There are some great choices available for the Best Free Antivirus Software program. I personally have tried most of them and have come back to AVG free for personal use. AVG has a good optimization,good scanning engine,and auto daily updating. AVG also has the fewest pop-up ads and other ad annoyances. The top antivirus program reviews include Avira,Avast,AVG,and Microsoft Security Essentials. Malwarebytes,BitDefender,Kaspersky,Ad-Adware,Comodo,and Panda are a few more highly rated programs that deserve mention. Malwarebytes has become very popular and has a great scan engine,but the free version requires manual updating and therefore is not my top choice. Since new viruses and malware come out almost daily,it is important that your software is updated with the latest virus signatures.
Malware is a newer term that is short for malicious software. This includes all types of harmful software,including viruses, ad-ware,spyware,data-mining, Trojans, root-kits,and any other software designed to annoy,steal,redirect,or harm your computer. It’s amazing that this process of creating new malware has not slowed over the years. Now cyber warfare seems to be on the rise. Iran’s nuclear program has become a target and effectively slowed or stopped because of malware infections in their computer controlled nuclear fuel processors. Also many of our national computer networks have become targets of foreign operatives trying to steal classified information,credit card information,or other information to be used for stealing personal identities.
Most malware infections include the installation of down-loaders and key-loggers. The down-loaders and not detected as infections and will download the malware after it’s been removed. That is often the reason for re-infections. The key-loggers are sometimes missed and they can be used to steal account log-on ids and passwords. It takes time to completely remove all malware once infected and somethings can be missed.
Imaging has become popular because you can quickly restore a system to a known good configuration. However,images need to be updated and maintained to be useful. In my lab and at home I update my images monthly with the latest security updates and program revisions to stay current with any changes. This helps to avoid the time consuming problem of getting back to a useful and safe configuration. The restore images that come with new computers are almost useless since they are out of date and do not include important programs that users need.
CloneZilla is one of the best free imaging software programs available and can be used with a Restore CD to re-image a system quickly. Today’s PC based Windows systems require users to become PC techs to keep their computers running safe and operating at their peak performance. I have often recommend MACs as good alternative to users who do that have the time or desire to become PC Techs. I have used and maintained MACs over the years,but because of the smaller software market for MACs I am primarily a PC guy.
The CNET download site is a good resource for finding the latest and best free antivirus software programs. The user ratings and feedback are very valuable to find out what the users think and what might be good alternatives.
The Free Malware Protection website has additional information that you might find useful.