If you surf the internet regularly, open the occasional spam email, or noticed your computer acting funny lately, and you don't have a virus killing program, chances are you have a virus. If you think the only way to protect yourself from viruses is to pay a monthly fee to Norton or McAfee, I'm here to show you a better way.There are a bunch of services out there that offer "free" virus scanning. If you go to a website like Veloz or StopSign, they'll scan your computer and tell you that you have a virus, then they will try to charge you a fee to buy software that will eliminate it. I do not like these people. I have scanned my computer after testing with them, and what they downloaded onto my computer was listed as spyware/malware - which is ironic.
Without further delay, I'll show you my best pick to hunt down and kill the software which those sick people so lovingly give you to make your life hard. Its AVG anti-virus, and can be found here:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
It is developed by GriSoft, and is completely free. They have other editions that offer more protection and support, but for run-of-the-mill computer users, AVG free is all you will ever need. No monthly payments to Norton or McAfee. Don't you just love saving money?
I would like to share a personal account about how much this program helped me. A friend of mine called me up one day and said his computer was acting up. I asked if he had any virus programs, he said he had Norton, but it hasn't been updated in about 4 years. In my head I'm secretly thinking "OH MY GOD", and this will suck. After I miraculously got AVG to install on his crippled machine and started to scan its contents, it found no fewer than 700 infected files after only a half hour. It kept scanning and scanning and scanning until finally i left it alone, went home, and returned the next day. It had found a few thousand infected files, processes, registry values, and countless other nasty objects. I then removed these and his computer actually worked fine for the first time in about a year.
Viruses are not the only programs that can harm your coputer. Spyware and Adware can also cripple your beloved machines. A free solution to this comes in the form of Spybot: Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware. Both can be found here:
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html
If you have a crippled PC, these three programs will give it a fighting chance to live. Enjoy.
