What’s the best free antispyware and antivirus programs for PCs?

[MetalMedal II]

Just got the wife a new laptop with Windows 8 to replace the one w a cracked screen and wanted to know what others used for antispyware? I use Avast for antivirus which seems to hold up with the others.

As far as antispyware goes, I seem to get a bunch of trackers when generally surfing. Currrently, I use SUPERantispyware, SpywareBlaster, Spybot - Search and Destroy and more recently a trial of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Do people have better success with others…or are you all drones of Steve Jobs!

I’ll take advice on better web browsers as well. I’m a bit dated using chrome and sometimes IE for sites that don’t support chrome.

[Newc]

I use Spybot S&D and avast only. Probably not worth it at this point

[Codex]

MS Security essentials. I think it's already built into 8 though, but I'm not positive.

[Grim]

Antivirus == Anti Spyware == Antimalware

I use Chrome and Kaspersky for antimalware (not free)

[toejam]

I use avast and love it. I used the free version for many years, but I've been using the paid version for the past two years now. I also use ccleaner to clean everything up. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[Cygnus X1]

Spybot and AVG here.
Zero issues in many years.
Still running Vista 64..

I knock the webs out of my PC every year with compressed air.

[rjohnstone]

If she's on Windows 8, don't bother with third party software.
Security Essentials comes built in and is set to update automatically right out of the box.
That's all I've been running on my daily driver PC at home since Win 8 came out. Never had any issues.
I do use Firefox, although IE 10 is pretty slick.

Hell, that's all I use on my other Windows 7 boxes.

The third party crap tends to eat resources like crack.
McAfee is one of the worst offenders.

[thebigz]

I'll echo the Security Essentials bit - thats all I've used on my computer, my mom's computer, my brother's computer and everyone else in the family for years and nobody has ever had a problem. Most are not that computer savvy, and have previously got themselves into virus/spyware trouble.

[dvscool]

I'll echo the Security Essentials bit - thats all I've used on my computer, my mom's computer, my brother's computer and everyone else in the family for years and nobody has ever had a problem. Most are not that computer savvy, and have previously got themselves into virus/spyware trouble.

+1

[Scooter]

Spybot and AVG here.
Zero issues in many years.
Still running Vista 64..

I knock the webs out of my PC every year with compressed air.

Same here!

[Nuclear Vampire]

yup, Win8 comes with all you need and just like mentioned above, it doesn't eat up all your resources.

[MetalMedal II]

Thanks for all the replies. Security Essentials, eh? Looks like I may have to try that one out. Yes, I think it came w the computer but I uninstalled it when I put in Avast, but I think it’s pretty easy to download again. Does this program have a multi-tiered service with a free and pay portions like Avast? And it sounds like SE is the only program that is used, that is, not in conjunction with others?

And if it’s good with Windows 7, I should probably use with my own laptop and home PC. I do find them slowing down a bit, moreso than they should. I don’t game, just have multiple web pages and some Office programs open. When I update the files and run the SUPERantispyware program, it usually finds between 50 and 200 adware tracking cookies, sometimes more if it’s been awhile. I guess this means the programs I’ve been using are not doing their job?

My home PC has got some adware/spamware/Trojan in its clutches that I can’t shake. I didn’t realize it until I noticed certain words in JCF threads were clickable links as advertisements. I’ve seen this tactic used in other forums and thought maybe the JCF used this as an additional method to raise funds, but noticed my laptop or work PC did not show these! I’m not sure the exact name of this program, but it might be facemood or something spelled similarly that the Spybot program found but couldn’t expunge. It’s damn annoying and the computer slows down something fierce too.

[Cygnus X1]

Adblocker Plus.

[len]

Comodo anti virus is about as bad ass as it comes ... besides being one of the best AV's out there it also modifies you DNS settings so all web queries go through thier name servers (you can set DNS manually to 8.26.56.26 and 8.20.247.20 ) all known (to them) ~suspect sites ~ are essentially blocked.
http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-.../antivirus.php

[thebigz]

Thanks for all the replies. Security Essentials, eh? Looks like I may have to try that one out. Yes, I think it came w the computer but I uninstalled it when I put in Avast, but I think it’s pretty easy to download again. Does this program have a multi-tiered service with a free and pay portions like Avast? And it sounds like SE is the only program that is used, that is, not in conjunction with others?

And if it’s good with Windows 7, I should probably use with my own laptop and home PC. I do find them slowing down a bit, moreso than they should. I don’t game, just have multiple web pages and some Office programs open. When I update the files and run the SUPERantispyware program, it usually finds between 50 and 200 adware tracking cookies, sometimes more if it’s been awhile. I guess this means the programs I’ve been using are not doing their job?

My home PC has got some adware/spamware/Trojan in its clutches that I can’t shake. I didn’t realize it until I noticed certain words in JCF threads were clickable links as advertisements. I’ve seen this tactic used in other forums and thought maybe the JCF used this as an additional method to raise funds, but noticed my laptop or work PC did not show these! I’m not sure the exact name of this program, but it might be facemood or something spelled similarly that the Spybot program found but couldn’t expunge. It’s damn annoying and the computer slows down something fierce too.

Yep, just security essestials. It isn't tiered with free/pay services. And as was noted, adblock+ will go a long way to help not click on bad links