I've used the free versions of both AVG and Norton antivirus (more AVG than Norton) and they have been pretty good for day-to-day use as far as I can tell, but since I got the paid version of VIPRE (not even sure if they have a free version) I feel a lot safer. Maybe it's just the 'you get what you pay for' learning experiences I've had, but there it is.
Being that the free versions are basically there to get you to upgrade/buy the paid version, you'd think that they would be reliable enough in design to get you to WANT the paid version. But they can't be too good because the paid versions might start to lose their appeal and everyone would just stick with free. So I would assume they give you the bare-bones of the antivirus without too many perks (also with lots of reminders on just how great the perks are that your cheap/broke ass is missing out on) and maybe a little less protection against your own stupidity.
So maybe you know it's working because you have been watching days worth of porn without a blue screen, but you have 50 toolbars because you didn't bother to read anything beside the little checked boxes on the installer of the program you're trying to download. All those toolbars and 'COOL MOUSE POINTER FREE DOWNLOAD NOW!' can add up pretty quick, and more than likely some of them are going to be mildly malicious (Adware or spam for example). And guess what? You just approved that spam because if you approve the installation for the main product (which might not be malicious) then the spam is being hocked by that product by a piggy-back installation is approved by association or by simply hitting 'accept' and 'next' every time you see those words.
I think that as long as the people who would be using the computer know how to spot and avoid the danger-zones, you should be fine with a free version. If you have kids anywhere near the thing, set up parental controls, and most importantly BLOCK THEM FROM DOWNLOADING ANYTHING! If they want a program, make them come get you to install it. I had a 6 year-old trash my computer in a matter of hours because all those flashy ads and promises of free **** look pretty damn good to a kid. He wanted to play Webkinz, so we logged on to an account (administrative not even thinking about it) and got him on the website and left him alone. He's on Webkinz all the time so he knows how to use it better than us. He shouldn't need any help. This was my not-so-techy parent's account so they apparently didn't notice the half foot of toolbars at the top of their browser and constant popups for **** that no one knew what it was, so it was ignored. SIX ******N TROJAN VIRUSES. SIX! He had to have been looking for the things. I'm pretty sure we even had paid AVG at that time.
To the best of my knowledge, you usually need to physically download, click, view, or interact with something to get a virus, so knowing what you are doing is just as important as what kind of antivirus you have. Just try to download programs that are widely used and easily verifiable as authentic and trustworthy and scan any mp3s or torrents you download ASAP. I'm pretty sure my grandfather is the only person left on the planet who thinks ads are harmless and that if he sees something he likes he should immediately click it to find out more so I wont get into that.
So I have a couple recommendations. If the internet is telling you nice things and that makes you want to, or they ask you, to click something, ****ing don't. Scan things you download or run a scan after a day of downloading music or whatever. Read some reviews on different antivirus and see if you can figure out where all this would fit into your situation (that's how I ended up with VIPRE. It had some good reviews and some of them said it's the best all-around antivirus). If kids (or certain adults) are going to be using the computer, scan it all the time and make sure it stays updated.
Well, that's pretty much all I can think of at the moment. If anything I've said doesn't make sense or I am mistaken, excuse me, I'm exhausted and practically brain-dead right now. Hope this at least gave you some things to think about.
