I'm thinking of trying one of the free antivirus programs, and it seems that the most popular names that keep cropping up would be Avira & Avast. I was just wondering which of the 2 is the best, from people who have had experience in using either or both of them. They both sound very good. I just need to make up my mind.
Cheers.

Howdy,

You are going to hear opinions (good and bad) for both. Both are good but the best will be what works best for you and your machine. I personally like and use Avira. Try out both of them and then you can decide which is best for you.

I have used them both at different times.
If you have a dialup connection Avira can be a pain with larger updates. It does have better detection rates though..
You will find that each program has it's strengths. You would be better off trying them one at a time and seeing what you prefer.

Hi, I've used and like them both. The free version of Avira can be a pain to update sometimes, the paid version doesn't have this problem. As etilearsina has mentioned, Avira does have the better detection rates.

The free version of Avast is the most complete free AV available. It is very comparable to it's paid version. It has many different shields which can be turned on or off depending on your needs. Although I'm using a paid version of Avira now, I would have no problem going back to the free version of Avast.

innerpeace

Avast includes anti-spyware. Avira-free does not. Avast will do a boot-up scan. Avira won't. Avira-free is lighter than Avast. Avira-paid versions have better detection rates than Avast.

Neck-&-neck as they round the clubhouse turn -- in other words: try them both & pick the one that your computer likes better than the other. You won't go wrong either way.

Thanks guys for your replies. I think looking at the suggestions, and also on other forums, I'm going to have to try them both, and see which I prefer. They both seem to have positives and negatives, and users seem fairly split on which they prefer.
It looks like Avast maybe the most user friendly, and have a few more items included than Avira, but it also sounds like Avira has the better detection rates and doesn't slow the computer down as much.
I'll definitley give both a try, and let you know when I've tried them, which one I'm going to go with.
Cheers.

I have not tried Avira but have used Avast both free and paid versions for over a year now and have found it ideal for my needs. The only other point I can make is that Avast has an excellent user forum where you quickly receive good sound advice should you encounter any problems.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php

I used Avast for a year and had no problems until I changed ISPs, then my PC would take 6+ minutes to boot up! I whiched to Avira and my boot up returned to a little over a minute. Must have been caused by Avast's memory scan, but why...I don't know.