After installing Windows on any computer the first software that I install is the Antivirus. It totally depends upon the user which security software they would like to get installed on their PC and also depends upon the system configuration of the computer. There are so many Antivirus developers in the market and its always a hot topic for debate which one is the best among them ? Different people have different choices and its really hard to answer the question.
I have been working in the technical support industry for around 4 years, giving tech support to home users. Mostly people call for virus issues or other issues resulted because of a virus infection. I have seen that many people are aware of only AVG, Avast, Norton & Mcafee and when I tell them about security vendors like Kaspersky, Bitdefender, Emsisoft, Zone Alarm and ESET, their reaction is like :O, they never heard of all these.
Its not only about home users whenever I go to the computer market to shop for any hardware, I have seen most of the shopkeepers selling or telling about Norton and Mcafee. In many branded computers as well you will get the trial version of these security softwares, may be they have a good marketing team in compare to others.
I have been thinking for a long time to check which Antivirus`s website has the highest traffic using Alexa as I was curious to know the popularity of different security vendors. I checked many developer`s websites and now sharing the Top 10 Antivirus based on the traffic on their website. These rankings are just based on the traffic and not based on the detection rate of the software. Different Antivirus vendors have many other products as well like PC Tuneup, Registry Cleaner etc because of which they get bonus traffic as well. So here we go
1)
AVG is the number one antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 86 that you can check here. It is also the second most downloaded free AV according to the download website. I remember when the first time I heard about the software back in 2000, it was the most recommended software around me.
2)
Avast is the number two antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 826 that you can check here. It is also the most downloaded free AV according to the download website and one of the oldest antivirus developer. I have used this security a lot when I was a free antivirus user and recommended this software to many. Even today if someone asks about any free av, I recommend the same.
3)
Norton is the number three antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 1174 that you can check here. I got it installed in my first Compaq desktop as a trial software and used it for a while after that also I have used this software many times and once was impressed when it detected a famous undetectable keylogger while other could not. I must say at one time it was my favorite security software in terms of look and GUI, however it is not at all relevant when we talk about security softwares but can be a deciding factor for those who doesnt know anything about security softwares and go to market to buy one. If there are 20 products showing up they will likely to choose this one because of the appealing color of the box.
4)
McAfee is the number four antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 1258 that you can check here. It was my second security software after Norton and have seen it preinstalled as a trial in many new branded computers. I like the McAfee SiteAdvisor which was also a part of my post Essential Browser Add-ons. Last year it was acquired by Intel, I hope in the upcoming years they will increase their market share a lot as well as the detection rate.
5 )
Kaspersky is the number five antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 2056 that you can check here. It is the most recommended paid antivirus by me to anyone. We have also arranged few giveaways of Kaspersky here. I have been using this security for quite a long time in many of my computers that I own and maintain. Its older version used to make a cracking sound on any malware detection, I liked the sound but it could be dangerous for new born babies or older people, may be for the same reason they removed it from their later versions. In my country earlier people rarely knew about this, few months back when Kaspersky selected Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador then people came to know that there is an Antivirus by this name as well.
6)
Avira is on number six in terms of global traffic rank 2463 that you can check here. It is also the third most downloaded free AV according to the download website.It is one of the oldest antivirus developer but surprisingly in my country it is not that much famous like Avast & AVG even though they have a free product as well.
7)
Comodo is on number seven in terms of global traffic rank 3582 that you can check here. It was surprising for me to see Comodo at number 7 initially but later on I realized that they have other products as well like System Cleaner. They have many other interesting and useful products as well that I will test and post here.
8 )
ESET holds the number eight position in terms of global traffic rank 4537 that you can check here. I remember it was always a hot topic on Orkut which one is best among the two ESET or Kaspersky. Recently I installed this on one of my cousin`s PC when I shared about the offline installers for the software and surprisingly it is one of the few antiviruses among so many that can be installed on a system with 512 MB of RAM.
9)
Trend Micro is on number nine in terms of global traffic rank 4707 that you can check here. I was expecting Trend around Norton & McAfee as this is one of the widely used antivirus as I have seen if we talk about paid antivirus. They also have many other useful products like RUBotted and recently I noticed that they own the domain for the main category of security softwares which is www.antivirus.com.
10)
Bitdefender can be seen at number ten in terms of global traffic rank 6494 that you can check here as PC Tools company does not provide any trial to remove the infections so it was there at number ten along with Bitdefender but now the latter has achieved a better Alexa rank after the promo offer of Bitdefender Total Security 2013 for ninety days so PC Tools is now out of this list. Bitdefender is also one of the most recommended security software by me if we talk about a paid antivirus. Many people do not know that they also provide a free antivirus software, even I was under an impression that they have stopped providing the same but noticed the same on their website recently. We are also running a license giveaway for its antivirus 2012 pro version along with Zemana Antilogger, dont forget to take part if you are running a free security software.
Above rankings are the result of my curiosity and based on the traffic of the developer`s website. Their rankings do not mean that I recommend the same as per their global rank. Their global rank may vary depending upon the traffic. Above mentioned ranks may not be exactly same when you visit this page but you can check the same anytime by going to the above links for rank checking. There are many other security softwares that I like and recommend but they are not there in top ten.
I have checked the website for the above mentioned antiviruses including Dr.Web, Sophos, F-Secure, Lavasoft, Panda, ZoneAlarm, CA, Webroot, BullGuard, Quick Heal, Emsisoft, Vipre, Norman, Outpost and G Data. I have not included Microsoft Security Essentials as it is under the main website of MS. Did I miss yours? Do let me know if I forgot to check any of your favorite security vendor.
If your antivirus is also not their dont be disheartened and do let us know which one you prefer and recommend using the comment form below so that other users must know what other people are using and what is best about other security softwares. Whenever I will write the next post about best antivirus, it will be based upon their detection rates so may be your security software will get the rank there.
I have been working in the technical support industry for around 4 years, giving tech support to home users. Mostly people call for virus issues or other issues resulted because of a virus infection. I have seen that many people are aware of only AVG, Avast, Norton & Mcafee and when I tell them about security vendors like Kaspersky, Bitdefender, Emsisoft, Zone Alarm and ESET, their reaction is like :O, they never heard of all these.
Its not only about home users whenever I go to the computer market to shop for any hardware, I have seen most of the shopkeepers selling or telling about Norton and Mcafee. In many branded computers as well you will get the trial version of these security softwares, may be they have a good marketing team in compare to others.
I have been thinking for a long time to check which Antivirus`s website has the highest traffic using Alexa as I was curious to know the popularity of different security vendors. I checked many developer`s websites and now sharing the Top 10 Antivirus based on the traffic on their website. These rankings are just based on the traffic and not based on the detection rate of the software. Different Antivirus vendors have many other products as well like PC Tuneup, Registry Cleaner etc because of which they get bonus traffic as well. So here we go
1)
AVG is the number one antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 86 that you can check here. It is also the second most downloaded free AV according to the download website. I remember when the first time I heard about the software back in 2000, it was the most recommended software around me.
2)
Avast is the number two antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 826 that you can check here. It is also the most downloaded free AV according to the download website and one of the oldest antivirus developer. I have used this security a lot when I was a free antivirus user and recommended this software to many. Even today if someone asks about any free av, I recommend the same.
3)
Norton is the number three antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 1174 that you can check here. I got it installed in my first Compaq desktop as a trial software and used it for a while after that also I have used this software many times and once was impressed when it detected a famous undetectable keylogger while other could not. I must say at one time it was my favorite security software in terms of look and GUI, however it is not at all relevant when we talk about security softwares but can be a deciding factor for those who doesnt know anything about security softwares and go to market to buy one. If there are 20 products showing up they will likely to choose this one because of the appealing color of the box.
4)
McAfee is the number four antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 1258 that you can check here. It was my second security software after Norton and have seen it preinstalled as a trial in many new branded computers. I like the McAfee SiteAdvisor which was also a part of my post Essential Browser Add-ons. Last year it was acquired by Intel, I hope in the upcoming years they will increase their market share a lot as well as the detection rate.
5 )
Kaspersky is the number five antivirus in terms of global traffic rank 2056 that you can check here. It is the most recommended paid antivirus by me to anyone. We have also arranged few giveaways of Kaspersky here. I have been using this security for quite a long time in many of my computers that I own and maintain. Its older version used to make a cracking sound on any malware detection, I liked the sound but it could be dangerous for new born babies or older people, may be for the same reason they removed it from their later versions. In my country earlier people rarely knew about this, few months back when Kaspersky selected Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador then people came to know that there is an Antivirus by this name as well.
6)
Avira is on number six in terms of global traffic rank 2463 that you can check here. It is also the third most downloaded free AV according to the download website.It is one of the oldest antivirus developer but surprisingly in my country it is not that much famous like Avast & AVG even though they have a free product as well.
7)
Comodo is on number seven in terms of global traffic rank 3582 that you can check here. It was surprising for me to see Comodo at number 7 initially but later on I realized that they have other products as well like System Cleaner. They have many other interesting and useful products as well that I will test and post here.
8 )
ESET holds the number eight position in terms of global traffic rank 4537 that you can check here. I remember it was always a hot topic on Orkut which one is best among the two ESET or Kaspersky. Recently I installed this on one of my cousin`s PC when I shared about the offline installers for the software and surprisingly it is one of the few antiviruses among so many that can be installed on a system with 512 MB of RAM.
9)
Trend Micro is on number nine in terms of global traffic rank 4707 that you can check here. I was expecting Trend around Norton & McAfee as this is one of the widely used antivirus as I have seen if we talk about paid antivirus. They also have many other useful products like RUBotted and recently I noticed that they own the domain for the main category of security softwares which is www.antivirus.com.
10)
Bitdefender can be seen at number ten in terms of global traffic rank 6494 that you can check here as PC Tools company does not provide any trial to remove the infections so it was there at number ten along with Bitdefender but now the latter has achieved a better Alexa rank after the promo offer of Bitdefender Total Security 2013 for ninety days so PC Tools is now out of this list. Bitdefender is also one of the most recommended security software by me if we talk about a paid antivirus. Many people do not know that they also provide a free antivirus software, even I was under an impression that they have stopped providing the same but noticed the same on their website recently. We are also running a license giveaway for its antivirus 2012 pro version along with Zemana Antilogger, dont forget to take part if you are running a free security software.
Above rankings are the result of my curiosity and based on the traffic of the developer`s website. Their rankings do not mean that I recommend the same as per their global rank. Their global rank may vary depending upon the traffic. Above mentioned ranks may not be exactly same when you visit this page but you can check the same anytime by going to the above links for rank checking. There are many other security softwares that I like and recommend but they are not there in top ten.
I have checked the website for the above mentioned antiviruses including Dr.Web, Sophos, F-Secure, Lavasoft, Panda, ZoneAlarm, CA, Webroot, BullGuard, Quick Heal, Emsisoft, Vipre, Norman, Outpost and G Data. I have not included Microsoft Security Essentials as it is under the main website of MS. Did I miss yours? Do let me know if I forgot to check any of your favorite security vendor.
If your antivirus is also not their dont be disheartened and do let us know which one you prefer and recommend using the comment form below so that other users must know what other people are using and what is best about other security softwares. Whenever I will write the next post about best antivirus, it will be based upon their detection rates so may be your security software will get the rank there.
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