Windows: Best Free Antivirus: Avira

I installed this in each of the three operating systems on this PC because the latest ratings information I'm finding says this is the best free antivirus available right now, and that it has detection on a par with many of the top commercial products.

After it is installed, it adds itself to Control Panel, so you'll always be able to find it if you forget that it's also in the Notifications panel on the taskbar. Its user interface isn't as fancy as some, but covers all the usual bases very well, and it works fine. You should try it. And speaking of the Notification area, here's what you get when you click on its icon in there.....(more icons to click on!).....

Here's its first full scan report, which took almost exactly two hours to complete.
I should add that this scan was of the complete computer, not just the partition on which this O/S is installed. There are three O/Ss and a backup section on here, and it did them all.

If you, like me, are concerned about it taking two hours to scan the whole drive with three operating systems on it, there's good news - you can activate an icon for the Desktop which will begin a quick scan of just the one partition that it is on, instead of that whole humungous procedure - and it really is quick.....

So that's the story on Avira Free Antivirus. It gets a very good rating, and there is a way to make it do quick scans. Now, I'm feeling much better about that. But I have one word of caution: if you are using a browser protection add-on, I do not advise activating the one provided by Avira. It works fine, but if you happen to have a blog like this, it will remove its sign-in button, and you'll have to go looking for another way to get onto your Blogger blog. There is one. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and look for the words "Powered by Blogger" and then click on the word 'Blogger'. That word is an active link to your sign-in page. And it's something else that Google hasn't told you about.

"How quick is "Quick"?" you ask. And the answer is, "About 27 seconds."