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avast! Home Edition

Avast Home Edition Free provides a free for personal use virus scanner under a business model of prevention being key to protection. The site requires you to register (no spam, tested) for each year you use it and the software provides the same protection as most other virus software on the market, including: Anti-Virus, Script Blocking, Firewall protection, Malware and Spyware detection. The software is somewhat limited in its disinfection abilities  and has a slower download on updates than paying customers (advertised, arguably crippleware). This software is also one of the few to support older operating systems such as Windows 95, 98, and NT.

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avast! Home Edition 4.8
MSRP $0.00
Release date January, 2009
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Pros & Cons9
Reviews7
Details
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Competitors3
Comments3
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Pros & Cons

ProSCORE
7 reviews
53
negative
mixed
positive
4 positive
0 mixed
3 negative

[i] How is the ProSCORE calculated?

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Pros:
Do you agree?
•
Free!
+6agreedisagree

•
Realtime protection works well and detection rate is good with relatively few false positives
+1agreedisagree

•
Conservative use of system resources
+1agreedisagree

•
UI translated into many languages
+1agreedisagree

Cons:
Do you agree?
•
Slow
+1agreedisagree

•
Works much better as prevention than cure (starting from clean install works better)
+1agreedisagree

•
Poor detection/prevention
+1agreedisagree

•
Free only for personal use
+1agreedisagree

•
Some functionality gimped
0agreedisagree


8 people added to this review by submitting or voting on pros and cons. Add your say!
See individual votes »

Details

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This report was started January 12, 2008 at 11:00 am by Charon9
with the last edit occurring Friday, 7:06 AM by Fugazi
This page has been viewed 3020 times, with 54 edits by 11 contributors.
See the full report history »

Buy It

Competitors

avast! Home Edition is ranked 2nd among it's competitors.  See the top picks in Antivirus, Firewall, & Spyware »
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

MSRP  $0.00    Released  January, 2009
Pros
  • Free and works well
  • works behind the scenes - never gets in the way of users until it is required, unlike other suites
  • doesn't sap computer resources like other anti-virus suites
Cons
  • A bit too paranoid, detects false viruses on certain files that don't have any Trojans or viruses
  • Default behavior requires user interaction for clicking away update notification dialog
  • Too many modules included it became confusing
ProSCORE
17 reviews
62
Vote! (3 votes)
vote avast! Home Edition 33% vs. vote AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 67%
BitDefender AntiVirus 2008

BitDefender AntiVirus 2008

MSRP  $24.99    Released  January, 2008
Pros
  • Takes up much less resources than most
  • Windows Vista 32/64 bit support
  • Small installation size
  • Free edition available
  • Gamer mode
ProSCORE
2 reviews
100
Vote! (2 votes)
vote avast! Home Edition 50% vs. vote BitDefender AntiVirus 2008 50%
Avira Anti-Vir Personal Edition

Avira Anti-Vir Personal Edition

MSRP  $0.00    Released  September, 2009
Pros
  • Very high virus detection level
  • Simple and clean GUI
  • Fastest performance compared to other free antivirus
Cons
  • Annoying Ads window pops up when live updating
  • Free version can't scan network drives
  • Only free for personal use
ProSCORE
4 reviews
65
Vote! (3 votes)
vote avast! Home Edition 67% vs. vote Avira Anti-Vir Personal Edition 33%

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Comments

1.  avatar Charon9 said:

I use Avast on my secondary machines; the machines that are just for gaming or testing. The updates are not noticeably slow and I have never had a virus on them either (I check the drives with Kaspersky through the network once a month) so I cannot speak for its disinfection rate. I do know it has a larger TSR and CPU footprint than others (about the same as Norton) and it is sluggish when scanning (slice hog).

SPECS: 4 TSR Loads (1,924K; 14,188K; 34,428K; 208K == 50,748K)
Slice Time: 10M13s of 86H up time @ No system scans, 1 startup (Critical system) scan.
Time Slice == 5.10 @ 1 startup scan (no system, daily scans). Time slice is figured on the number of seconds used by uptime of system.

Even with these limitations (?) I would strongly suggest you get this, or another product like it, if you have no virus protection at all.

Jan 12, 2008 11:21am
2.  avatar GT-D said:

Yeah, this is what I use, gonna grab kaspersky at some point, but avast has been fine for ages. I've never had an issue with getting infected, only a handful of times I've ever downloaded something that got flagged (notably, Daemon tools always seems to get picked up because of the toolbar or whatever packaged with it)
Jan 31, 2008 10:54am
3.  avatar ged said:

I used Avast since they were the FIRST to come out with a 64 software for my machine.
I'm running it for 4 years both 32 and 64 machines and works excellent. Updates "smart" (as you enter some new door let's say into p2p (torrent) or sop immediately updates). Infected mail never passed. Boot time scan its hes best as windows won't load and any file is a "sitting duck". The web shield just advertise you (in real time) to abort connection on some dangerous web pages. I recommended it and installed on some friends machines (repacing Panda and AVG)and its doing (much) better everywhere. Of course Avast isn't God so its up to you to controll your (PC) behaviour. Firewall (even windows') its a must and highly recommended an antispyware like Seek&Destroy(with TeaTimer) to work together in your favour.
Jun 19, 2008 5:24am
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Reviews

Sort by: Most helpful  •  Newest  •  Most positive

Fugazi

avatar
Friday, 6:58 AM
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
25
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
3 cons
have ithave it

Pros

  • UI translated into many languages

Cons

  • Slow
  • Poor detection/prevention
  • Free only for personal use

Competitors

Fugazi prefers Avira Anti-Vir Personal Edition over avast! Home Edition
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

bissap

avatar
September 2, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
75
negative
mixed
positive
3 pros
1 con

Pros

  • Free!
  • Realtime protection works well and detection rate is good with relatively few false positives
  • Conservative use of system resources

Cons

  • Works much better as prevention than cure (starting from clean install works better)

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

GT-D

avatar
January 31, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
33
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
2 cons
have ithave it
love itlove it

Pros

  • Free!

Cons

  • Slow
  • Some functionality gimped

Comments

"Yeah, this is what I use, gonna grab kaspersky at some point, but avast has been fine for ages. I've never had an issue with getting infected, only a handful of times I've ever downloaded something that got flagged (notably, Daemon tools always seems to get picked up because of the toolbar or whatever packaged with it)"

Competitors

GT-D prefers avast! Home Edition over Avira Anti-Vir Personal Edition
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

squalorking

avatar
January 30, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
33
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
2 cons

Pros

  • Free!

Cons

  • Slow
  • Some functionality gimped

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Asanga madumal

avatar
February 14, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
100
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
0 cons
want itwant it

Pros

  • Free!

Cons

Did not agree with any cons

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

http://www.productwiki.com/kleingert

avatar
January 22, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
100
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
0 cons

Pros

  • Free!

Cons

Did not agree with any cons

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

pbb

avatar
October 29, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
100
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
0 cons
have ithave it

Pros

  • Free!

Cons

Did not agree with any cons

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

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