Happy New Year everyone! Why spend $50 or more on anti virus software? Especially when these companies try tie you in for a subscription service. Here are some free alternatives as long as the software is intended for personal/home use only. If you are a Mac user, you really don't need anti virus. From my experience it is more of a resource intensive app and Macs are not really prone to viruses.
Remember that anti virus, like a firewall is only another layer of protection. They are not bullet proof. Pay attention to what you download and run in your computer! Use common sense and don't do anything from a site seems suspicious.
AVG Antivirus (no rootkit protection, but it installs a search protection plugin for IE and Firefox. Pretty good choice altogether)
Avira Antivirus (rootkit protection, but an Avira ad window pops up every time the program receives updates. This is the one I use.)
Avast Antivirus I have not tried this anti virus, but you have to register before 60 days and then you receive a one year license.
If you attend college, find out through the IT center of your school if they have a campus site license. Schools usually purchase it this way so that any student, faculty, and staff can download it.
