Top 5 Best Antivirus Applications

Now that your computer is free of viruses (http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Clean-a-Computer-of-Viruses-and-Malware) you ask, "Well how do I prevent my computer from getting a virus in the future?" Just Download and install an Antivirus Application to protect your computer! Here I list my five favorites:

Featured in my last guide, http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Clean-a-Computer-of-Viruses-and-Malware, Malwarebytes ranks as number 1. It can remove many viruses, rootkits, and trojan horses other antivirus applications can't. Also, when you do a full scan, it really does a full scan- registry included. Database updates are released daily so you always have the latest definitions to detect new viruses. Malwarebytes supports Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 (32 bit and 64 bit).

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

This could really also be number 1 but for this article I put it as number 2. Avast has been around for a while, and for good reason. In addition to the regular antivirus, Avast! covers many aspects of your computer, such as email, firewall, and shopping or banking online. The Pro Version is not free, but it is well worth the cost.

Avast!: http://www.avast.com/index

Now it can't handle really heavy tasks, but the price of free is hard to beat. I personally use this along with Malwarebytes and everything is fine. It boasts Real-Time Protection, System Scanning and Cleaning, Rootkit Protection, and Protection against false positives. Personally this is only useful for "easy to medium" threats, as most viruses I have dealt with can disable Microsoft Security Essentials in a blink of an eye. Also, just today I had multiple viruses get out of quarantine and come back to infect my computer. Overall I give this a 3/5 rating.

Microsoft Security Essentials: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx

NOD32 is quite popular due to having a low number of false positives and a high rate of early detection thanks to their community-sourced ThreatSense detection system. Installation is very clean and straightforward; and NOD32 does not use much system resources like other antivirus applications.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus: http://www.eset.com/us/home

Avira features dependable antivirus scanning and protection from malware and rootkits. In addition to the free antivirus software, Avira also offers a Linux Live CD recovery disc loaded with Avira and other free system recovery tools if you can't get rid of the virus from Windows. Upgrade to Premium to get access to a full security suite including Avira Guard, AHeADTechnology, and MailGuard.

Avira: http://www.avira.com/en/index

Some other good antivirus software is AVG (http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free), Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition (http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/), and Norton Antivirus 2011 (http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp)