Virus Software

   Amazing how a little thing like a piece of programming code can eat the words right off your computer screen. What can you do?  Your manufacturer provided antivirus software has expired and the latest and greatest virus is about to hit the world.  You begin to panic, but there is no reason to be alarmed.

Don’t despair!  There is hope for your computer.  Visiting your favorite legitimate download site you can find free antivirus software that will do the same job as the highest priced antivirus on the market.  There are a couple that are recommended by most computer analysts.  I will address them here, and give you tips on how to download and install the free antivirus once you have chosen which one you desire.

AVG: 

AVG Virus scan software comes in two flavors.  The free version and a heftier purchased version.  AVG can be downloaded for free and the installation is a little bit involved.  There is an identification number that you will be required to put in for the program to use, and configuring the software to automatically download updates during a time of day that you are less likely to be using the computer.  The update is non-intrusive except for a small update notification box that comes up in the corner of your task bar.  

Avira:

Avira is recommended by many popular IT gurus.  The download and installation is seamless and you don’t have to have a lot of configuration to get the updates to run automatically.  There is also a purchase version of this software too.  The one problem I see with Avira antivirus is that it pops up a window when you power up your computer, and it seems once a day at least, trying to get you to purchase their software.  A small inconvenience for a very robust free antivirus software.

Tips on installing any new antivirus software:

Before you install any new antivirus software on your computer it is important to uninstall any existing antivirus software.  Utilities like Trend Micro and Norton’s Antivirus come with most computers.  They only give you a teaser of 60 days at the most.  After that period then the virus updates automatically disable and you may think you are protected but you are not.  Removing this antivirus will make your new software installation go forward without any hitches.  

After the installation be sure to run the software right away to make sure nothing has sneaked into your computer and infected it.  As an added bonus both the software that I mention in the article come with a small anti-spyware feature too!  However if your antivirus software finds spyware you may want to also download a spyware removal software too.