The Best Free Anti Virus Software for Windows

We all know that we should be running an anti virus program of some sort with all the malware floating around the internet today.  There are some great, free, downloadable anti virus programs out there that rival or even exceed the performance of the mainstream programs.  And, since they are free, there's no reason why you can't run two anti virus programs on your system, and we all love free software.

Avira anti virus personal edition:  This is one of the best available, extremely light on system resourses and detection capabilities.  Doesn't include any email scanning or spyware protection, so run adaware in conjunction with this.

 Avast home edition:  This is great for the average user with a wierd, media player style interface.  This has anti rootkit and anti spyware capabilities and is very light on system resourses so it's great for online gamers.

 AVG anti virus:  I've been using this one for years, and it's constantly been updated and improved.  This one is slow and quite heavy on system resources but it gets regular updates and includes anti spyware, phishing and email scam protection as well.  If you don't do any gaming, go for this one. 

Adaware personal edition:  Another program i've been using for years.  This one specifically searches for spyware on your system and has no anti virus module.  A great adjunct to use with any of the other anti virus programs.

ClamWin:  This is another free, downloadable anti virus program.  It's open source and light on system resources.  It does NOT have a real time scanner though, you'll need to schedule scans. 

Spyware Blaster:  This isn't technically an anti virus program, but it's incredibly useful and you should run it.  This one detects browser hijacking, you know, when you open up internet explorer and it always goes to some page that you don't want it to.  Also has anti spyware built in.  A great one to run! 

Instead of going out and buying the bloated mainstream anti virus programs out there, I would highly suggest trying a few of these free, downloadable anti virus programs.