I'd recommend AVG Free Antivirus. It'll bug you once a year to buy it, and every year they pretend harder that the free version doesn't exist, but it continues to do so.
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The general question though, "is freeware safe" -- these days,
no! ![Smilie Smilie](https://www.unix.com/images/smilies/smile.gif)
When in doubt, don't install it. The internet is rife with payloaded or even fake software these days.