When I recently grew discouraged with the popular Windows anti-virus program AVG and considered the alternatives, little did I know that an overview was coming of the free anti-virus programs.

According to this review, I’m not the only one who’s found AVG doesn’t that good a job anymore. I’m also pleased to report that this crew, who did a much more scientific study than I did, agrees with me that if you want a good, free A/V (anti-virus) program, you want Avira.

Now, if Avira would only kill their daily pop-up ad, I’d be happy. It’s not that I begrudge them looking for customers, it’s just that, well, it’s one honking, big pop-up ad. And, as Erik Larkin of PC World points out in his review of A/V software even its paid interface is a bit daunting for non-techie sorts. On the other hand, it delivers the best protection out there so I can live with ads and a hardcore techie front-end.

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