AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5.524

AVG is anti-virus software developed by Grisoft Company. It is the best free anti-virus software which has much improved design in terms of its usability, stability and highly impressive detection feature that has gained popularity among the computer users. In other words, millions of home users trust on its high level of detection capability to protect their PC from the attack of unknown and weird viruses. Due to its high detection on almost all the wild viruses, Grisoft has awarded VB100% Award by Virus Bulletin in February 2008. Not only that, AVG was rated as the second highest rating for user satisfaction for its free edition. Additionally, its quality assurance has been announced as the top downloaded program on CNET Download.com.

AVG anti-virus free edition is permitted for a home user and not for a commercial use. The software provides real-time protection and it is updated automatically so that you will be provided with a rapid virus database to alert you for any infected files. It handles the infected files safely and it never gets your PC slow down. It is indeed easy to use this anti-virus software that protects your PC against viruses, worms and Trojans besides protecting your PC against spyware, identity-theft, Adware, hackers, network intrusions, and sophisticated rootkit attacks. It is also furnished with an anti-spam feature to help filter out any junk electronic mails. It is by far the best free anti-virus software I have been using so far.

PC Tools Antivirus 3.6 Free Edition

This software is very useful to protect your PC against the latest fast-spreading worms and virus, such as Netsky, Mytob and MyDoom which can seriously infect your PC as they can be transferred to other person's PC who accesses your email contacts and computer's network. Additionally, these infections may allow hackers to steal your database from your PC, and later use it to launch threats against other computer's users or website or to send large numbers of SPAM mails. Therefore, it is always safer to use this software to keep alert of infected files.

Its real-time protection is trusted with rapid database updates and it is essential to keep your PC safer against any online threats and malicious infections attempting to gain an easy access to your PC by stealing your personal details. The suspected viruses, Trojans and worms will be quarantined, disinfected and destroyed thoroughly. It is worth using this software as it is free to use plus it has no time-limits.
For a direct download, please click here.

ThreatFire Free Edition 3.0.8 (Beta 4)

The chart clearly shows that ThreatFire's Active Defense feature has proven to provide up to 243% more protection when combined its usage with the traditional anti-virus products. ThreatFire is powerful software to detect and to stop any malicious and cyber-threats which include known and unknown spyware, adware, keyloggers, viruses, buffer outflow, Trojans, rootkits, worms and malware as well. This is its unique feature as compared to the traditional antivirus products as virus threats are sometimes remained undetected and thereby infecting your PC.

Spyware, Adware, Malware and Viruses are infections you can get from opening and Email, going to a website, downloading a piece of software, putting a USB drive into your computer, the amount of ways to receive them are amazing. Computer programmers make the infections, just to cause trouble for everyone, whether you are at home using your personal computer, at a friend's house, at your small business or working in a large corporation.

These nasty infections can do a whole heap of different things to your computer. The things that can happen, and often happen are:

• Slow Computer - Your computer will slow down dramatically.
• Freezing - Your computer may "lock-up" or "freeze".
• Programs not working - Some of your programs might not work properly
• Personal Details - Some infections have the potential to retrieve personal details such as bank account details.
• Turn off - Your computer could sometimes just switch off without warning.

All of these things, and more, are possibilities when you have infections on your computer.

 Hold on! There is hope for you though. There are many programs on the Internet these days that you can download, which runs a scan to delete these problems. Here is a list of programs, free of charge that you can download today!

• Ad-Aware Free
• Spyware Doctor
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• Windows Defender
• Clamwin Antivirus
• Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

There are also a number of programs that allow you to stop the infections getting into your computer in the first place. They are called "firewalls". Here is a list of free firewalls available to download.

• Comodo Firewall
• ZoneAlarm Firewall
• Ashampoo Firewall
• OutPost Free Firewall
• Sunbelt Personal Firewall

I hope this guide has helped you learn about the different problems you will face with your PC, and how to treat them.

Common ways a computer becomes infected:

One of the most common ways for a computer to become infected with spyware or viruses is by visiting less than reputable sites that are running malicious scripts that are automatically downloaded to your computer when the site is visited.

Pop-Ups, Active X and Java

To the average user, you wouldn't even notice these programs being downloaded to your computer. This it why it is recommended that you use a web browser such as Mozilla Firefox in place of Internet Explorer (IE) or the AOL browser (which uses IE to run). Internet Explorer has many known security flaws, which are widely exploited by makers of spyware and viruses. Mozilla Firefox helps address this issue by using rules on what types of content are downloaded to your computer.

Mozilla Firefox can be downloaded from here.

The image above displays what you will see when Firefox detects a site that is trying to display a popup, or program script such as Active X and Java. By clicking on the yellow bar, you be given the option of allowing or denying the popup. As you can see, even CNN doesn't get special treatment until you say so. Firefox helps protect against the execution of unwanted scripts (programs) on your computer.

Even with Firefox you can still be vulnerable to malicious software. Probably the best practice that you could take when using the internet is to be cautious of sites that display lots of advertisements and pop-ups.

You should always use your better judgment when visiting sites that you have never heard of before.

Think of it just the same as if you wandered into a bad part of town were you might not be able to trust anyone. There are websites that want your money (adware), those that want to have your information so they can sell it to the people who want your money and those that get a kick out of causing you a bit of pain and frustration by messing up your life.

Anti-Virus and SpyWare Detection Software

One of the best forms of protection you can have on your computer is to have good, up to date antivirus software. Viruses are constantly changing and this make it important to have the proper tools to detect a virus before it takes hold of your system.

An excellent anti-virus program is AVG antivirus by GriSoft. There are many other popular anti-virus programs out there that will do the job, but the reason I recommend AVG is the improved performance, ease of use, support and “bang for the buck” that isn't found in some of the more popular programs from the likes of Norton and McAfee.

Whenever you download a program on to your computer that you are unsure of, you should always perform a virus scan on it. This can easily be done with most antivirus programs by “right-clicking” on the file and selecting “scan for viruses.”

One of the major misconceptions that have come up recently is that services such as anti-virus and spyware protection from ISP's like Comcast, AOL and Earthlink are adequate protection for your system. While these systems do work, they offer very little protection for your system.

In addition to good anti-virus software, you should also use Adaware by LavaSoft and Spybot Search & Destroy. These are the two most popular programs for the removal of malicious software. Make a habit of running scans with “BOTH” of these programs at least every month or whenever you notice a change in your computers performance. The reason for running both programs is that they both look for problems differently and will give different results.

How do you get Viruses and Spyware?

Viruses and spyware are spread in a few different ways. They can be spread by visiting a webpage with Active X or Java as talked about earlier, and even by emails (usually spam) that look like a webpage.

In your email program, you should disable any kind of “auto preview “for emails to prevent any scripts from running without you knowing it. Many emails use the same technologies as web pages now.

One of the ways many computers become infected is by sharing files with people through instant messaging (ICQ, MIRC, AIM, MSN Messenger etc.) and peer to peer programs (Kazaa, Bearshare, 360 Share, LimeWire, BitTorrent, etc.)

Besides the fact that most files shared on peer to peer networks are illegal, a very high percentage of these files are infected with viruses. Another security issue is when people share their entire hard drive on these networks. There was an incident that comes to mind where a government official was unknowingly sharing his entire drive's contents with LimeWire and very sensitive classified documents were leaked on the internet.

Most virus infections that we come across are on PC's where file sharing programs are being used.

Another common way to get spyware and viruses is from downloading games off the internet. Many have spyware or adware packaged with them. WildTangent is a good example.

WildTangent pays game developers to package their “spyware” with there games and offer a distribution service for their software. Even though it's “free” to play the game, they are still making money off of you.

If you want to download games, go to a site such as File Planet or Game Spot. You can be sure that any game listed on these sites are reputable and have been tested before they are listed on these sites.

As far as gambling software is concerned, I would just suggest that you avoid it at all costs. The people that run these operations are just out to make a buck any way they can. Do you really want to give these strangers your personal information?

As the saying goes…

“There's a sucker born every minute...and two to take 'em."

You should also avoid installing any kind of search toolbar you are unfamiliar with (Google search, and Yahoo search toolbar are safe.) Many track your searching habits and visited websites.

Types of Web Sites to Avoid

Here is a brief list of types of sites that could expose your computer to infection.

• Adult/Gambling/Pharmaceutical
• Illegal Software
• Illegal Music
• Free Games

Summary

As in every day life, you should choose who you associate with when using your computer. Not everybody out there is as honest as you are.

Hackers,certain websites,malware programs, are all risk factors for net users.

How to Avoid adware.

Download anti-virus and adware protection software. Most trusted software among most internet users is Norton anti-virus. Ad-aware SE scans for any malicious or critical objects and allows them to be removed with no problem.

Be careful when going to websites, pop-up blockers are excellent in safegaurding against malicious objects since many pop-ups contain adware.

I hope this helps my fellow internet users to have the best online experience possible.

So when your software fails there is only one thing to do. Follow these simple steps:

1. Go to a site that can scan your computer for viruses and tell you were they are located.
2. Try and see if Trend Micro can delete it.
3. If the infection can not be deleted then remember the name of the infection and its location. Then, restart your computer and enter safemode.
4. Look for the section where the infection is located and delete it.
5. Enjoy your infection free computer!

Today, almost everywhere we look on the Internet we are faced with warnings about the dangers of adware – software that displays adverts on your computer. But why are a few adverts that much of a problem to us?

Adware is the name for software that displays adverts on your computer. It normally comes bundled with free software, with some money from the adverts going to the software's makers. Most adware does just this and nothing more. Unfortunately, some adware isn't as friendly, and it is these programs that have caused a massive amount of people to fight against adware in every form. These more dangerous programs can slow down your computer, make themselves extremely difficult to remove, and even hijack your web home page and searches and replace them with sponsored links.

The public has a right to be angry about this. When they ask for Google, they should get Google, not a load of irrelevant paid links. And when they say 'no' to adware, it should mean 'no'. But this growth of more dangerous adware has confused the everyday user into thinking that all adware will be that dangerous, a ridiculous assumption that is not only harming the better adware companies, but also causing many customers to miss out on free, quality ad-supported software. This anti-adware mindset is fueled by everyone from anti-virus companies to computer magazines. It's time for people to stop and take a look at the facts.

Most forms of adware are harmless. They display their adverts, and when you want the software to go, it goes. People cannot expect to get something for nothing, and a few ads now and then in exchange for that software you want is normally a fair deal.

It's true that some adware is dangerous, but all it takes is common sense. You're making a legal contract when you agree to the terms of use of software, so why not read it? The terms of use (or End User License Agreement) normally tell you everything you need to know about what the software will do. When you do an anti-virus or anti-spyware scan, look carefully through the results rather than just screaming in horror and hitting remove. You need to remember that not everything on that list is stealing passwords, and that those adverts are what keeps that software free. Removing adware using a scanner program may also cause further problems, so look for an uninstall program first, this will normally completely remove the software.

Of course, you do need to be careful about what you download. But next time, think about what you're getting. If you want that software, aren't a few adverts a cheaper option than actually paying for it? Is it really that dangerous to have a popup about dog food every now and then?

People need to realise that the problems of adware are massively exaggerated, and the benefits largely ignored.