Free Antivirus Software and Online Virus Scan

Free computer virus scanning, prevention and removal

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Free Antivirus Software, Free Online Virus Scan

The free antivirus programs listed on this page allow you to detect computer viruses, remove or repair infected files, prevent infection, detect and remove email viruses, etc. There are also free online virus scanning services available for those who prefer (or need to) scan for virus that way.

If your system is already infected, you may also want to take a look at the Free Antivirus Rescue CDs and DVDs page.

Incidentally, you should not install more than one antivirus or antimalware product on your computer. Even if the software does not complain and all seems fine, there may be underlying conflicts that cause one or more of the software to miss viruses and other malware. That is to say, you may end up with a system that is less secure and more unstable than if you were simply running a single product.

If you are suspicious of a particular file that you have downloaded, you can also upload it to the free online malware scanners located on the second half of this page. Some of these online services are able to use multiple antivirus software to scan that file, something which you normally can't do on your own computer.

For those who use Windows 10 (and even Windows 8 and 8.1), your system already comes with an antivirus called Windows Defender, so you do not actually need to download and install any of the programs listed here. Tests by third-party antivirus testers have shown that this program is comparable to (and sometimes even better than) the top-tier commercial antivirus vendors. Just make sure that Windows Defender is enabled on your machine and kept updated.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:

The software listed below are supposed to be free. Not trialware. Not paid software. If you find that the links go to pages which require you to pay money to get the software, it means that your computer is badly infested with adware or malware. You can no longer trust any link you see in your browser. The malware or spyware loaded in your computer has modified the addresses of every page you visit so that you are redirected to their site. You may have to revisit this page from a clean computer (eg a different computer) to get the real software that is listed on this page.

Free AntiVirus and AntiMalware Utilities

Microsoft Security Essentials

This is a free antivirus / anti-malware tool from Microsoft that is reported to be lightweight and generally unobtrusive. It works on Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit). (It doesn't support later versions of Windows because they already includes Windows Defender, which is the version of Microsoft Security Essentials built for those system.) It handles viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits and other types of malware. Note: the above leads to the Security Essentials main page, from which you can download a stub downloader, which will, in turn, download the actual antivirus software. If you prefer to download the complete software instead of going through the intermediary software, try the download page. (If the download page link is broken, or even the main link above, please let me know. The webmasters at Microsoft frequently change the addresses of their pages without automatically redirecting users to the new locations.)

Microsoft Safety Scanner

Microsoft Safety Scanner is an on-demand virus/malware scanner. That is to say, you have to run the program manually to check your system for viruses (in contrast to "real-time" antivirus programs that automatically work in the background to make sure no viruses enter your system). It was designed to be one of those one-time tools that you download to check a system (for example, your friend's) that you suspect has been infected by some sort of malware. Since it does not auto-update itself (to get the latest virus definitions), it will expire 10 days after you download it (since by then the virus definitions built into the program would have been outdated). When that happens, simply go back to the Microsoft website and redownload it again. (Actually, if you're scanning a friend's computer, you may prefer to use a free antivirus bootable CD instead.) Important: For newcomers who are not security professionals, get a proper antivirus program, such as one of the others listed on this page. The Microsoft Safety Scanner is NOT meant for you. You'll end up with a false sense of security, thinking that your computer is protected.

Avira Free Antivirus

Avira Free is a free antivirus program for Windows computers. It has a resident component that monitors file movements for signs of viruses. It also allows you to scan your computer and repair files that have been infected. The program comes with a facility to automatically check the AntiVir website for updates to the virus definitions and download them.

Clam AntiVirus

ClamAV is a free command line antivirus scanner for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems. You can also integrate it with your mail server for scanning your email messages and attachments. It is able to scan inside archives like RAR archives, Zip archives, Gzip and Bzip2 archives (that is, it has unpacking engines for those types of compressed archives). This free antivirus program comes with source code that is released under the GNU General Public License.

avast! Home Edition

[WARNING: be sure to read this software's licence agreement and privacy policy carefully, and understand the implications of what you are getting into, before you install it. In addition, be careful about installing the Avast Online Security and Avast SafePrice extensions, since someone who has investigated them has claimed (see this article and its follow-up) that they are "essentially spyware" (quoting from the second linked-to article). As a precaution, this software has been de-linked on this page, since, if true, it (and/or the programs that come with it) now becomes the very thing that antivirus programs are supposed to guard against.]

Avast Home Edition is free for home users on non-commercial computers. You have to register your copy and supply them your email address (get a free email address here if you wish) so that they can send you a licence key to activate the program.

AVG Anti-Virus

[WARNING: be sure to read this software's licence agreement and privacy policy carefully, and understand the implications of what you are getting into, before you install it. In addition, be careful about installing the AVG Online Security and AVG SafePrice extensions, since someone who has investigated them has claimed (see this article and its follow-up) that they are "essentially spyware" (quoting from the second linked-to article). As a precaution, this software has been de-linked on this page, since, if true, it (and/or the programs that come with it) now becomes the very thing that antivirus programs are supposed to guard against.]

The AVG Anti-Virus software, from Avast, comprises a resident program that works in the background, an email scanner (checks your email for viruses), an on-demand scanner (eg, you invoke it to scan your system), the ability to repair certain infected files, and automatic updates of the virus definitions.

Free Online Virus Scan

VirusTotal: This online virus scanner from Google accepts files up of to 128 MB in size and runs it through a large number of antivirus scanners. You can even use it to scan URLs (web addresses).
Jotti's Online Malware Scan: This site scans any file that you upload to it with a variety of antivirus programs. It is particularly useful if you are suspicious about a particular file, and want to see if different antivirus software detect anything in it.

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Free Antivirus Software and Free Online Virus Scans