Keep Your Computer Safe with Any of These 8 Free Antivirus Programs It Pays to Be Cautious
We hear so much about people whose computers and phones have been hacked into. Their photos leaked and spread all over the Internet, financial and banking information used by other people and other personal accounts accessed by strangers. This does not even begin to sum up what happens when you do not protect your computer the way you should. The worst part is that many of us are not even aware of how much sensitive and personal information we have in there. Also, with so many free solutions on the market, we literally have no excuse for not doing a better job keeping out computers safe.
8 Completely Free Antivirus Programs You Have No Excuse Not to Know About
1.Avast
With experience in the antivirus industry since 1988, avast! Free Antivirus is probably the most downloaded program up to date. Protects your computer from threats you may pick up online, on your e-mail, from your files and even from private messages, and it can even guard against unknown threats. One downside to it is that it mainly works with your home connection and may not be recommended for commercial use. Also, there are periodic registration requests and ads, which must be expected with any free program.
2.AVG
With this program, you will constantly be asked to upgrade to the paid version and it may mildly affect the way your computer runs. However, it works perfectly and the upgrades brought of late make it rival with some of the top industry service providers. In a way, if the free version is so good, no wonder they keep asking you to upgrade to the paid version.
3.Bitdefender
Bitdefender is one of the best options on the market, both in its paid as well as unpaid versions. The free version managed to get a perfect score when it was tested and the best thing about it is that it did not even register false-positive hits, like files which it only thought to be a threat. Some reviewers have catalogued the program as not being open to customization and the type you download and leave to work on the background, completely forgetting it is there.
4.Avira
It is effective, highly customizable, it offers a wide range of add-ons and it does its job superbly. Avira Free Antivirus has an interface that is easy to use and it can compete with other paid antivirus programs. The best thing it has going for it is the fact that is can detect malware threats and not only viruses. You can even download it for the MAC operating system as well.
5.Panda
Panda has a good user interface and good results in detecting threats. However, it also turns out a lot of false positives, which is a minus. Otherwise, this is a highly customizable program, with a very small impact on your system’s performance. Will there be ads and promoted extra features? Yes. And quite a lot of those.
6. ZoneAlarm
The Zone Alarm firewall offers the optimum level of protection any computer needs. The program is licensed by Kaspersky and this already weighs enough given the company’s good name on the market. However, not all of the Kaspersky paid version program features are included, not even as a downgraded version in the free program. Also, there is not much independent testing to go by and the program keeps showing a lot of false positives.
7. Comodo
The program has a new user interface and it tested well in malware blocking. It protects your browser activity and is limits the impact of suspected programs. However, the program failed to detect hand-modified tests and it did not get great scores on some independent evaluations.
8.Windows Defender
You can get this program with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Its scores have improved considerably in time and it is worth taking into account now, along with other free antivirus options. It keeps turning up a lot of false positives, which is the trademark of a work in progress and it does not work on non-Windows browsers. There are no additional features and the system suffers a great impact during a full scan. Better than nothing, but not the best option out there.
Let’s be serious! We have all the fun of being online, connected with everybody, with a lot of personal information on display and open arms to the world. However, we never stop to think that it may also mean an open computer and connecting with people who do not have our best interests in mind. And apart from those who are deliberately looking for our personal information, there are also those who entertain themselves by creating viruses that block your computer, delete your information or do other nasty things. So why not take a moment and install one of these programs. They work silently, they do not impact our daily activity in any way and they are a great reminder of what is really out there, on the Internet.
