Protect your computer for free
Now, when you've got an application to browse the Internet, it is time to protect yourself from its threats (and threats from other sources). In this article I will point you to the best free anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.
Of course, the first level of network (Internet) protection is firewall software which creates some kind of guarded gate between your computer and Internet. As Windows operating system has firewall software integrated – and I presume you’ve got it enabled – I won’t talk about this kind of computer protection in the article. Instead, let’s have a look at anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions that help you fight viruses or other harmful programs or prevent stealing your private information.
Avira AntiVir Personal
Avira AntiVir is a must for every home user! It is completely free for personal use and is the best anti-virus software that you can get without breaking your piggy bank. What’s more, this will be probably your one-stop solution for everything, as the application also scans and removes adware, spyware, fraudulent software and other harmful stuff.
The combination of anti-virus and anti-spyware in a free application is very rare alone, but Avira doesn’t stop there. The program also includes scheduler, where you can set up automatic scans or updates, and realtime protection. So when you are trying to access a harmful file, Avira will alarm you immediately. What I use the most is scanning the files after downloading to make sure they are OK. Just right click on the file or folder and choose ”Scan selected files with AntiVir” from the context menu.
Although during the installation process Avira runs setup wizard, it is always a good idea to have a look at its configuration and make some more changes (also set the heuristic to high level). For example, you can set up how Avira should scan archive files like ZIP or RAR. Software will generate a report after every operation so you can check how the operation went and if it failed, what the reason was.
Avira AntiVir Personal
The hold-back for Avira, as they say, could be the fact that it has a lot of false positive searches (it thinks some files contain a virus even if they are completely harmless). I had a problem with false positive alert just twice as far as I am aware and other than that I’ve had no issues with Avira and the most important I’ve had no virus since I’ve been using the software. Another thing you have to accept in the free version of Avira is advertisement that’s displayed every time the update runs, but just press OK button or close the window and the ad is gone.
Spybot – Search & Destroy
This is pretty old software and probably there are already better solutions for removing spyware, but Spybot has never disappointed me. I’ve been using this program since 2005 and have tried many other spyware removal software since but still came back to Spybot. Although my main anti-spyware app these days is Avira AntiVir, I still have Spybot installed and run its scan from time to time.
Windows already contains Windows Defender to remove spyware but I still find Spybot a better tool for this job. It is freeware but again just for personal use as corporate users need to purchase a yearly license.
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spybot-S&D can remove spyware, repair registry, cookies, rootkits, keyloggers, trojans, spybots and other malware. It includes an Immunize feature to block the installation of spyware before it occurs. TeaTimer module inside Spybot provides realtime protection to Windows registry (although it may become quite annoying with its pop-up alerts when you are installing new software).
Detection database updates are released weekly along with other improvements such as added language support and better heuristics algorithms. This application is not meant to replace anti-virus software, rather supplement it. Note that when you install several anti-spyware applications on your computer there might be a compatibility issue with Spybot. I have had a fight between Spybot and Ad-Aware already and needed to uninstall one of them – I kept Spybot…
Download Spybot – Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware Free
Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is yet another very good anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, anti-malware software with realtime protection that you can download (also) for free for non-commercial use. Ad-Aware Free is quite popular with over 400 million downloads. Its current version doesn’t contain anti-virus, as opposed paid Ad-Aware Pro, Plus and Business versions (by the way, the anti-virus is built up on Avira engine) but Lavasoft plans to include one in early 2010 release.
Ad-Aware Free
Updates of detection database are automated, so you don’t have to worry about them. Minimal system resources hunger doesn’t slow your computer down either. The free version is supported again by advertisements displaying on the screen.
These three programs I wrote about are essentials I think. Surely, if you have different opinion or know better software than mentioned, write about it in a comment! See you around again!
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