivirus is the best ever is not possible today, but we can say that Bitdefender and Kasperski are certainly the 2 that detach the others. Personally I do not install any of these, I keep Windows 10 with Windows Defender, in order to keep the system light, however, aware that I must always be careful where I click (but this applies even if you install the most expensive and powerful antivirus that c 'is).
I remember that we talk about antivirus with real time protection, you should never install two of them together on the same computer, otherwise they would conflict creating instability.
READ ALSO: Best free Antivirus alternatives to Windows Defender for Windows 10
