- Security Tools

As promised here are our choices for some of the best security tools out there.

There are plenty of choices out there that all purport to guard against virii, spyware, trojans and just about any other computer problem and while some are legitimate, others aren't.

In fact there are some products that actually infect your system so they can find something to disinfect...for a fee of course. So how do you tell what's what? The simplest way is to an internet search on the products name. Usually you'll get lots of hits if its a scam.

Meanwhile...we have some suggestions for tried and true protection. The programmes below have become the standard toolset for millions of computers around the world. They are effective and safe.

AVG Antivirus - look for AVG Free. Like the name says, it’s free for use by individuals on their home computers. There is a more powerful paid version for home and commercial users if you are in business or need more flexibility than the free version provides. This used to be available for all operating systems but the new release (Version 8) is limited to XP, Vista and Windows 2000 (SR4) only.

http://www.free.avg

Avast Antivirus Home Edition - like AVG Free, this one is also for home users only. It is very powerful and is quite effective. It has one quality that unfortunately AVG Free doesn't. It will install on operating systems older than Windows XP which makes it one of the few choices left for a free antivirus if you are running Windows 98 or ME.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Spybot Search and Destroy - free to everyone. The author is not enthusiastic about commercial software. Read his text files. They’re quite interesting.

http://www.safer-networking.org

Ad-Aware Free - this product is also free to home users. It was one of the first anti-spyware products on the market and is still a leader. Again, there is a commercial version that adds features and automates a lot of the tasks it performs.

http://www.lavasoft.com

Combined with Spybot S&D you have a very powerful system to weed out those annoying and sometimes crippling ‘gifts’ from the net.

Malwarebytes' Anti Malware - Sometimes the best efforts of your virus checker and antispyware simply aren't enough. That's where this utility can help. You might think of it as an advanced tool when your day to day protection hiccups or misses something. It's a handy tool to have around.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/index.php

Spamfighter - This has been billed as Europe's most popular spam filter (about 5 million users). We've found it to be effective. It loads as a full fledged commercial product (Spamfighter Pro) but downgrades itself to the free home user standard version after 30 days.

http://www.spamfighter.com

Mailwasher - Sometimes the best efforts of your virus checker and antispyware simply aren't enough.

Spamcatcher - Sometimes the best efforts of your virus checker and antispyware simply aren't enough.

General

A few pointers for running any of these products-

1. MAKE SURE that you have the latest updates and data files for all of these programmes. They aren’t much help if the virus or spyware is newer than the version you use and it can’t find it. Updating once a week is USUALLY enough but more often is better if you have the time.

2. If you are running Windows ME or XP, and the virus returns after its been removed by the utility, turn off System Restore and try again. Sometimes you wind up reinfecting the system the next time you boot because the back up software is also backing up the problem. Remember, it can't tell the difference between what you want and what you don't.

3. Go to Safe Mode (Windows loads only the bare essentials and you won’t get nearly as many conflicts with other software) to clean the system and reboot the system after each programme runs. If Spybot Search and Destroy wants to run on after a reboot (it will ask you), let it. Some spyware/adware is resident in the memory when the system is running and the programme can’t delete the files while it is.

Elsewhere there are also the commercial versions of most of the products above. And then there are the ones we all know including Norton Anti-Virus (and Norton Internet Security), McAfee Anti Virus, and others. These are generally very effective and often include features that the free versions don't. Check the product descriptions on the websites.

In addition, the people at AVG, Symantec (Norton), McAfee and others also offer free removal tools for specific viruses. So if you can’t get rid of something using AVG for instance (rare) check our virus warning section on the home page or with the publisher's websites for more help.

If you don't get anywhere on your own drop us a line ...perhaps we can help.

[home] [webstore] [fixes] [downloads] [contact] [about us]