Free Anti-virus Programs Worth Their Weight In Gold

Who doesn't like something for free? That's a rhetorical question. We all like freebies. Especially when they are great freebies.

There are a plethora of free anti-virus programs available, but knowing which to use and which to stay away from, is difficult. Many sites claim to provide free anti-virus software, but in actuality are malware programs themselves. How do you know who to trust and who to protect against? There is no easy way to find this out. You have to find someone you know and trust to give you the heads up.

Finding the right software for you, can be difficult, but I have two names for you. There are two names that provide antivirus software worth more than their weight in gold. It's important to have the name of two of the most trusted programs around when struggling to remove a virus or malware from your computer.

The First name is Microsoft. Your thinking, "Oh, no you didn't!". And I am saying "Yes, I did."
Microsoft Security Essentials, released in late 2009, is free and easy. Lightweight enough to run on older machines without paralyzing their performance. It's adept enough to handle most viruses and malware in the wild today.
Probably the best part of MSE is how simple it is to use. The user interface is really clear, with large buttons for the most basic functions. Very nice for someone who is not computer-savvy. There’s no professional version you can upgrade to. It’s even allowed for use in business situations. So, one size can fit all.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials.

The second is Malwarebytes. The malware software that bytes back. No matter what your default anti-virus, you need Malwarebytes too. It doesn’t run in your system background and constantly protect you, so you will need to run it manually when you run into a problem.
The interface is simple for beginners and robust enough for pros. Malwarebytes will usually take care of what other programs can’t. I have personally saved more than a few computers by running Malwarebytes. I keep this one on my flash drive, so I am ready to go, when I need to fix a computer. It's also free and easy to use.

Download Malwarebytes.


Obviously there are other programs out there. Others may argue that something may be better than what I have recommended here. I'm not going to argue. I'm just going to say, here are two great programs for getting rid of virus and malware that are worth their weight in gold, and not just because they don't weigh anything!
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Check Out The Links For Safety!

Check out the links! I'm not talking about a satellite link, not a sausage link, not even golf links. I'm talking about checking out web browser links to determine if they are safe or not. We receive links to all kinds of web sites in our email, Instant messages, and on our Facebook walls. Many of the links that we receive are actually phishing scams to either upload malicious software (malware) to your computer, or attempts to get access to your personal information.

Although we are wary of web links sent to us by strangers, we are inclined to trust web links and e-mail messages sent to us by friends and family. Creators of malware take advantage of us all, by appearing to come from the people we know. Malware sites draw traffic in an attempt to upload harmful software to your computer by using email and web links that take advantage of gaps in the browser or computer security. They try to entice the unsuspecting user to allow access to their computer by sometimes looking like a system message or security message from your own computer. Clicking the link, is the same as confirming permission for the evil intended web site to run programs on your computer.

So how do you check out a link before you click on it? The moment that you click the link, it may be too late to stop malware from attacking your computer. So, try using one of these sites to check out the links for safety.

Before you click it, copy and paste or type it into one of these sites to check if it's authentic.

1.  Norton Safe Web - http://safeweb.norton.com/
2.  McAfee SiteAdvisor - http://www.siteadvisor.com/
3.  PhishTank - http://www.phishtank.com/
4.  Online Link Scan - http://onlinelinkscan.com/
5  Dr. Web Online Check - http://online.us.drweb.com/?url=1

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