I've been using avast free version for a long time. It has served me reasonably well in the past but I'm starting to question whether is it still that good. How does it rank at the moment on the AV market, virus-recognition-wise?

I don't like avast...Avast has caused me huge problems and has failed to stop most of viruses entering my computer...I use McAfee right now and it is working out great. Haven't had a problem yet in the 6 months I've been using it.

The same here, It didn't detect most of the newer virus.
Now I'm with ESET Smart Security and pleased with it.

Yeah, newer viruses get by with avast and cause some serious problems.

Thanks for the answer guys but I'm also interested what official testing and anti-virus program comparison lists have to say. Do you know any?

Avast is good and considered to be a useful utility but since it is among the free versions of security applications, it cannot detect all the threats or neutralize them efficiently.

I have not used it ...so cant comment on it...
but i think its free, right?
Free one dont really wipe out all the threats..

I've used Avast! On a different machine and didn't really like it all that much. Granted the machine was old, but I found it a bit heavy on the resources.

Most of the time, I used Kaspersky Internet Security, it's detection is great, but in more recent times (particularly version 2010) it's a large system hog, and it's quite hard to navigate.

Now, however I use ESET, and haven't looked back. On the bright side, it's cheaper than KIS, and very light. I like it.

Avast! Is good though, it's free, you can't go terribly wrong with it.

Now I'm using Avast and I'm happy my computer is clean from virus. About newer virus this is Avast problem but everything else is great.

I do not like Avast, It caused me problem so I have shifted to QuickHeal.