Which anti-virus programme is the best? Is Kaspersky as dangerous as they say?

[noname223]

I sometimes listen to a technology podcast. Here in Germany many people have Kaspersky not sure how widespread it is in other countries. It is a Russian company and even German authorities have warned about it. The Russian government could pressure the company to spread malware.
I have another programme but I soon have to buy a new key. Which anti-virus programme is the best?

Here are many people who are savvy concerning IT and I find that incredible. I barely have any knowledge on it.
Which one is the best in your opinion?

 

[Julgran]

I sometimes listen to a technology podcast. Here in Germany many people have Kaspersky not sure how widespread it is in other countries. It is a Russian company and even German authorities have warned about it. The Russian government could pressure the company to spread malware.
I have another programme but I soon have to buy a new key. Which anti-virus programme is the best?

Here are many people who are savvy concerning IT and I find that incredible. I barely have any knowledge on it.
Which one is the best in your opinion?

Governments will always be paranoid about software from other countries - not to mention the revelatoin of the NSA's data collection.

Regarding alternatives to Kaspersky, you could try Bitdefender, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or one of ESET's products. Also, if you are concerned about individual files containing viruses, upload them to VirusTotal, which will scan the file for you using many different virus scanners at the same time.

Unless you are downloading files that may contain viruses or trojans, you don't need an anti-virus program. If you are using a PC and don't want to infect it while browsing the Internet, you can use Sandboxie, which basically restricts any program you run - like your web browser - to a single folder on your PC, which means that potential malware that's run from a website that's open in your web browser can't affect your PC. It takes some setting up, but it's easy to use.

Personally, I don't use an always-on anti-virus program, but occasionally run about 50 different free online virus scanners to see if my stored files contain any viruses - and Sandboxie on a daily basis, of course.

Here's a list of anti-virus and anti-malware scanners that I usually use. Some of them are free one-time online scanners, while others are always-on anti-virus programs accompanied by a short trial period to try the program, if you don't want to buy them.

360 Total Security
Adaware
AdwCleaner
Auslogics Anti-Malware
Avast Free Antivirus
AVG AntiVirus Free
Avira Free Security
Bitdefender Antivirus Free
Bkav Home
ClamWin Free Antivirus
Comodo Antivirus
Emsisoft Emergency Kit
ESET Online Scanner
F-Secure Online Scanner
Free eScan Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV)
G DATA
GridinSoft Anti-Malware!
Intego Virus Protection
IObit Malware Fighter
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool
Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit BETA
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
McAfee Antivirus
NANO Antivirus
Norman Security Suite
Norton Power Eraser
Panda Free Antivirus
Quick Heal
RogueKiller Anti Malware
S.O.S. Security Suite
Spybot-S&D
SpywareBlaster
SUPERAntiSpyware
Total Defense
Trend Micro Free Trial Antivirus
Trend Micro HouseCall
Ultra Virus Killer
VIPRE Free Trial
Webroot Free Scan
Zillya! Antivirus
ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus
ZONER AntiVirus