The need for security software has increased the amount of money it costs to maintain a secure computer. Antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall software alone can run you at least $50 a year if you live in the United States. Numerous readers have asked, “What about free security software? Do they really work?” Today I want to review one type of free security software, antivirus programs, to see if it’s worth saving a few extra bucks. Tomorrow, I’ll begin reviewing some of the more popular and widely used antivirus programs for purchase.
Antivirus software updates
Before moving on to the reviews, I want us to keep in mind that antivirus software can only fully protect you if the software is up to date. Regardless if you have an antivirus subscription or use free software, you must keep up to date with updates for your antivirus program. Keeping your antivirus program up to date may require action on your part, if your software doesn’t use automatic updates. The picture below gives an example of how you would update Norton Antivirus by Symantec, if it didn’t have an auto update feature (which is does). You would click on the “LiveUpdate” button, highlighted in red, to start the software update program. Luckily, most antivirus software include an automatic update feature, but check and make sure before installing if you don’t want to spend time trying to stay on top of your updates.
Free antivirus software
Each of the three free antivirus programs below can be downloaded and installed with relative ease. Since the programs are free, don’t expect all of the bells and whistles that purchased antivirus products will give you. The free programs focus only on virus detection and removal.
● AVG Free – AVG Free is a slimed down version of Grisoft’s AVG Antivirus Professional. One of the more popular free antivirus programs, AVG Free is designed for home users only and doesn’t include any technical support or help. AVG Free does a pretty decent job at catching viruses before they wreak havoc on your computer. Since it’s a free program, AVG Free doesn’t offer fully automatic updates, so you’ll have to make sure you update your virus definitions regularly. This program can also scan your email, local files and folders, and memory. One plus for AVG Free is that Grisoft sends out updates more regularly than other free antivirus software makers do. The advantage of more regular updates is that your computer can be protected against the most recent viruses floating around the Internet.
● Avast! 4 home edition – ALWIL Software, makers of avast! 4 home edition, believe that antivirus protection should be free (mostly) and efficient global protection will prevent any major damage by viruses. Thus, they offer a free antivirus program for home, non-commercial use. If you use your computer for work or to make any amount of money, you’ll have to purchase a copy of the software from ALWIL Software. Similar to AVG Free, Avast! 4 home edition does a pretty good job of catching viruses as they try and enter your system. The standard file system scan is included, as well as email scanning and a screensaver that runs a virus scanner in the background when activated. One advantage of Avast! 4 home edition over AVG Free, for example, is that automatic virus definition updates is included in the product. So you won’t have to be as proactive to keep your software up to date.
● AntiVir Personal Edition Classic (formerly referred to as Free-AV) – I’ve included AntiVir Personal Edition Classic for those of our readers in Europe. While the program will work on any computer running a Windows or Linux based operating system, the target audience is Europeans. A new version of AntiVir Personal Edition Classic is in the works, so I can’t give a full review of the program, but can say that in the past, this program has been a basic, bare-bones antivirus program. That’s not a bad thing, but just don’t expect a lot of extra options (e.g., spyware detection, fully operational email scanner) if you choose to use AntiVir Personal Edition Classic. Also, automatic updates have been reserved for the Premium edition, which is advertised on their homepage for 20 Euros a year.
Antivirus software for purchase
Thought I have only reviewed a few free antivirus programs currently available, there isn’t a large selection out there. Free antivirus software tends to take a minimalist approach and reserve the long list of features for the versions you’ll have to pay for. Tomorrow, I’ll begin reviewing some of the more popular (and a few less popular) antivirus programs that will cost you a little bit of money.