Free Antivirus Software for Home Use
Robert Spotswood
If you're using Windows, you’d be foolish not to have anti-virus software.

At work you have an IT department to take care of it and pay for it. But home users are on their own. However, you don’t need to spend lots of money to get good anti-virus software. In fact, you don’t have to spend any money at all. Below are 9 anti-virus programs free for home use and suitable for everyday use.
Avast! (www.avast.com/): This software requires registration to keep working after 60 days. It also tends to be chatty, making use of your speakers to notify you of certain events.
Avira AntiVir (www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php): This software requires registration to keep working after a short period.
AVG (http://free.avg.com/): No registration required.
 Comodo Antivirus (http://antivirus.comodo.com/): This software is free even for commercial use.
CyberDefender Early Detection Center (www.cyberdefender.com/antivirus-products/products.html): The free version is ad-supported and the license agreement includes a clause that you must agree to a software audit at any time at the company's discretion. While free, there are other choices in this list that don't make you see ads or agree to audits.
Drivesentry (/): After 30 days, the free version of their software does not automatically update. You mwww.drivesentry.comust remember to do this by hand every day. As with CyberDefender, there are less annoying choices in this list.
Moon Secure (www.moonsecure.com/): This software is free even for commercial use and uses the ClamAV engine. Some people have reported problems where it will refuse to update while others have no problem with the updates.
PC Tools Antivirus (www.pctools.com/): While registration is optional, it is recommended. Otherwise your update download speed will be throttled.
Spyware Terminator (www.spywareterminator.com/): A third in the free-even-for-business-use category, this software was originally just anti-spyware. However, it includes the option to integrate the ClamAV engine, giving you anti-virus protection too.

Robert Spotswood, a HAL-PC member, is active in the Linux SIG and a freelance computer professional. He can be reached at robert@spotswood-computer.net.