Help my computer is infected with a virus.
You hear this nearly every day from your friends and office colleagues.
Computer viruses and spyware are unfortunately widespread and are part of our everyday lives.
The best way to avoid or at least minimize the chances of your PC getting a virus is to install some antivirus software.
Some of the best performing and most effective free antivirus applications include: 1.
AVG Free Edition - The program has an easy to use interface which enables you to perform a virus scan with ease.
By default, it is configured to perform a daily virus and malware scan, which is a highly recommend task that all Internet users should do.
It features daily automatic updates to ensure the program is aware of the latest virus or worm that has been released on the Internet.
Overall, it is simply a great well designed antivirus application.
2.
Avira Free Antivirus - This program features a nice interface and includes automatic daily scheduled virus updates and scans.
The simple user interface makes scanning of your PC system easy and effective.
You can schedule when the automatic scans occur and its real time scanning keeps you safe from all malicious email attachments.
This is a great software package which I highly recommend.
3.
Avast Free Antivirus - With this latest version, the developers have updated the interface into a slick looking, easy to navigate software tool.
It features a super fast real-time antivirus and antispyware scanning engine.
The developers have made this version a more light-weight program, meaning that it uses less of your PC's system resources.
After you have downloaded it, you can run it for up to 60 days, and then you need to register your free version.
Overall this new version has a nice professional interface, from a software vendor with a long history in the Antivirus market.
4.
PC Tools Threat Fire Free - PC Tools have a very good name in Internet security products, and this free Antivirus software package is no exception.
It features a nice, simple to navigate user interface and has the usual automatic updates, and real-time scanning of virus and spyware.
This software tool is somewhat different from more traditional antivirus software packages in that it takes a more pro-active approach to virus threat detection.
Threat Fire pro-actively scans for suspected virus activity before the virus actually strikes or infects the PC.
This is an excellent feature for an antivirus program and it does this without using much of the PC's resources.
Overall, it is as good choice, if you want to take a more proactive approach to virus and spyware detection 5.
Panda Could Free Antivirus - Panda Cloud is a relatively new software product and it designed to run mainly of Windows Net books and the so called thin client PC's.
Due to the growing popularity of Net book style laptops, a free antivirus product like this is very much needed.
The main problem with running traditional antivirus software on Net books, is that due to their limited CPU and hardware performance, they can at times run somewhat slow.
This is where Panda Cloud comes into its own.
Although it lacks some of the features of other antivirus programs, it is a good choice for this next generation on Windows Net books.
Stephen Tracey is an IT Engineer with over 20 years experience in the IT Industry.
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