Free AV for Non-Profit Agency

[Rathji]

The organization I work for (soon to be quitting, but that's another story) runs a program (Never Too Late) to help people in the city get their GED.

Up until now, everything has been paper based, but we have to have them using computers by November.

The computers are all being donated by the Electronics Recycling Association (Huge props), including OS etc, but we are trying to figure out which Free AV product we can use while still being in compliance with licensing, since most of the free versions do not allow non-personal use.

MSSE will allow business use, but only for places with less than 10 PCs.

I am done at the end of this month, but I want to make sure this stuff is all arranged for them before I go.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Hemi-Cuda]

What OS will the computer's be running? I'm assuming that since they're recycled it'll be Windows 7, but on the off chance that one or some will be running Windows 8 you don't need to do anything as it comes with Windows Defender built-in (rebranded MSSE). And the license agreement states that you're allowed to install MSSE on 10 machines, it doesn't specify that larger environments are excluded completely. So you could install MSSE on 10 of the computers and find another free solution for the rest

[Rathji]

We dont know what OS, but likely Windows Vista or 7. Doubtful will be 8.

That's a good point about the 10 PCs and will get us part of the way there for sure.

[para transit fellow]

is the non-profit eligible for :

http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/


anti virus
http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/directory/353

[Rathji]

We are eligible for techsoup, and do use it for our staff computers, but the limits on the number of licenses mean we cannot purchase any more than what we already use.

edit: I just realized that they also have the Norton product line, might be able to make that work. Will have to look into if we can get that in addition to our other Symantec stuff.

[Rathji]

Looks like we already have too much Symantec stuff so we can't get Norton as well.

Any other ideas for free or really cheap AV?

[maverickstruth]

I haven't used it for several years, so not sure if it's still a great recommendation (or what the specifics of the license agreement are), but AVG used to be the best of the free options:

http://free.avg.com

[edit] Hm, looks like the free version is licensed for personal, non-commercial use only. And, of course, they don't give you much in the way of details on their non-profit licenses:

http://www.avg.com/ca-en/avg-antivir...nonprofit-home

[Rathji]

Yeah, most 'free' AV isn't licensed for this kind of thing, hence me having trouble finding something that works.

[Igster]

The best, free anti virus out there right now is Panda. This thing is kicking the butt of most paid apps. Why anyone would pay for anti virus is beyond me.

With that being said, I realize this is a business setting. Looks like Panda can be used in a non profit organization.

Found this:

http://www.geekout.biz/2013/06/17/fr...nd-nonprofits/

[Vulcan]

Here's a comparison of the top 6 anti-virus'. It appears Bit Defender is free for business, commercial use and it seems to be top rated. I've been using for about 6 months and it's been good to me. It says you can't run an on demand scan, but you can by right clicking the icon. Very unobtrusive and light weight as well.

http://dottech.org/14151/windows-bes...-avast-vs-avg/

[Igster]

Not sure that source for anti virus testing is all that great. Bitdefender is a very good product, but their ranking on Panda seems completely out of whack with what I consistently see from AV Comparatives, IMO, the best anti virus testing source on the Internet by far and most fair.

Latest proactive test and real world protection against malware here:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-co...t_2014a_en.pdf

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Igster

Not sure that source for anti virus testing is all that great. Bitdefender is a very good product, but their ranking on Panda seems completely out of whack with what I consistently see from AV Comparatives, IMO, the best anti virus testing source on the Internet by far and most fair.

Latest proactive test and real world protection against malware here:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-co...t_2014a_en.pdf

Yeah, I'm not going to argue which is the best anti-virus or which is the best testing setup. I just know that looking at various tests, Bitdefender has done well and it's unobtrusive, uses little resources and doesn't interfere with any of my other programs. Maybe I'll try Panda on one of my computers as well.

[Igster]

Agreed. Bitdefender is very good. Just didn't think that test showed the results from Panda as what I've seen elsewhere. Just seemed off to me.

The thing I like about Panda is you don't need to give them anything if you don't want to. No account needs to be created, no email address, nothing. You can install the product, agree to not create an account during installation and you never have to create an account. It truly is free with one pop up a day talking about upgrading to their pro version.

[Rathji]

I think we are going to go with Panda.

Thanks everyone for the input.