Protecting your computer from Malwares

How to Select an Anti-Virus! Commercial Antiviruses Free Antiviruses Visit our Antivirus Forum

At this point, we need to scan for viruses and other malwares. Most of the major antiviruses offer free trials and scans. There are also a few free ones. We need to find out if your computer is infected. You'll need to scan your computer with an antivirus. If you already have one, then I am sure that you have already scanned your system. If it didn't help and you need to recover data, go to the data recovery page.

If you do not have an antivirus, then you need one! Below, there are links for antiviruses. Get a trial version or a free one and scan your system for viruses.

 

Free Antiviruses.

Here are the 3 top free anti viruses out there! They are relatively good, and do not give many false positive detections. They are descent anti viruses for the home PC that is not used for professional applications.

Make sure to read their terms of use as some of them are not allowed to be used for professional applications.

Please post a review or your comments in our Antivirus Forum, to let everyone know how good or bad you think they are.

Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic

avast! 4 Home Edition

AVG Free Edition

 

Commercial Antiviruses

Below you 'll find a list of the current Anti viruses competing on the market. I have written a brief description, but I encourage you to also visit our Antivirus Forum to see what other people think about them! Compare the Anti-Viruses available on the market to see which ones would protect you and your computer and which ones will ruin your computer's system (and nerves). Click Here to learn more on what to look for when selecting an anti virus.

 

Anti-Virus Comparison Table
Check also our Antivirus Forum

Click to Visit Site	Best Anti virus detection in the world today. Kaspersky is Objectively the number one anti virus in the world. They have won all the virus detection "competitions" against all the major competitors (we'll see them below) in 2006. The anti Virus you need if you are doing business or serious stuff with your computer. It is a little complex to use at the beginning but this is the price to pay for more control. User review is good for Kaspersky so in general people are satisfied with the product. The down Side is that it is (rightly so) one of the most expensive (49.99$US). But when the difference of price between the best and the average product is about 20$, then why not go for the best? If you have a serious virus problem, (otherwise you won't be reading this I assume), then consider Kaspersky. They offer a free trial and also free online scanning! You can click here to Receive a discount on Kaspersky Lab products	10/10
Click to Visit Site	BitDefender performs slower than most anti viruses and takes a lot of resources when scanning (do not attempt to do anything else during the scan unless you are ultra patient). Also the uninstall is not done completely, and you will always have a part of the program that will try to keep running.	5/10
Click to Visit Site	An all in one Package. Excellent for those who want a no head ache one does it all protection against viruses and spy wares. It also comes with a nice firewall (I use that firewall myself). They have frequent updates and a very user friendly interface. I have seen only positive comments about Zonealarm which I tend to believe as I use that product myself and am not considering changing it any time soon. Overall the best choice for a full internet security package. Quality product and easy to use and specially, no useless headaches. At 49.95$ it is a great value. A great package for a home PC.	10/10
Click to Visit Site	Rather nice anti virus Easy on resources and it makes itself forget by not annoying at every mouse click with a pop up message. Robust virus detection algorithm. One of the best anti virus for the average computer user. Comes at a very reasonable price. Overall users are satisfied. Consider Rising anti virus if you are looking for a nice anti virus, and do not need the firewall or spy ware. At 29.95$ it is a great deal!	7/10
Click to Visit Site	CA Anti virus is very user friendly, easy to install and use. It runs using less than 13Mb of RAM and is very light on resource consumption. Downside is that apart from email and live chat support, all other support will be charged.	6/10
Click to Visit Site	For Norton Anti virus, the user rating is not very good. I myself find it a little too "enthusiast" about catching the viruses! Too much resources taken! Too suspicious and it considers it has priority on everything (including you working). On the virus detection side they do reasonably well and they have nice features. For the install and uninstall make sure you plan for some extra time! Support is not free! As one user puts it: "Norton will not even allow you to report a bug without the open threat of charging for "support"- at any price they choose to charge." (source: CNET ).	4/10
Click to Visit Site	Good anti virus overall, but the firewall that comes with it seems to be buggy. The spy ware. too seems to ask a lot of user input. They have free customer support, but the support doesn't seem to be very knowledgeable.	5/10
Click to Visit Site	Spyware do not harm your system like viruses do. All they do is spy on you and steal your data. Unfortunately, they reproduce like viruses and are therefore contagious. According to the Wikipedia, the name Spyware refers broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party. If you make a living out of your computer then it would be reckless not to have an anti spyware. Spywares can spy on all the following: Every WEBSITE you visit EMAILS you send and receive INSTANT MESSAGES sent and received CHAT ROOM conversion made Every PROGRAM that your run Every KEYSTROKE you type Webroot is the best Spyware of 2007. It has earned many awards for wining benchmark tests. Webroot also gives you the option to to get their anti viruses. Even though it is a very decent Anti virus, I recommend getting yourself a stronger anti virus for a complete coverage.	8/10
Click to Visit Site	From PC tools. Another good spyware. Free online Scan. A little more expansive than webroot!	7/10
Click to Visit Site	Also from PC tools, Registry Mechanic is the best Registry cleaner tool I know about. The Windows Registry is a core component of the Windows Operating System. The Registry stores everything about your system. Colors, installed applications, hardware drivers and even changes made in the Control Panel. Over time, the Registry becomes bloated with incorrect and outdated information slowing down or even crashing your computer.	7/10
	Another Spyware cleaner utility. Spyware Solver is constantly updated to identify the latest threats. The software will scan your PC for different Spyware, Adware, Dialers, and Web Bug traces. Spyware Solver is updated several times per week, and comes with shields to protect you while browsing the web.
Click to Visit Site	Safeguard your children. Safekeeper even has a Predator alert that tells you if there are known sex offenders living in your area. It comes with an anti virus, a firewall and spy ware. all that for 29.95$, for up to 3 computers. They also have a 2 weeks free trial! Please NEVER hesitate to call the police if you know someone is a child predator. Also make sure you report it to: http://www.cybertipline.com/	9/10
Click to Visit Site	Another Parental Control! (Let them compete). Substantially more expensive than Safekeeper, and they don't have a free trial!	3/10
Click to Visit Site	Internet Parental Control. Something to consider if you have kids(See above). Don't use it to spy on people! Netintelligence gives you the ability to filter and customize web access for your children, record all instant messaging conversations, set and monitor time spent on your computers, both on and off line and prevent harmful viruses - in one easy to use combined product. And with our Parental Control version you can use the service on three separate machines as standard. Combines Anti Virus, Anti Spy ware., Web Blocking/Filtering, Time Controls, Instant Messenger Management and Usage Management in one simple to use service. It makes you feel you are in control! They have a 30 Days Free Trial!	9/10

 

We could go on and on with anti viruses but it would be time wasting as the good ones are here. I Hope this helped you orient your searches. If you still are unsure, then consider ZoneAlarm. Read below for more information on what to consider when selecting an anti virus

 

Comparing Anti viruses

It is amazing the difference one sees between reviews made by "professional" reviewers and those made by actual users. Before jumping to conclusions, we need to take into account the fact that people generally write a review when they are not happy, so we get more unhappy reviews than happy ones.

That being said, I have tested some of the products below myself, and compared the data. But I also greatly rely on users rating and reviews that you can find in some blogs or other places on top of the benchmark numbers. I do that because the role of the anti virus is to let you work freely in safety. There is no point being safe if it costs you the ability to work freely (no I am not doing politics!). So users feedback is very important to determine the quality of the anti virus as they represent the need that the anti virus must fulfill.

 

Virus Definitions updates.

Any anti virus software is only as effective as its most recent update because it is inherently reactive treating only known threats.

Think of the anti virus as your immune system and the anti virus updates as vaccines. When your immune system knows about a threat and is prepared for it then you are protected.

Therefore the most important part of the anti virus is how often and how fast the virus definitions are updated. So when you install anti-virus software, go to the vendor's web site and update the program and virus definitions immediately and then turn on the auto update feature (if it has one). That is why the quality and frequency of the virus definitions is the primary factor by which to judge an anti virus Not having that would make everything else useless (or at least as good as a placebo!).

 

System resource.

Another issue is the amount of resource your anti virus takes to run (it runs all the time your computer is on). So make sure you try the anti virus on your computer if it is slower than 2GHZ. All of the commercial anti viruses have either a free scan and/or a trial version.

 

System takeover.

No virus can infect your computer if you never turn it on. Following that philosophy, some anti viruses are so radical that you cannot send an email without having to go through a few scans, a few permission granting, and a couple of anti virus updates!

The point is that some anti viruses are oversuspiscious (or underachieving) and they block everything on your computer preventing you from working.

 

Conclusion.

If you make a living from your computer, then the virus definition update is of ultimate importance to you. If not, then you can consider getting a free anti virus (not the free spywares that are useless).

If you have an old PC then the system resource usage is of capital importance to you. Try the trial version first to see what you get if you opt for the commercial ones.

Make sure you read the reviews to know which anti viruses to avoid at all cost. Also visit our Antivirus Forum for more reviews.

Don't forget to visit our Data Recovery page if you also need to recover your data, and our Secure and Backup page to find out ways backup your system so you will never have to go through a windows installation again (imagine having a "photocopy" of your hard drive that you can restore any time). That's it for the anti viruses Best of luck!

If this didn't help, then it's serious enough that you need to re-install Windows XP

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