If you're looking for free antivirus protection then there's no shortage of products available, each claiming they're the one for you. There's a new addition to the list, as IObit has just released version 1.0 of their new Malware Fighter Free.

The company makes a lengthy list of impressive claims for the product: it's a "one-click solution," offers "complete PC security care," "finds the deepest infections," "works with all antivirus products," provides "enhanced real-time protection," and uses the "latest cloud computing technology" and heuristic analyses to detect even the latest threats.

Do these stand up to scrutiny? There's no doubt that the program is very easy to use. Scanning speeds are good. And Malware Fighter does provide a host of modules to keep watch over your system (these include Startup, Browser, Network, File and Cookie guards).

Exactly what these modules are doing isn't exactly clear, though. The Network Guard will "block web pages containing threats," for instance, but how? There are no configuration options to offer any clues; there's nothing useful in the (extremely brief) documentation; and it's the same story for many other program features.

We also remain uncertain about the program's accuracy. It's improved from our previous test of the beta version, detecting all our malware samples -- however, Malware Fighter still delivers more than its share of false positives; for example, highlighting two BitDefender Registry references as malware traces that needed to be removed immediately.

Still, it's free for personal use, quick and reasonably lightweight, so it may be worth trying out IObit Malware Fighter Free to see how it works for you. And if you like the program, take a look at the PRO version: it adds extras like a Process Guard, USB Disk Guard and Malicious Action Guard, as well as automatic database updates, free technical support and so on -- and is yours for $19.95. Click Upgrade within the program to find out more.