My Online Security

Free Anti-Virus Software

If you are like me you hate paying for security software. I also hate paying for car insurance, but I do it. You might consider paying for an anti-virus suite. Especially if you think you may need tech support. It really can come in handy when you need it most. If you really want to get an anti-virun package for free there are only two I would recommend.

AVG Free

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements. Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

AVAST Free

Avast Home Edition is a complete ICSA & Checkmark certified antivirus. Avast includes the following components: On demand scanner with skinnable simple interface, just select what do you want to scan in which way and press the Play button; On access scanner, special providers to protect the most of available e-mail clients; Instant messaging–ICQ, Miranda; Network traffic–intrusion detection, lightweight firewall; P2P protection for Kazaa, BitTorrent; Web shield–monitors and filter all HTTP traffic; NNTP scanner–scans all Usenet Newsgroup traffic and all operations with files on PC; Boot time scanner–scans disks in the same way and in the same time as Windows CHKDSK does.

Are you wondering where to start with your online security?  Well let’s start with the absolute basics, unplug from the internet.  Now we are safe.  Just kidding, I have actually been told by a family member she was going to do this.  Her PC was so messed up she was just going to buy a new one and not connect to the net.  I had to ask what the point of even having a computer was then.  Sure you could get by without internet access, by why would you?

The first thing you need to make sure to do is make sure you have an anti-virus program, a spyware program, and a firewall installed on your computer.  The next thing you need to is make sure all of these programs as well as your operating system is up to date.  I will go into specific later, but that is the rough outline.

BTW, I may touch on Apple and Mac security, but this sites focus will be on PCs and the Windows operating system.