Virus Protection - important element system security, which cannot be neglected. Malware is constantly being updated and improved, offering new challenges to detect and remove infection. Therefore, there is an opinion that only a powerful paid antivirus can successfully cope with system protection.
But if you approach the issue objectively, armed with test results independent laboratories, then it becomes clear that the best paid antiviruses 2016 is not much inferior to their paid and widely advertised "colleagues". So you can be relatively safe without buying any licenses. The main thing is to make the right choice.
The best free antiviruses of 2016
Criteria for evaluation
To avoid accusations of subjectivity, when making estimates, we will use data from studies conducted by the independent laboratory AVTEST. The results of these tests are considered objective even by anti-virus developers. software so they can be trusted.
Usually AVTEST specialists check paid software, which is provided to them by the developers themselves, but there are three free solutions that pass tests on an equal basis with everyone else - Avast Panda Security and Qihoo 360. Grades are given in three categories:
- Protection - security.
- Performance - performance.
- Usability - ease of use.
In each nomination, several tests are conducted, the results of which are scored on a six-point scale with a step of 0.5. Armed with this data, let's take a look at the leaders in the ranking of free antivirus software for Windows home users.
According to the results of tests in March and April, Avast became the best among free antivirus software. Free Antivirus. Test results:
- Protection against zero-day attacks (previously unknown viruses), including through the web and e-mail - 99% of threats are reflected.
- Detection of common viruses detected within the last 4 months - 99.9%.
In the nomination "Security" Avast co free license receives the highest score - 6 points. The same rating is assigned for ease of use: the program almost never makes mistakes when identifying threats. 
By the way, the main reason for lowering the usability score is just an inadequate response to “good” applications and sites. As for performance, here Avast's ratings are lowered, since it sometimes loads the system, albeit slightly - 4.5 out of 6 points.
There are also cons:
- Frequently appearing window with a suggestion to upgrade to a paid version.
- The need for registration free license for a year with the possibility of extending the term of use.
- Some problems when uninstalling Avast from a computer.
The positive characteristics include the function of creating rescue disk to check your computer for viruses and scan browser extensions from it. In general, a worthy product, and distributed under a free license.
Panda Security Free Antivirus
Panda has protection indicators similar to Avast, also receiving the highest rating from the AVTEST laboratory. However, its performance is even worse than that of the leader of our rating. 
As for the reaction to normal applications and the blocking of good sites, here the sins also slip, but they are not critical.
But Panda has many additional features, given the status of a free product:
- Protection USB drives, automatic check connected removable drives.
- View details about running processes with information about their safety for the system.
- Detection of malware that is not a virus.
Panda Security Free antivirus- handy program, which you can forget about after installation. If you need to perform some actions, such as setting exceptions, then thanks to user-friendly interface it won't be a big deal.
Qihoo 360
Chinese antivirus software Qihoo 360 (aka 360 Total Security) in 2016 became the culprit of the scandal, as a result of which the results of his tests were canceled in all laboratories. The essence of the claim was that software was presented for the study, the settings in which differed from those that users receive by default. 
If you are interested in the facts: on test products, their own Chinese QVM engine was turned off, and a third-party one was used bitdefender engine which showed excellent results. The problem is that users received the antivirus with the opposite settings: Bitdefender off, QVM on. The parameters can be changed manually, but for this you need to know which engine works well, and which one is Chinese.
For some time, the program was excluded from the list of all laboratories, but now it is being investigated again under the name Qihoo 360. The results show quite decent results, at the level of Avast and Panda, but an unpleasant aftertaste remains. If we remove reputational losses, then in the bottom line we have:
- Free and unlimited work.
- 100% threat detection.
- A large number of additional functions (protection of a flash drive, webcam, browser, documents from ransomware, launching programs in isolated environment etc.).
The only complaint about Qihoo 360 from users is the periodic detection of threats where they do not exist. But all solutions with a free license equally suffer from this, so you can endure a couple of unreasonable positives per month.
Microsoft Windows Defender
The built-in antivirus from Microsoft Corporation is also participating in research, but it can only be called free with a stretch - for Windows license still have to pay. I did not consider it in detail, because in terms of security, it is aimed at the bottom of all ratings, missing up to 12% of zero-day attacks. 
Its performance is at the level of Panda and slightly higher than Avast, there are no problems with ease of use either, but it is difficult to call it a reliable antivirus. Although if you behave correctly on the Internet, then the capabilities of Windows Defender will be enough to ensure minimum level security.
Other free antiviruses
Of course, the list of free licensed antivirus software is not limited to the three products above. I singled them out only because they are tested by independent laboratories. But even paid products have free versions, which, in theory, should use similar virus detection algorithms. A few examples:
- kaspersky free.
- Bitdefender Antivirus free edition.
Paid versions of these products are constantly at the top of the ratings, that is, the developers clearly know how to protect your computer. Another question is that sometimes only one anti-virus program, even the most powerful one, is not enough. Various browser hijackers and ransomware enter the system due to the carelessness of users downloading unknown files from suspicious sources, and the antivirus is powerless here. Therefore, in order to protect your computer as much as possible from external threats, you need to accustom yourself to doing elementary rules security:
- Do not open suspicious emails with incomprehensible content.
- Don't download free programs from sites that are not trustworthy.
- When installing a program, always check what the installer adds to the system along with the main application.
If you follow the rules, you can get by minimum set security software: free antivirus and included firewall. If you forget about security, then even the most powerful and most paid anti-virus software will not save you.
Following some established tradition, I do ranking of the best free antivirus 2016. Earlier reviews of versions and were also published on the site. You can get acquainted with them by the links and.
Computer security does not stand still and developers are constantly coming up with new security features.
Some companies even make such loud statements as “ soon viruses will be stopped almost in 100% of cases". Company Reason Software even invented a paid cloud antivirus , which, according to the company itself, catches 100% of threats, real-time updates constantly virus databases data and works with other antiviruses. This project is at the testing stage and was created only in 2015.
On the this moment companies are forced only to try to "catch up" with all the hackers and inventors of more and more new viruses.
Let's see what the best antiviruses of 2016 will oppose to them. In this article you will see:
- Comparison of the Best Antivirus 2016
- Highlighting in separate lists of paid and free antiviruses 2016
- Expert test scores
- Tables, graphs and download links
Antivirus 2016 and their Developers of this review
AT Table No. 1 "Antiviruses and their Developers" the companies leading constant development of antiviruses are presented. Most companies have rich experience in developing security programs. Among them are companies from all over the world. Some antiviruses can be seen for the first time only in this review, because. they have not previously been evaluated by information security experts.
Some companies provide users with both paid and free antiviruses.
Recently, the trend has become very popular to displace the simple name of the antivirus program and use Complex Systems Internet Security ( internet security). This fashionable trend is gradually moving from paid antiviruses to free ones.
Microsoft program Windows Defender presented below for comparison professional antiviruses with standard protection built into Windows.
Table No. 1 "Antiviruses and their Developers"
In 2010 Intel bought McAfee, but the official renaming of the brand was not carried out this way - the antivirus is still called McAfee Internet security.
Indicators and overall rating of paid antiviruses 2016
For comparison with paid antiviruses and a more complete analysis of antiviruses 2016, below is provided table No. 2 "Overview of paid antiviruses 2016".
Among paid antiviruses, 4 antiviruses can be distinguished that received the highest scores for 3 indicators derived Independent Institute of IT Security - AV-Test in October 2015. Table #3 "Best Paid Antiviruses 2016".
Scores and overall rating of Free Antivirus 2016
Chart #1 "Real Time Security Test - October 2015"
According to the chart above, we are interested in companies who have all graph green, a red blocks— compromised attacks, when viruses got into the system — are minimal. orange blocks represent virus attacks, which depend on the decisions made by the user. If the user decides to continue without blocking a potentially dangerous file, then the computer may be infected.
orange lines represent the number of "false virus alerts".
Speed Test Data AV-Comparatives.Org
According to Schedule #2 "Speed Test - October 2015" above, the speed test data carried out by AV Comparatives.org shows deep Scan level of influence installed antivirus for computer operation. Computer speed is usually slower when antivirus is running. And how many specific resources the antivirus will “eat” is shown as a percentage in the table above, the numbers are indicated above the histogram columns.
Popularity of Antiviruses according to a survey on www.site
Since November 2013, the site has been running a survey among site visitors about which antivirus they use. You can see the result of the survey as of December 2015.
Table No. 7 "Number of Users who completed the Survey on the website www.site"
Rating of the Best Free Antivirus 2016
| № | Link | Antivirus | Protection | Speed | Convenience | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Everyone needs an anti-virus program on a computer now. There are more and more malware, and, often, they not only slow down your system, but can also steal personal data, data about credit cards, or encrypt documents, photo and video archives. No wonder users are wondering which antivirus is the best in 2016. I will review paid and free antivirus products.
Best Paid Antivirus 2016
Quite worthy product. In short, in addition to the actual anti-virus protection for Android, it also offers cleaning the system of garbage and extra files, speeding up the system by cleaning the RAM, optimizing energy saving, setting startup passwords certain applications, as well as protection against theft and loss of the phone. Highly functional program Plus, it's free too!
Grade Google users play— 4.6 points out of 5 possible. Personally, I put 5!
The PCMag portal tested all the popular solutions in the free antivirus category during 2016. This rating allows you to choose the best free antivirus for Windows protection computer
Antivirus vendors usually pay for the opportunity to participate in testing, because lab reports help improve products. The number of laboratories that include a particular product is primarily indicative of its importance. In any case, to test an antivirus, two conditions must be met: the laboratory must consider the product important enough, and the development company must be satisfied with the cost of participation. Laboratories are not required to test free products, but many vendors include full protection in free solutions, adding to paid products advanced features.
PCMag's own amateur tests
In addition to a thorough analysis of the results of laboratory tests, PCMag performs its own amateur testing of anti-virus products for blocking programs. Every antivirus faces a set of malware different kind, after which the reaction of the product to the threat is recorded. Typically, the antivirus removes most of the samples at once and detects a few more instances of malware when it tries to run. According to the results of the test, the product can receive from 0 to 10 points for blocking, depending on how well it protects the system from test threats.
The test collection has been in use for months, so the malware blocking test does not provide an indication of the ability of antiviruses to detect latest threats. A separate test attempts to download malware from network sources no more than a day old, provided by the MRG-Effitas laboratory. During the testing process, it is noted whether the product has blocked access to network location, cleared the malware payload during the download, or ignored the threat. Avira Free Antivirus received the highest score in this test, followed by McAfee and Symantec in the final table.
Useful Features
Each antivirus product in the collection scans files on access to prevent potential malware from running, and scans the system on demand or on a set schedule. Blocking access to malicious links - great way avoid trouble. Many products expand protection to prevent visits to fraudulent resources, phishing sites that try to steal your credentials. Some decisions assign a rating to results search results, marking suspicious and dangerous links.
Behavioral detection is featured in some of the products in the collection. On the one hand, this component can detect malware, which are unknown threats. On the other hand, behavioral analysis can lead to false positives to reliable programs.
One in a simple way for maximum protection computer is to install security updates for Windows, browsers and other popular programs. Windows 10 made updates mandatory for consumers, but it remains a large number of gaps in popular apps and plugins. Vulnerability scanning in the form of missed updates is a feature often found in commercial antivirus products. However, some free antiviruses have similar functionality.
Who is not ranked
This article contains information only about free antivirus solutions, which received at least a “good” rating from PCMag reviews. Among those products that did not make it into this rating- Windows Defender with 2.5 stars. Microsoft participates in the tests of all monitored antivirus laboratories, but only as basic protection. If the product cannot outperform a basic level of protection, it is not worth attention.
Avast Free Antivirus 2016 scores highly in independent lab tests and in PCMag's own tests, especially in the anti-phishing test. Additional functions, in particular new manager passwords and innovative router security check make the product excellent choice for free protection.
latest version AVG Antivirus Free is scoring high in independent lab tests, and it also performs well in its own amateur tests. AVG retains PCMag's Editors' Choice title in the free antivirus category.
Despite the fact that panda free Antivirus does not outperform the best commercial solutions, many paid antiviruses are inferior in efficiency. The product retains PCMag's Editors' Choice award in the freeware category. antivirus programs.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition (2014) remains invisible on your system until a threat is detected. Tiny main window and auto mode work is perfect for users who value simplicity, efficiency and unobtrusiveness.
ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 2016 combines powerful antivirus protection from Kaspersky with a high quality firewall. The product is an excellent choice for users who do not wish to install a comprehensive solution.
Undoubtedly one of the most important programs on the computer is an antivirus. Even one "accidentally" virus on a PC can make it impossible to work on it! In addition, it's "good" if the virus just shows ads, but there are viruses that can destroy dozens of files on a disk (which may have been worked on for more than one month).
About 10-15 years ago, the number of antiviruses was relatively small and the choice was limited to some dozen. Now there are hundreds of them!
In this article I want to focus on the most popular today (in my opinion). I think that for many this information will be useful for cleaning and protecting their home PCs. So…
10 best antivirus software 2016 to protect your computer
Website: www.malwarebytes.org/
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is not quite the antivirus that most users are used to. This program (in my opinion) is more suitable as an addition to the main antivirus, but nevertheless, it will help to do one important job!
Most antiviruses are bad (according to at least yet) finds and removes various adware that are often embedded in browsers (for example). Because of this, you begin to have various advertising windows, teasers, banners (sometimes from adult sites), etc. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will quickly and easily clean your PC from such "garbage".
2) Advanced System Care Ultimate
Website: ru.iobit.com/advanced-systemcare-antivirus/
It seems to me that many users are often dissatisfied with one “quality” of most antiviruses - they slow down the computer ... So, in this regard, the Advanced product is very interesting SystemCare Ultimate- antivirus with built-in programs for optimizing, cleaning and speeding up Windows.
The antivirus, I must tell you, is quite reliable (BitDefender technologies are used) + the program's own algorithms. Protects PC from: spyware, Trojans, dangerous scripts, provides safe work with payment systems on the Internet (relevant, especially in recent times with the development of Internet banking).
By the way, the program is compatible with many antiviruses (that is, it can be installed in addition to provide additional protection). I recommend to try an interesting idea of the developers.
3) Avast 2015 Free
Website: www.avast.ru/index
One of the best free antivirus. Every year it is gaining more and more popularity. The advantages of antivirus are obvious:
- one of the best algorithms to search and detect viruses (even those that are not yet known to the antivirus and are not included in the update databases);
- support for all popular Windows operating systems (including Windows 10);
- low system requirements to a PC (works fast enough even on older machines);
- fully functional free version of the antivirus.
Website: www.avg.com/ru-ru/free-antivirus-download
A very, very good antivirus, which, by the way, has won many awards. There is a free version available that can cover the needs of most users. Judge for yourself, complete free version: antivirus (protects in real time from viruses, spyware, etc.), a complex for protecting against dangerous links on the Internet, as well as a complex for protecting e-mail.
By the way, the antivirus can be installed not only on a laptop (computer), but also on a phone! In general, the antivirus is very worthy, protecting the PC well (while working fast enough)!
5) Bitdefender Antivirus
Website: www.bitdefender.com/
A very famous antivirus that provides comprehensive protection computer: antivirus, firewall, software package enhanced protection personal data. By the way, in many independent ratings this antivirus is on the top lines.
Among the features of this antivirus, I can highlight the following:
- protection of everything and everything (the user, in practice, can not be distracted by thoughts about protecting the PC - the program itself knows everything: what, where and when to block ...);
- low consumption of system resources (for example, 100-200 MB random access memory when working in Windows 10 with documents);
- convenient and intuitive interface.
6) Avira Free 2015
Website: www.avira.com/ru/avira-free-antivirus
The most famous German-made antivirus (“umbrella”, “red umbrella”, as many in our country called it). Provides a good degree of PC protection (by the way, virus search and detection algorithms are among the best among programs of this kind), high performance(I remember that 5-6 years ago I recommended installing this antivirus even on budget laptops),
- Russian language support;
- support for all popular Windows OS: XP, 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits);
- low system requirements;
- excellent algorithms for searching and detecting viruses and potential threats for PCs;
- user-friendly interface (everything unnecessary is hidden from beginners, but nevertheless accessible to experienced users).
7) Kaspersky Anti-Virus
Website: www.kaspersky.com/antivirus
I'm not afraid to say that Kaspersky Anti-Virus is the most famous and popular antivirus in the post-Soviet space. It is very, very good at finding and eliminating most of the threats that you may encounter when working on a PC. The number of products is very diverse: there are options for installing both the most common antivirus and complex version programs: firewall, antivirus, mail, Internet protection complex, etc.
By choosing this antivirus, you will reliably protect your PC. By the way, I personally do not recommend putting it on weak computers(antivirus, quite demanding on resources). Perhaps there is nothing more to comment here ...
8) Dr. Web
Website: www.drweb.ru/?lng=ru
One of best antiviruses in terms of search and discovery unknown viruses(i.e. the heuristic analysis in the program is so advanced - that thanks to it, this antivirus finds dangerous files, even if in anti-virus databases oh, there is no such threat yet).
Dr.Web also has one wonderful utility - Dr.Web Cureit (which does not need to be installed)! Thanks to it, you can quickly scan your computer for all sorts of threats (you just need to download and run it).
9) Comodo Antivirus
Website: antivirus.comodo.com/
What captivates in this antivirus is that, in addition to the “normal” antivirus databases, it has built-in databases for searching and detecting various adware (which is very popular lately). If you want to protect your browsers and Internet programs from different kind banners (which often appear so intrusively on the floor of the screen ...) - I recommend trying Antivirus Comodo(especially since the program is free).
In addition, it should be noted good level detection of various types of threats, blocking dangerous sites, fairly good speed and average requirements for system resources(although some users are unhappy with the speed of the program on weak machines).
10) 360 Internet Security
Website: www.360totalsecurity.com/
A very interesting free antivirus that is rapidly gaining popularity. In addition to the built-in antivirus, there are functions for eliminating some vulnerabilities in Windows, functions for installing patches and fixes, optimizing and speeding up the system, cleaning the PC of "garbage" (unnecessary and temporary files).
Many tests show that this antivirus not inferior paid analogues. I recommend it to absolutely all users.
