7 Free Antivirus Programs to Protect Your Netbook

Like any other personal computer netbooks are vulnerable to a wide array of malicious and disruptive programs encountered while utilizing the Web. Trojans, viruses, and other types of malware seriously degrade system performance and put your data at risk of being lost or stolen, and that’s a headache none of us need. However the streamlined system specifications of most netbooks make choosing an antivirus a slightly challenging task. Full-power programs intended for PCs will use too many resources and leave you little better off than the viruses would have. On the other hand, you do still want to know you’re getting good quality and not wasting your time.

Fortunately, there are a number of anti-virus and cleanup applications targeted to the netbook user in particular, with an eye toward efficient use of system resources. Even better, many of these applications are available free of charge.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG has become one of the most popular free security suites since its launch. Essentially a slimmed down version of the subscription package, the Free Edition does still offer the most important features. AVG Free can protect your netbook against adware, spyware, and viruses with very little impact on system resources. The usual peripheral tools are also available, such as setting a regular time for scans, or the order in which you want drives and devices scanned. This version’s efficiency does mean that it must omit email and im protection, as well as safe download features from the full version, but by and large AVG offers solid up front performance.

Avast!

Specifically intended for the noncommercial home user, Avast is also a popular choice for netbook antivirus. The site boasts that over 100 million users have registered Avast for their computers, putting the user in good company. In addition to the same features offered by AVG, Avast includes email and chat protection as well. Users must complete a registration form during their initial trial to get a full year of Avast service for free.

Microsoft Security Essentials (formerly Morro)

Replacing their previous security services is Microsoft’s new MSE. A freeware security suite, MSE has been released to initially very positive reviews. It is compact, quick to install, and easy to update. It provides protection against all types of malware, and checks for updates three times a day. It does adjust your windows updater settings when installed, so be aware if you want to change them back. Also, it only works with a genuine copy of Windows, so again be aware before you install.

Avira AntiVir

Another well-known name in free malware protection, AntiVir offers a limited number of services but works efficiently on lower resource machines. It offers protection from rootkits, phishing, and viruses, but neglects email or chat protections.

Immunet

Immunet is an interesting change from the previously mentioned security programs in that it is a cloud-based system. It doesn’t download definitions to your machine, but rather gathers relevant information from the web during a portential scan. This limits the amount of resources your security suite has to take up, while offering all the traditional protections an antivirus or security suite comes with.

Panda Cloud Antivirus

Another off-site/cloud option, Panda has a massive userbase updating and referencing the protection files. It’s one of the more popular cloud-based choices, and as with all such options offers excellent performance for minimal system impact, taking up a small amount of space and very little CPU capacity during a scan.

AdAware

Lavasoft’s AdAware is a more limited option out of the security suites available for free, but a more targeted one as well. Focusing exclusively on spy and adware malware, AdAware can be installed in a much smaller space than a more comprehensive suite, and runs more efficiently. This is the option for those whose machine came with a native anti-virus that they’re comfortable with, but that they want to supplement with malware security.