Have you ever thought about what to look for when comparing two powerful freeware antivirus programs? Do you check their scanning capabilities or their effectiveness so as to know which one is superior? Well, many factors come in handy when doing antivirus comparisons. However, here are some things you might want to know when comparing avira Vs Avast.

When you talk of Avast you are talking of a stable antivirus program with reliable and effective support system. The antivirus is also easy to install and configure and as such, easy to ensure that its operation is smooth and reliable. Avast has also become famous for its effective antirootkit and antispyware feature and has proved itself on the platform of E-mail scanning.

On the other hand, Avira has always been ranked in the first position when it comes to efficiency in detection of viruses among freeware virus programs. This is because it has a heuristic detection technology that is unique to itself and better at detecting Trojans than avast. The heuristic technology also allows it to detect viruses that have similar code and thus has no relieance in the virus definition database for its functionality. However, unlike Avast, the free version of Avira has no capacity to scan e-mails.

Those who have used avast before say that it is easier to configure than avira. Avast freeware also has a similar cleaning engine as the professional version and is considered by many of its users to be more stable than Avira. It is also seen to blend into the other programs more easily than Avira. Avast has also come to be known to offer good support and its updates are way faster and more frequent than those of Avira.

However, Avast has weaker Trojan detection capabilities than Avira which in turn, according to those who have used many freeware virus programs, has the best Trojan detection. Also, Avira takes in less resources than Avast though as stated, most of the times its updates are either slow or not working. Avira users claim therefore that it is the perfect freeware antivirus solution to the computer viruses problem.

The two antiviruses can issue false positive alerts on viruses though Avast has more error than avira when it comes to this. However, the joy of using avast is that you will not experience as many annoying popup updates as those present in Avira.

Avast has also been seen to have the capability to offer a computer user with more real-time protection than Avira. This is because of its anti spam filter and its inbuilt firewall that gives it greater real time protection than that present in Avira. However, you should know that Avira has a faster scan time than Avira and thus is an excellent tool for quick scans although avast which although slightly slower, offers greater protection against worms and malware than Avira.

Avast is a heavy consumer of computer resources than Avira and that is the reason as to why it runs slower and will often slow your machine since it uses more resources than Avira which on the other hand is light and faster. However, Avira has a confusing interface and so many prompts on what to do when it detects a virus.

Those who have had a taste of the two antiviruses before will often say that Avira seems to have a better and effective scanning capability than avast and will often identify more worms and Trojans than Avast. However, Avast is also superior when it comes to firewall protection and goes a great deal in protecting your computer from the Internet attacks, scams and phising.

Because avira has been in use for over twenty years it is seen by many to be more stable and more reliable than Avast. There are some systems in which Avast are slower than Avira and Vice versa though generally, Avira takes less space on any system than Avast.

In conclusion, it is good to note that even though both antivirus programs do not stop all the types of viruses and worms, they still possess the ability to remove a large amount of viruses from the computer system. At times, there are viruses that Avast can detect and prevent that Avira can’t detect and vice versa. Therefore, it is upon you to decide which of the two to use.

I’m panicking.

Ever since I removed the old Avast and downloaded new Avast (also tried Avira) into Download Files folder, then tried to run either Avast or Avira, a message displayed re: Can’t install due to corrupted files.

Antispywares such as Malbytes (or was it SAS) kept remaining “locked-up” and even CTL/ALT/DEL plus EndNow wouldn’t work. The only way I could shut the system would be to turn off the power on surge protector (even the power-off button failed to work).

So I tried Super AntiSpyware.
I downloaded the latest definitions from SAS.
SAS then picked up 4 Trojans & asked if I wish to quarantine the corrupted files (which were in the Windows system).
I chose YES. The corrupted files now in quarantine are:
(1) c:\windows\system32\lowsec
(2) ditto\lowsec\local.ds
(3) ditto\lowsec\user.ds
(4) ditto\lowsec\user.ds.lll

Ever since then, I had further problems.

First Win XP stating it cannot reinstall, and asking me if I want to restore system to the point prior to the problem.
I chose YES.

Ever since that, XP will not start up except in Safe Mode.
It won’t startup Normally (totally blank screen).

I don’t know what to do now.
I shiver at even the thought of complete reinstallation,since that’s always been a horrible ordeal for me, even when I was finally able to reach the Microsoft guy years ago to help walk me thru it. Just dealing with the various personnel until reaching someone halfway knowledgeable took hours and hours & endless sweat. I don’t want to go thru that again.

P.S. please bear with me. I’m on very slow dialup, and using my other [tiny thinkpad] computer which seems to be suffering chronically with very slow connection problems (i.e. the double-computer icon at lower right of screen is always chronically with a red-X (local area connection unplugged). I’ve no idea why, but maybe that’s why most of the time i have trouble getting connected on this comjputer.

Also note:
I’m in a Catch22 (or maybe catch33 or catch44) – like this:
I’m ill from EMF sensitivity due to overexposure in no small part due to slow dialup, but also many years before that of overexposure to EMFs of word processing on CRTs etc.
I missed the boat with getting good deal on DSL/broadband.
Verizon’s good deals of Dry Loop DSL / locked in for life / seem to be over.
Anyway, since my system was always so problematic, why should I have bothered with seeking broadband?
And why bother getting another system (like maybe Linux or whatever) if I don’t have broadband anyway, and I already got EMF illness due to very-slow dialup causing overexposure to computer EMFs?
I doubt anyone can relate to my Catch 44, but that’s how it is, and that’s why I’m always scrambling 1000 paces behind everyone else. There were other [personal] factors also distracting me from keeping up. It has built up to crisis proportions, since Internet by now seems to be a necessity vs. luxury, so i’m at wits end how best to extract myself & catch up with the world, without going broke.
EMPHASIS ONCE AGAIN:
I’d appreciate answer other than “clean reinstall”. Please see my original request, for further detail why.

Here is the comparison:

Toshiba Satellite
2.0 GHz centrino duo
4 GB of RAM
vs.
HP Mini 110
1.66 atom
1 GB of RAM

I can add more details if you need, so let me know in your answer if you want more specs to compare to. I realize that there will be a speed difference just because of the lack of specs in the netbook.
=================
I typically run
about 3 pages (with each about 5 tabs) of firefox windows
Microsoft Outlook
Digsby IM client
Rocket Dock
Several security programs: avast, windows defender, AVG, Avira, etc.
Microsoft Word
* every now and then:
iTunes
E-book sony store
paint.net
=================
Do you think that a netbook could handle my task just as well as my old laptop, or even better? Or if it is slower, is it slow enough to where I would be banging my head while I try to switch windows?

Luke
I am running a quick test now to see the RAM usage with a lot of these programs running.
Usually my laptop only uses 1.6 GB of ram though.
Here it is with all of those programs running at once: only about 2.1 GB…. I think I can find a netbook with that much RAM.

So I guess the main thing is the processor?

Is the free version of spyware/virus program such as avg, avast, or avira is better than the paid versions of webroot anti-virus and spyware (winner of top ten reviews)?

My school used to offer Symantec EndPoint Protection for free to students but it doesn’t anymore. I downloaded it before, but I realized that it does take up a lot of resources. Would it be worth it to download a different free antivirus software with the risk of not being able to get Symantec EPP back?

If so, which do you think is better: Avast, Avira, or AVG
any opinions on Avira?

Witch is better? Why?
What are the advantages/disadvantages?

pros and cons of each and what would you choose

which is better and why?/
and forget avg, i wipe my a*s with that crap!

Ok Which One Is Better , I Herd Avast is Good And Avira is Better Then Any Other Free Av’s I Herd Everything. I Really Want To Know Which OVERALL Is Better And For The Love THe God Dont Even Mention AVg . . . I Would like Some Advan/Disadv Comparing The 2. Im Talking About The Most Up To Date Free Versions Of Both. I Have the staller For Both Of Them I Just Need To Know Which One Will Get The Job Done And All That Fun Stuff. Thanks In Advance.