Software and driver updater. Obsolete software is a security risk, and it slows down your device. With Avira, you get seamless software updates with just one click. Real-time virus protection keeps all known malware away from your devices: ransomware, spyware, adware, banking Trojans, and more. Secure your web traffic with end-to-end encryption and enjoy complete online freedom. Plus, you get a variety of privacy and performance tools, such as a free VPN, password manager, ad-blocker, software updater, and more.įree VPN for truly private and anonymous browsing. With Avira’s award-winning virus protection, hackers don’t stand a chance. The virus cleaner also protects you from DNS-hijacking, banking Trojans, botnets, and ransomware. These are features available only with the commercial version of AVG.ĪVG certainly delivers a more complex solution than Norton Security Scan, but since they are both free, I advise you to go ahead and test them both before you make up your mind.Cybercriminals want your credit card details, passwords, and other personal information – and use malicious software like rootkits, keyloggers, and spyware to get them. Our free antivirus blocks all of them. These would be the pluses: the lack of anti-spyware, anti-spam capabilities, firewall, 64-bit and server support, 24/7 technical support, and the high-speed updates. But on top of that, it offers real-time protection, heuristics and NTFS data streams scanning, automated updates, scheduled tasks. That since build 7.5 GRISOFT is also delivering compatibility with Windows Vista. Norton Security Scan does only perform on-demand scanning and removal, it does nothing to protect you in real-time as you work as background scans are not a feature of the product.ĪVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5 is a more comprehensive and mature security solution. A minus? Neither Windows XP nor Windows Vista detect Norton Security Scan as an anti-virus, therefore, you will not escape the constant nagging of the Windows Security Center.
As a big plus, Google has finally managed to update the Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE offering.
Not too shabby! The only issue that I can find on a first glance is that Norton Security Scan will not remove adware and spyware from your machine.
According to the Norton Security Scan's description, the Cupertino solution "detects and removes viruses, worms and Trojans, warns you of spyware and unwanted adware that's on your PC, an easy-to-use interface helps you run and schedule scans, Full System Scan performs a deep scan of the system and hard disc to detect existing viruses, spyware and other threats, scan results summary and informs you of what has been detected, repaired or needs your attention and includes detection updates." The special edition of Norton Security Scan is included in Google Pack. But which one is the best? This will not be a benchmarking of the Norton and AVG security solutions, but instead, I will focus on the features they each deliver.
As far as free security solutions for Windows Vista are concerned, there are two products that stand out from the crowd: Norton Security Scan and AVG Free.