WHICH is the best antivirus program for windows 7 which don't cause BSOD???

A long time AVG user here, I abandoned their products shortly after the release of version 8.0. Their redesign was nice, but resource usage shot through the roof while detection rates plummeted through the floor. Unfortunately, it's remained this way ever since. Their antivirus and internet security products are both huge resource hogs, which when compared to other suites, make the price and impact unjustifiable for running on any of my systems - what I mean is there's other, full-featured suites which pack a lot more into a package with a much smaller footprint on system resources.
Believe me, I am an avid ex-AVG fan and still beta test their new products, in hope that they have improved vastly. Just last week I tested AVG 2013, and am disappointed to say it still eats resources and performs like a fat man eating donuts - sluggish, slow, and arguably inefficiently.

avast! on the other hand - lighter system impact, and I admire it articulating to me when the virus database has been updated.

However, I stick with MSE all the time now. It's got practically no impact on performance and great detection rates. With it now integrated with Windows 8, I really don't ever see the need for another antivirus program. I may still use COMODO Firewall in the future though.

Originally Posted by poorguy

hey all, just thought i would report back on my experience with avg 2012 free, day 3 and all is well. i have been to sites i know have viruses and so far no infections, it has blocked everything that it ran into. nothing has passed through. no malware or viruses. i don't know where all the complaints have came that i have read about but so far it is as good as mse which i also use. i will say that it does have alot of useless crap they want to sell but it is free and seems to work very well as it always has in the past. it also doesn't slow my pc down at all. dell dimension 4600 p4 2.8ghz/800mhz fsb/3.0gb ddr 400mhz ram/bfg geforce 128mb 8x graphics card. any way i am happy so far and it is just my own personal test for me. i to like to have something else reliable to fall back on. thanks for the space. poorguy

Good to know... and yes, I am using AVG IS Suite (paid version), yes I do concur that it did come with a lot of useless crap.

However, (as stated before in previous posts) just disable the internet/YouTube accelerator.

Originally Posted by Mitchell_A

A long time AVG user here, I abandoned their products shortly after the release of version 8.0. Their redesign was nice, but resource usage shot through the roof while detection rates plummeted through the floor. Unfortunately, it's remained this way ever since. Their antivirus and internet security products are both huge resource hogs, which when compared to other suites, make the price and impact unjustifiable for running on any of my systems - what I mean is there's other, full-featured suites which pack a lot more into a package with a much smaller footprint on system resources.
Believe me, I am an avid ex-AVG fan and still beta test their new products, in hope that they have improved vastly. Just last week I tested AVG 2013, and am disappointed to say it still eats resources and performs like a fat man eating donuts - sluggish, slow, and arguably inefficiently.

avast! on the other hand - lighter system impact, and I admire it articulating to me when the virus database has been updated.
hey all, i have not noticed any real resources being used with my current avg 2012 free version. i am running old hardware 12 year old dell box p4. no slow downs at all and i have to say so far i am as happy with avg free as i am with mse. can't complain they are both g
However, I stick with MSE all the time now. It's got practically no impact on performance and great detection rates. With it now integrated with Windows 8, I really don't ever see the need for another antivirus program. I may still use COMODO Firewall in the future though.

hey all, no noticeable slow downs on this 12 year old box w7 pro os. avg 2012 in my opinion is as good as mse. hell both are free. no problems no real complaints. we'll see what we think in a few more months runnig it. as of now i am very happy with it. thanks poorguy

I had the same kind of resource eating problem with PC Tools AntiVirus Free, it almost froze my system, with CPU usage going up and down from 100%!

PC Tools however has a program I've used for years, just noticed I don't have it installed in my new build: ThreatFire, ThreatFire AntiVirus - Behavioral Virus and Spyware Protection. It worked very well, although I can't remember any scans producing any results. Of course the program declared having "done this and that" but I guess that's in the line with Heaven only knows.​ Any thoughts / experiences about ThreatFire? Worth having, or plain nonsense?

EDIT: Can't really go up from 100%...

Sorry, all my years in IT & am not familiar w/ ThreatFire. I do know it's worth having MSE in Win7 ... additionally, Malwarebytes is always good to run periodically or if, suspicious of something.

I went & did some research regarding ThreatFire. Because of how MSE works, the addition of ThreatFire is not needed.

Cheers,
Drew

hey all, still using avg free antivirus 2012 and all is still good. it has blocked several bad sites and i have not experienced any slow downs in my performance. scans are fast and have no problems. i don't know where all of these horror stories come from that i have read so much about with avg free antivirus 2012. will continue to use and see what happens. this is just my own personal test to see what i think of this software and only my opinion. thanks. poorguy

i used avg for years, right up to avg 2012, tried microsoft security essentials, much better

Originally Posted by kurteb

i used avg for years, right up to avg 2012, tried microsoft security essentials, much better

hey all, i to also use mse and i also think it is good. i have it installed on my other desktops. i am just doing this because of all the bad that i have read about. i have tried most of the free antivirus and they all seem to work for basic protection. can't say anything bad about any of them as they are free. thanks. poorguy

Originally Posted by poorguy

hey all, i to also use mse and i also think it is good. i have it installed on my other desktops. i am just doing this because of all the bad that i have read about. i have tried most of the free antivirus and they all seem to work for basic protection. can't say anything bad about any of them as they are free. thanks. poorguy

yes, freeware rules! i use mse, ADS Spy, malwarebyte's antimalware, wise registry cleaner 7 and ccleaner, all free, all good. for antivirus, why bother with anything else, i mean, it's free, doesn't bother you to upgrade to a pay version, it's windows software

Originally Posted by kurteb

yes, freeware rules! i use mse, ADS Spy, malwarebyte's antimalware, wise registry cleaner 7 and ccleaner, all free, all good. for antivirus, why bother with anything else, i mean, it's free, doesn't bother you to upgrade to a pay version, it's windows software

hey all, i agree, freeware does rule i use some of what you mentioned and no complaints. it all good. thanks. poorguy