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There are a million different anti-virus software products on the market.

They all have advantages and disadvantages, (well some are just crap all the way around).

Some though are easier for novice users to keep up with because they automate updates and when they provide warnings they don't "scare" the user.

I'm wondering what superusers are recommending to novice users and why.

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I typically recommend AVG and/or Microsoft Defender. – Nip Jul 15 '09 at 14:42
This is now very out of date, should be updated with Microsoft Security Essentials - which has very much superceded AVG, Avast and NOD32. – Rory Alsop Mar 22 '11 at 12:52
There are a million different anti-virus software products on the market. -- I believe there are actually a few more than that. – Bobson Sep 24 '11 at 19:23
A slow CPU combined with F-Secure prodcuts and malware will stay far away from the snail PC. ;-) f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002067.html – Aki Sep 24 '11 at 19:48
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4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

AVG Free Antivirus is always my first choice. It's free, very simple to setup, and updates automatically. I've also had it find things that Norton Antivirus did not.

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i have recently used AVG 9 and it certainly looks sleek. Its much better that the paid AVs that reduce the productivity to half by hogging resources. – secureBadshah Oct 27 '09 at 8:51
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up vote 8 down vote

Microsoft Security Essentials,

AVG Free is also an option, provided you turn off some of the more obtrusive features for them first.

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up vote 1 down vote

Avast!, because it does not scream about cookies and other non-real threats, and does not try to fool you into buying some additional software...

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up vote 0 down vote

ESET NOD32 is very easy to use. It just works, so you don't have to worry about it failing randomly. If something isn't working quite right, it will help you through the steps to get it fixed again.

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I've seen this a mentioned a few times. Is this the correct product? eset.com/products/nod32.php it seems they have a few different lines. – Nip Jul 15 '09 at 14:53
That's the one. If you want more complete protection, you can look at their Smart Security product. – Russ Warren Jul 15 '09 at 14:57
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