IT Professionals

Morro Free Microsoft Anti-Virus – Better Late Than Never

Posted by on Jun 11, 2009 | 6 Comments

I read this piece on how Microsoft was to release its own AV software with great interest. Clearly, way overdue. Yet at the same time there is a certain bell of logic banging around in my head. Why in the heck would I use a security product from a company who has the worst track record of desktop security exploits in recent history? This is not to point fingers; clearly, as a market leader, MS has been a serious target while other platforms are just now beginning to feel the heat from malware/virus creators in the same kind of volume that Windows has seen. But the point remains: one really should trust a third party with a better track record.

This brings me to some of my favorite free alternatives to Microsoft’s soon to be released Morro AV program.

AVG – My first free AV (always paid for Norton previous to this) and frankly, still a trusted friend. AVG Anti-Virus remains the AV program that I run on my mom’s PC along with recommending it with great ease to friends and family. This being said, I would recommend buying its full product though as it provides better protection for all malware, rather than just viruses. But the free app is good enough for most people, I suppose.

avast! – When AVG is just not enough for you, avast! provides a very sleek alternative with all of the bells and whistles. This also happens to be the AV I run when scanning external hard drives containing Windows files. Even though I am a full time desktop Linux user, I still use AV programs to make sure that any NTFS partitions I am sharing with Windows boxes are staying clean as to not spread problems. And being able to do these scans in a Linux environment means that I’m not potentially running with a virus-infected Windows PC, either. Also handy.

ClamAV – Open Source, but really, really basic. I want to love this program. And honestly, I do not need anything fancy from the UI. But on my Linux box, avast! just offers MUCH more functionality. On Windows, ClamWin is pretty good and offers more functionality in a GUI form for easy use.

Which option is best for the Windows user? Honestly, I find it to be a tight tie between AVG and avast! On the paid front however, I tend to lean with AVG. I just know the product better, and it has never let me down.

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  • b28

    I do like veeery much AVIRA ANTIVIR which is also free….

  • zenium

    And there is eEye Personal, free for the first year.

    On related theme, why would anyone trust an security product / anti-virus package from a company that is noted to have an 80/20 rule? That is ‘the optimal profit point is when the product is just good enought for 80% of the users’.

    And, yes I have run into the 80/20 a number of times. And each time it just amazes me why other 20% of functionality is missing. Example: why is Microsoft NTbackup not installed by default in Windows XP Home? Why does NTBackup not include a compression and security? And why can’t I ‘validate’ an NTbackup to gain some assurance that the internal structure is correct.

    And then let’s talk about a company that likes to make a big splash at something, try to convince you to switch over and then decided the product was just not worth it. Shall we talk about Zune (or whatever it is called), the defunct MSN and now MS Money?

  • Mark

    I dunno about you but the idea of Microsoft releasing their own free antivirus software is very worrying, so I probably won’t be going anywhere near it, but the alternatives I would definitely use (especially avast)

  • http://tomsbigbox.com/ tom

    Some would call me stupid, but I just don’t use AV software, I run a check every month or so via PC Pitstop, but otherwise I find such applications just slow down my PC and I haven’t really had any problems in the past.

    So for now – ignorance is bliss!

  • PTyson

    This is really hard for me to say as I was EXTREMELY critical of them in the past but I now run Norton Antivirus 2009. They have completely rewritten the program and it is very light on resources. I do not know why they have not run a huge marketing campaign to promote it. This is NOT the same Norton of a few years ago. I deleted AVG because their recent versions are bloatware and resource hogs. I used to love AVG. I no longer recommend them.

  • http://www.nerdsonsite.ca James Perih @ Nerds On Site

    As a Nerd, I find that I am REMOVING AVG and avast! in the field, because it failed to defend against threats that ESET NOD32 easily cleaned up. When my clients want a free AV product, I stick on Avira Anti-Vir — yes, it has a free edition licensed for personal use, and if you don’t mind the splash page advertising everytime it updates virus signatures, does a splendid job of defending against bad stuff.

    check out http://www.av-comparatives.org, an independent (read: scientific, non-biased) review of more A/V players than what has traditionally been tested.