Free no ads anti virus software

[Iangilf]

Morning all what's the best free no ads antivirus software for Windows 10 please ?
Thanks

 

[Lucian]

Doesn't Windows already come with it? Windows Defender.

 

[Iangilf]

Doesn't Windows already come with it? Windows Defender.

Yes but I went on some russian site to get some firmware for my router and I accidently accepted something and now I get a popup that comes up constantly saying I've been infected with a virus so I'm assuming the windows one isn't capable of getting rid of it , so maybe need something that's a little bit stronger to get rid of it ,it's probably malware or something who knows but either way it wasn't there before and now it is cheers

 

[kommando828]

You probably do not yet have a virus, download and run malwarebytes free personal malware program and run that, that will go for adware which Defender does not cover. If the popup is only coming up in a browser then also look at your browser extensions and also check the sites allowing notifications and remove notification permissions from any unknown sites.

 

[Iangilf]

You probably do not yet have a virus, download and run malwarebytes free personal malware program and run that, that will go for adware which Defender does not cover. If the popup is only coming up in a browser then also look at your browser extensions and also check the sites allowing notifications and remove notification permissions from any unknown sites.

Thanks will give it a go

 

[Lucian]

Yes but I went on some russian site to get some firmware for my router and I accidently accepted something and now I get a popup that comes up constantly saying I've been infected with a virus so I'm assuming the windows one isn't capable of getting rid of it , so maybe need something that's a little bit stronger to get rid of it ,it's probably malware or something who knows but either way it wasn't there before and now it is cheers

If you need something "stronger", then you can bet "the best free no-ads one" will not cut it, if it even exists.
At this point I'd stay well away from "free" antivirus programs.

@kommando828 suggestions are very good.

 

[Mark.J]

To be fair, Microsoft's "free" AV is quite well rated, but at the same time I'd agree that a good paid system from companies like Eset may do a better job.

 

[Buggerlugz]

Since Avast and AVG went the way of Norton/McAfee (becoming nothing but bloatware slowing down your PC) I've been quite content with Microsoft's built in windows 7/10 defender. I probably run Malware-bytes a couple of times a year and then uninstall it after every scan.

The number of free AV products installing bloatware/spyware on PC's these days, you're better without them.

With the better security on windows 10, gone are the days of thousands of trojan and bits of spyware sitting on a PC.

 

[CarlO1460]

I’ve always used Windows Defender since day one of release, and ccleaner and malwarebytes every now and then to remove anything else if ever. All completely free.

 

[Buggerlugz]

Were you aware of ccleaner 5.33 coming with malware these days Carl? Its owned by Avast now, so bloatware when you tell it not too is an added feature.

 

[Mark.J]

The portable (USB Flash Drive) version of CCleaner avoids some of that concern.

 

[Bubblesthefish6]

F-Secure SAFE is a decent one, don't know if f secure do any free ones. Who is your internet provider as a lot of them provide their own AV or at least a free trial of one.

 

[baby_frogmella]

OP, Windows Defender is probably your best bet if you're determined not to pay anything. However whilst Windows Defender is more than adequate, there are better performing AVs out there according to av-test.org and av-comparatives.org, the 2 best AV comparison test websites.

NOD32 (ESET), Kaspersky and Norton/Symantec* are the 3 best consistently performing AV suites. But the trick is NOT to pay the official inflated prices, for example Norton charges around £80 pa for a 3 pc licence lol. You can get genuine licences on Amazon or eBay for a tiny fraction of the RRP.

* Norton is no longer the bloatware it once was (c. 2005), its now amongst the top performing AVs out there

 

[Buggerlugz]

Wouldn't personally trust Kaspersky, norton or symantec, they all drastically slow down your PC and effectively filter everything coming and going from your computer. Who knows what these companies are doing with that information.

 

[baby_frogmella]

Nope, none of the top performing AV suites these days is bloatware or massively slows down your pc. Of course, that was never the case around 20 years ago when Norton was arguably the biggest culprit around. Actually NOD32's main selling point around that time was that it was very light on your PC when just about every other AV software was the complete opposite. This is one of the main reasons why I've stuck with NOD32 for last 20+ years. But AV software suites have caught up over the years and they're now much of a muchness, as the latest tests av-test.org and av-comparitives.org prove.

 

[baby_frogmella]

Here the latest 'system performance' test from av-comparatives.org, look which AV software performs the worst...
(click on graph)

 

[Bubblesthefish6]

I use BT Virus protect as it's free with my broadband. It's McAfee but free basically.