whats the best free windows anti-virus that i can use and that also offers offline updates?

Question

macdonald.chipunza · Answer 1 · 2012-03-27T05:12:07+0000

When yu say offline, wot do yu mean. Are yu saying your pc is never on internet(online)? Is it a stand alone machine or networked?

Assuming lm right, lm failing to understand why you would want a machine which is online(internet) to have a offline virus update.

If yu insist on offline updates, then l would still say avast is the best bet coz it allows yu to download an offline version to install on a stand alone pc. But yu will have to do this frwquently as virus signatures are updated every fours hours or as soon as new virus is found.

If your pc is networked to one online, yu will need to setup one as update server then directs your offline update pc to get its updates from that internal server.

it makes sense to want an antivirus with an offline update feature even if u had internet access eg
1. u pay for your bundles for your PC in question, now if u fail to update for sometime, be it you network is no functioning well, or u are out of town, instead of havin to pay for the Mb for the update, u can just get the updates from internet at work (thats wat i do even with my paid for antivirus) then update manually (take not we are talkin about people lookin for FREE antivirus lol) — rtmanyemba, Mar 29, 2012

shepherdzw · Answer 2 · 2012-03-27T09:38:59+0000

Try Clamwin it's good for windows...

I've used Clamav which is a flavour for linux on production mail servers for the past 6years & it is still to make me doubt it's efficiency & effectiveness.

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/clamwin/clamwin-0.97.3-setup.exe
You can get the virus definitions without clamwin via
http://database.clamav.net/main.cvd
http://database.clamav.net/daily.cvd

Then copy the downloaded main.cvd and daily.cvd to your database location which is specified in the ClamWin Preferences, File Locations tab. The default database location is: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\.clamwin\db"

In addition you can also install a complimentary package called Viral Suppressor from www.techtribe.co.zw it's not an anti virus but an application program that can help you increase your pc's immunity.

<em>However if all things are equal I recommend the purchase of a paid subscription of an AV of your choice. I root for eScan Internet Security Suite.</em>

macdonald.chipunza · Answer 3 · 2012-03-28T00:23:10+0000

Or even better, dual boot your Micro$haft machine linux of your choice, and forget about all these antivirus and gates validation.

Should you want to try linux, l recommend Linux Mint, a variant of Ubuntu and yu dont need to pay anything to anybody. You can try it on cd without installing it on yo pc to see if yu like it and it doesnt affect yo windows.

Just becoz yu are paying for something does not mean you are getting value for money. I have seen pc infected with all sorts of viruses bt still running up to date version of the paid norton or mcfee antivirus.

Avast sets the bar high bcoz it is the only antivirus l know which scans mbr before computer boots and do a real time virus watching without slowing yo pc down.

macdonald.chipunza · Answer 4 · 2012-03-28T09:38:11+0000

Having a antivirus which scans your pc and find no virus does not mean yo pc is clean. Antivirus software depend on signatures to catch viruses, if a virus is latest and there is no signature for it, regardless of how good yo antivirus is, it will not be able to catch it and the virus will be roaming yo pc freely!

Imagine a policeman trying to catch a thief, the policeman will need details of the suspect( read signature fo antivirus) which might be his id number, photo, and other infor. When they get him, they have to positively identify him, get him and compare the infor they have. This is same like antivirus looking at a suspected file(virus), run a formular and compare the results with signature datatbase it have. If it matches any signature, then a virus has been found, if it does not then no alarm.

Resources permiting, its always advisable to run two antiviruses together on a pc.

Good explanation but never put 2 antiviruses on your machine! — anonymous, Mar 29, 2012
?really! I have been using two antivirus applications for a while now and i have never had any conflicts of any sort. I think its all about finding the right combination of programs. eg Eset & Smadav. — WSD, Mar 29, 2012
Years ago when l used to run Micro$haft as my OS, l found out that AVG used to work well with Avira, bt if yu mix Avira and Avast thery were always fight to instantly catch nasties which was taking a toll on overall PC perfomance bcoz bothe are real-time antiruses. So yes like WSD said, its a matter of findind which ones works well with each other. — macdonald.chipunza, Mar 29, 2012
er....i wouldnt quite reccomend that. ive tried various combinations (avast and norton; mcafee and avira, avast and eset) and they all seem to bring the system to a deadlock at some point. I have a decent amount of resources on my machine (3rd gen Core i5@2.5 GHz and 6GB RAM....and m trying to imagine how someone will survive with such a setup on a Celeron processor and 2GB RAM...suicide! — anonymous, Jul 30, 2013

ic0n1c · Answer 5 · 2012-03-27T04:21:31+0000

answered Mar 27, 2012 by ic0n1c Guru (30.2k points)

Though free anti-virus programs are not recommendable for everyday use I suggest you try Microsoft Security Essentials. It has great detection rates (for rootkits) & it automatically updates and removes threats. No registration is needed, apart from a quick validating of Windows, and there are no nag screens or advertisements.

It's available on the Microsoft website.

commented Mar 27, 2012 by Richard Slick Chinye new here (360 points)

it wont do coz of the validating aspect...

commented Mar 27, 2012 by ic0n1c Guru (30.2k points)

The follow @macdchip's recommendation and go for AVAST.

commented Mar 28, 2012 by marengz new here (280 points)

Microsoft essentials is the best solution, it has good detection rates, less false positives unlike other AV's out there. the processor and memory usage is also very good.

commented Mar 29, 2012 by rtmanyemba (90 points)

Avast processor and memory usage is just as good, plus avast also has a sandbox feature, this is very important for trying out untrusted software.

FREEWORLD · Answer 6 · 2012-03-28T00:53:44+0000

answered Mar 28, 2012 by FREEWORLD Regular (3.6k points)

anonymous · Answer 7 · 2012-03-29T02:31:50+0000

Well as for me i use Alvin Antivirus, Its a a Zimbabwean made solution that that i am continuously improving for the Zimbabwean who does not have a consistent Internet connection. Some of its features include an intelligent method of picking up potential threats by analyzing files, built in tools to manually remove infections, safe USB file explorer which gives u a safe environment which allows u to safely browse infected Flash drives and obviously its ability to work side by side with any other Antivirus of ur choice without any conflicts....making use of minimum resources..... AND ITS FREE ....

Check out My Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/alvinantivirus

tafadzwa c · Answer 8 · 2012-05-29T08:55:26+0000

answered May 29, 2012 by tafadzwa c new here (260 points)

Godfrey · Answer 9 · 2013-11-11T12:13:58+0000

answered Nov 11, 2013 by Godfrey Expert (11.5k points)

Godfrey · Answer 10 · 2013-11-11T12:16:02+0000

answered Nov 11, 2013 by Godfrey Expert (11.5k points)

whats the best free windows anti-virus that i can use and that also offers offline updates?

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