

While I have mixed feelings on Chinese antivirus companies due to active state sponsored cyberwarfare and sketchy private information collection (see Skype TOM), Qihoo 360 appears to be quite solid and it wouldn’t be fair to assume every Chinese software company is actively spying or exploiting on behalf of the government. Qihoo 360 Total Security is a relatively new contender that is scoring well in recent (early 2015) comparatives. ZoneAlarm is not free for educational organizations. The upside is that ZoneAlarm is 100% free for nonprofits however, like Panda Cloud Antivirus, it can’t be centrally managed so it won’t be suited for larger organizations. ZoneAlarm has a history of providing decent antivirus and firewall software.

This incarnation has garnered mostly good reviews however, it can’t be installed on servers and can’t be centrally managed so it is best suited for very small organizations. Panda is actually a relatively heavy hitter in the antivirus world.

There are also more options available below in the commercial and nonprofit section. The following are free to use for nonprofit organizations but not for commercial/business usage. These can be a lifeline to small organizations, but if you’ve grown over 5-10 computers you’ll want to move to an antivirus solution that offers endpoint protection and offers good detection rates as reviewed by independent testers. One of the things I promised was to list the antivirus suites I know of that are free for commercial and nonprofit use. Last week I mentioned ways of cutting back on viruses within your organization. The original article and 2015 updates continue below for posterity however, again, the default Windows Defender is not only one of the best antivirus options overall but also the best of the free options for organizational use. When paired with other Microsoft products like Defender ATP and Intune, it’s hard to recommend any other free products. As with many things in IT, technology marches on and as of 2020 one of the best free antivirus options is Windows Defender on Windows 10 which ranks near the top in independent testing. Update 2020: This has long been the most popular link on our website and has been linked to from numerous websites, discussion boards, and even guides.
