AntiVir vs AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

Weighted Point Evaluation Results

Criterion	Criterion’s Importance (Weight)	AntiVir	Anti-Virus Free Edition
Scanner	30%	70 x 30%=21	60 x 30%=18
Definition Files	10%	80 x 10%=8	80 x 10%=8
Support	20%	90 x 20%=18	60 x 20%=12
Ease of Use	40%	70 x 40%=28	80 x 40%=32
TOTALS	100%	75/100	70/100

Points range from 1 to 10

AntiVir

AntiVir meets all three critical cost criteria for a completely free virus scanner; the scanner itself is free and includes real-time virus monitoring, its virus definition files are updated regularly and are available for download, and technical support is free as well. In terms of capabilities, AntiVir detects and removes more than 80,000 viruses, Trojan horses, worms, backdoors, and other harmful programs; scans and repairs macro viruses; protects against previously unknown macro viruses; and also protects against previously unknown boot record viruses and master boot record viruses. Additional features include the resident Virus Guard for continuous monitoring of file downloads, uploads, and modifications; a Scheduler tool for scheduling virus scans on a regular basis; and an Internet Update Wizard for efficiently updating both the scanner itself and also virus definition updates. Updates are released quite frequently. The updates are the same for both the freeware and commercial AntiVir products, ensuring that even the free virus protection receive maximum protection without a large price tag associated with commercial products. In terms of support, AntiVir offers a Bulletin Board that provides support free of charge. AntiVir isn't the fastest virus scanner on the market, and its interface is not the most colorful. Another limitation with the scanner is that it doesn't feature an e-mail scanning agent that integrates with your e-mail client for automatically scanning incoming and outgoing e-mail. However, it will scan the attachments in your e-mail messages for viruses as soon as they're accessed or executed.

Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG (Anti-Virus Free Edition) meets all three critical cost criteria for a completely free virus scanner — the scanner itself is free and includes real-time virus monitoring, its virus definition files are updated regularly and are available for download without subscription, and technical support is free as well. In terms of features, AVG offers an E-mail Scanner for scanning and revealing viruses in your e-mail messages and attachments, an AVG Resident Shield for real-time virus monitoring and protection, an on-demand scanner for performing manual scans of drives, a Virus Vault for quarantining infected files, a scheduling utility for scheduling scans, and automatic update functionality for ensuring you stay current with the latest program updates and virus definition files. AVG's layout is intuitive enough to accommodate novice users and extensive enough to satisfy more advanced users. Support is the only real area where AVG suffers. AVG's free support is limited to a specially designed frequently asked questions interface for resolving common installation and maintenance issues. Support via e-mail is available but requires (at minimum) a one-year paid subscription or an upgrade to one of the professional editions.

Recommendation

From the Weighted Point Evaluation Results I recommend the AntiVir. Both of the antivirus programs are free, so both are good if you do not want to pay money for virus protection. AntiVir is better in my option since it offers you better support then Anti-Virus Free Edition. You need support for your products because customers have problems and need answers.