The acquisition of expensive licenses of complex anti-virus utilities will be justified for advanced and corporate users. Ordinary users do not have to buy such software at all - in a good half of cases they have enough of the usual, most often free solutions that protect the computer from viruses.
There are a lot of antivirus programs on the Internet, and very different ones. And if experienced users have long found the best option for themselves, then newcomers are often tormented by doubts about a particular product. In addition, not every utility can competently clean your computer from viruses. Programs from little-known and unscrupulous developers can completely harm the operating system. So you need to choose such software very carefully. What we will do in our article.
The best utilities for cleaning your PC from malicious code
We bring to your attention the best programs for cleaning your computer from viruses. Consider the key features of each product, its advantages and disadvantages, as well as other features. For a clearer picture, the list of utilities will be presented in the form of a rating.
Rating of programs for cleaning your computer from viruses:
- Kaspersky Free.
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition.
- Comodo Internet Security.
- Avast Free Antivirus.
Consider each utility in more detail.
Kaspersky Free
Kaspersky Lab products have repeatedly taken various awards in this area, thereby proving their effectiveness. The free version of the popular product also excelled. Many subject magazines put Kaspersky Free in first place in their ratings, recognizing it as the best program to clean your computer from viruses.
Despite the fact that the free utility is seriously cut down in comparison with a full-fledged product, there is everything necessary to protect an ordinary user’s computer from malicious code. Among the obvious advantages of the program can be noted a powerful antivirus scanner that works in tandem with a surge protector, as well as excellent protection against phishing.
The interface of the program that protects the computer from viruses is simple and straightforward. Even a novice in this business will deal with him. All the main tools are located on the main screen and are available on the first click.
Utility Features
Installation and configuration should not cause any problems either. Installation of a program for cleaning a computer from viruses takes place in the standard mode for Windows. After installation, the client will offer to log into the Kaspersky account, and if not, create a new one.
The default settings are set to protect the middle level. If you often visit sites of dubious quality and content, it is better to increase this parameter to the maximum value. As a fly in the ointment here is the process of scanning and cleaning, or rather, the time spent.
Competing counterparts cope with this task much faster. The developer explains this lengthy scan with the "scrupulousness" of the utility: it carefully checks every byte on your computer and does it in a few passes.
It is also worth noting that the Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN utility supplied with the program for cleaning your computer from viruses has a traffic limit. If you consume no more than 1 GB of the latter per day, then there will be no problems. In other cases, you will have to consider Kaspersky’s paid solutions.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
Another free and fairly popular program for cleaning your computer from viruses, which is a branch of the same paid product. The utility has received many awards at specialized exhibitions and has been recognized by themed online magazines as one of the best in its field.
Here we have a very effective "gentleman's set" of antivirus: protection against phishing, cleaning your PC from malicious code and network filter. All this works as it should, plus everything, consumes system resources to a minimum. If Kaspersky’s products literally eat the lion's share of RAM and use the processor’s power during the next scan and cleaning, Bitdefender is limited to only a small part of the available resources.
The program interface for checking a computer for viruses is simple and intuitive. There is nothing to deal with there. All that is offered to the user is a couple of buttons to launch the antivirus. It is not necessary to study additional parameters in most cases, because the filters are correctly configured by default.
Utility Features
The installation of the program takes place in the usual mode: we select the place to store the files, agree with the rules of the licensee and wait for the end of the process. After installation, the utility is ready to work. There is no need to log into any accounts or activate codes. You can immediately begin to scan and clean your PC from viruses.
The utility works pretty fast, especially when compared with the previous product. At the same time, the effectiveness of the search and removal of malicious code is no worse than that of the solutions from Kaspersky. But as it happens with free software, the program’s capabilities are significantly reduced.
Here you cannot properly configure the network filter, check some non-standard types of external drives, etc. Nevertheless, judging by the reviews of ordinary users, this is a very good alternative to expensive antivirus products.
Comodo Internet Security
In third place is a well-proven free product from the famous developer Comodo. This solution can be called a real complex to protect your PC from malicious code.
Here we have not only a regular antivirus, but also a firewall, a cloud scanner, an anti-rootkit (a program for removing adware viruses from a computer), as well as a full-fledged sandbox (a dedicated environment for safe application launch).
It is also worth noting the presence of a special “game mode”, where the consumption of system resources is significantly reduced, and pop-up notifications are completely disabled. The program is already undemanding to the "stuffing" of the computer, and with this mode it does not feel at all.
The utility interface is simple enough for a beginner to understand. There is also a well-designed help system where you can find all the answers regarding the functionality. Almost all the tools are located on the main screen in the form of large icons, so you don’t have to wander around the menu.
Utility Features
The program is installed as a regular package, there should not be any problems with installation. The first time the utility prompts you to log into your Comodo account, but you can skip this step, because the functionality of the application does not change from this.
You can also leave the settings unnecessarily necessary. By default, all relevant filters with presets are relevant for ordinary users. The only thing is, you can slightly reduce the level of firewall activity. Judging by user reviews, here he is a little paranoid and reacts to everything in a row.
In general, the utility proved to be excellent at work. It is no less effective than other paid analogies, but it is not without drawbacks. Users especially complain about the intrusive advertising of other developer products. The problem is solved by purchasing an advanced Pro-version, but for those who have enough available capabilities, they have to put up with pop-up banners.
Avast free antivirus
This solution is heavily advertised by Microsoft, so it can often be seen as an alternative to the local Windows Defender. But despite such aggressive promotion, the product really deserves attention. Still, 400 million users cannot be mistaken and leave the utility just for show.
A distinctive feature of this solution is the presence of a well-protected password manager that reliably saves all your confidential information, as well as a very sensible extension for browsers. The latter works as an ad blocker on sites, so in this case you can not install quite “heavy” ones for weak AdGuard or AdBlock machines.
Utility Features
The utility interface is competently divided into categories, where each tool clearly shows what and how it can do. Antivirus offers the user advanced cloud scanning, protection against phishing and rootkits, plus a full-fledged sandbox.
Additionally, there is a special “game mode” with minimal consumption of system resources, the ability to create bootable disks to start the system from scratch, and there is also a special application that evaluates the vulnerability of Wi-Fi networks.
The installation of the program takes place in the normal mode: we indicate the place to store the files, we agree with the terms of the software developer and wait for the installation process to complete. Judging by user reviews, the default presets are too strict for normal surfing the Web, so many reset their protection settings to a lower level.
Distinctive features of software
It is also worth noting that the program is extremely picky about its competitors. If antivirus software is already installed on your computer, Avast will constantly “swear” at it and mark files of another utility as malicious code.
Scanning and cleaning your computer from viruses are relatively quick: a little faster than Kaspersky, but a little slower than Bitdefender. Requirements for system resources can be called minimal. Even during active work to search and destroy malicious code, the program consumes less than 1 GB of RAM and practically does not affect the processor power. So for owners of weak cars, this is a very good option.
Of the minuses, one can only note the annoying banner offering to purchase a paid product license. It periodically pops up once a day, as well as every time you open the antivirus to scan and clean your computer. Despite this, the program deserves to be installed, especially if you are an ordinary user who does not want to pay extra money for a full-fledged anti-virus kit.