I just had to remove Avast since it started to interfere with a couple of programmes that I use on a daily basis. I have always been happy with it but now I need something else.

What is in your opinion the best free alternative? thx

Running Avira and MSE on diferent machines, and cant complain.
MSE doesn't support Windows xp and below, while avira still works fine. I did have a problem with MSE and some potential positives after a security update, but has been fixed for a while.

Any preference? and does it stop malware and stuff (clearly I don't know much about this, but I do know defender isn't good enoug, right?)

I have MSE on my W7 pc wich i use most of the time, so i prefer that one when possible. About being efetive or not, i'm not sure, i never had a major problem, but i also use malwarebytes, do regular scans with both, and try to avoid problems to begin with (malwarebytes sometimes finds unwanted programs, but not major threats).

You might try using AVG Antivirus. It has a free version and I run it on my laptop. Never had a problem. Just keep it updated and it works great. I also use Malwarebytes so I second this suggestion. Malwarebytes isn't enough alone but paired with another antivirus program its very useful at catching other kinds of threats.

I was going to leave a post as well, agreeing with using MSE & Malwarebytes, both work perfectly alongside each other, so I will third this , if that's possible :).

Anti viruses don't stop hepatits c.

Oh, nor the advice you were after. Ok, avira is ok, used it for a few years and no real problems, although it does pop up with ads when opened, but not to invasive. Firewall is very important, especially with virtually every now sending you computers contents across the net.

Oh and the bed word of advice, visit porn and other dodgy sites on an old pc you don't care, ie I it blows up, no loss, just don't use your nice shiny new alienware! (no I didn't do this, and no I am not daft enough to pay twice the price for a glowing alien face, its an illustrative example!)

Just use NoScript to solve this... "problem". I do a scan with HitmanPro every week and it never found anything on my PC. All I have to protect me are Security Essentials (or Windows Defender, since the last W10 update) and NoScript. Just don't download everything you see and you'll be fine ;)

AVG was the best without a doubt until last year. Unfortunately, they changed their client to something shiny which was horrible when I installed it from their web when formatted my laptop. I had to remove it and download an older version of the client directly from their servers. I am still using that one.

I couldnt find that link anymore. Maybe they removed it.

Avira here. Does the job well. Can't add much to that, really.

Sadly, I agree.
Btw last year AVG was bought by Avast..

Yes, the couple.of times I have used script, so many things stopped working, and I didn't have the time to really learn it. I do t really do enough internet stuff to require it anyways, just remove the net cable, and relax.

I have used both Avast and Avira in the past and have been satisfied. I also use Private Firewall and Malwarebytes Keep in mind that the free version of Malwarebytes doesn't offer real-time protection from malware, you have to scan. Also have a look at http://www.techsupportalert.com/ they have very good "best free x software" articles

Examples

http://www.techsupportalert.com/pc/security-tools.html

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-anti-virus-software.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-firewall-protection.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-spyware-and-adware-remover.htm

Malwarebytes.

Avira and Avast are very paranoid, AVG is shit, and I stopped trusting Microsoft's solutions after people who are legitimately getting paid managed to do (I was on XP at the time), and discovering what their [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NT_LAN_Manager]laughable definition of security is.

I use Avast and common sense.
But you can use Avira.