avast! 4 Home Edition www.avast.com (Windows)
Spiffy-looking avast! notifies you by e-mail or IM if it catches a virus. You can’t schedule scans, but its recovery database can help if a virus damages your files.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition free.grisoft.com (Windows)
Its control center is awkward, but AVG scans fi les on demand, upon access, on a schedule, and in e-mail. Its rescue disks will help you recover from disaster.
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic www.free-av.com (Windows)
AntiVir scans fi les on demand, upon access, and on a schedule; it doesn’t scan e-mail attachments until they’re saved, but it does go to work on rootkits. It’s especially good at coexisting with other security software. Like most good AV software, it has the Virus Bulletin’s VB100% award and certification for virus detection from ICSA Labs.
HijackThis www.trendsecure.com (Windows)
Run HijackThis, save a log, and then post the log on sites that support the program. You’ll quickly get personalized expert help to remove any malware.
NanoScan www.nanoscan.com (Windows | Web)
In less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs.
ThreatFire AntiVirus www.threatfire.com (Windows)
ThreatFire detects the bad guys by their behavior, not by outdated virus signatures. It’s surprisingly accurate and a good companion to standard antivirus apps.
Trend Micro HouseCall housecall.trendmicro.com (Windows | Web)
Use the venerable House-Call online scanner to get a second opinion, or use the app for cleanup when malware prevents installation of a local antivirus utility.
