Best Free Anti-virus software

[Noobasaurus]

I recently figured out why my computer had been crashing and some other things. It's because my current anti-virus software, Kaspersky, isn't compatible with Windows 8.1. I should've stayed at 8 but I like some stuff about 8.1. Does anyone know of a free alternative anti-virus program?

[MileHighGuy]

I use avast! it seems to be doing its job pretty well.

[Marth8880]

Microsoft Security Essentials and avast! are both fantastic.

[Twilight_Warrior]

Definitely go Microsoft Security Essentials.

It's free, it's one of the best security programs on the market, and it updates automatically through Windows Update with the rest of the computer so you don't have to mess with it.

[Noobasaurus]

Thanks guys. Anyone know off the top of their head how to get to the list of programs that run at startup? I remember typing in something in the Start menu to get a giant list of running programs and things. It wasn't Task Manager or the Startup services there. Okay, so not just startup programs, but all of them that can run and are manual or automatic.

[Twilight_Warrior]

Type "msconfig" into the Start menu search. Should be a tab that says "Startup".

[Anakin]

I wonder that Kaspersky isn't compatible. I use GData (that's from Kaspersky) and this is compatible. Have you contacted the support about it??

[Noobasaurus]

Type "msconfig" into the Start menu search. Should be a tab that says "Startup".

I did that before and it was similar to the list that I wanted but not the same. The services tab is what I wanted and I finally remembered what it was called: services.msc. Thanks!

I wonder that Kaspersky isn't compatible. I use GData (that's from Kaspersky) and this is compatible. Have you contacted the support about it??

I haven't contacted support about it, but I've seen some forum topics on it and a lot of them say that KIS uses some sort of engine that doesn't like Win 8.1 for some reason.

I've turned off KIS for now and am using Windows Defender (AKA MSE). I feel vulnerable.

[the best]

The free version of Malwarebytes is one of the best. I use it for every computer tune-up I do for people who need it.

https://www.malwarebytes.org

And while we're on this topic, do you use CCleaner? It has always helped boost the speed of my computers either a little or a lot, and it also let's you view all your startup programs and add/remove them. There's a bunch more features too.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Feeling frisky? This website will let you download all that stuff everyone's mentioned and way more all in one installer (minus ccleaner) it's a pretty swell service if you ask me, though I'm in the business of dealing with a lot of tasks at once, so this website is a great timesaver for lot's and lot's of tedious setups. Still pretty cool even if it doesn't fit your alley.

https://ninite.com

[Anakin]

Type "msconfig" into the Start menu search. Should be a tab that says "Startup".

I did that before and it was similar to the list that I wanted but not the same. The services tab is what I wanted and I finally remembered what it was called: services.msc. Thanks!

I wonder that Kaspersky isn't compatible. I use GData (that's from Kaspersky) and this is compatible. Have you contacted the support about it??

I haven't contacted support about it, but I've seen some forum topics on it and a lot of them say that KIS uses some sort of engine that doesn't like Win 8.1 for some reason.

I've turned off KIS for now and am using Windows Defender (AKA MSE). I feel vulnerable.

i'd contact the support. I had problem with windows 7 sp1 and GData (everytime i started a game the pc crashed with bluescreen. it took me month to find out that GData causes the problem). I contacted them and after some weeks i got an update package from them. I installed and all worked fine.