Les Jones: Free Windows Security Software

July 31, 2008

Tech > Free Windows Security Software

Tam's post about computer security prompted a comment that grew too long, so I made it a post here. Here are some free Windows security apps you might be interested in.

Last year someone turned me on to Iobit's Advanced WindowsCare and I like it. It checks for spyware, bad registry settings, and general Windows optimization. The personal edition is free. One tip: WindowsCare doesn't automatically check for updates. Before you run it each time you should click on the Options menu and choose Update to make sure you have the most current version of the program and threat database.

I've used Microsoft's free Defender anti-spyware software since it was first released. It's stable and updated frequently.

My PC repair guy recommends AVast as a good, free anti-virus solution that doesn't slow down your system. I'm going to give it a try when my McAfee subscription runs out.

As far as Web browsers, Firefox has generally been more secure than Microsoft Internet explorer and Firefox 3.0 has even better security. I got a comment on my blog today that smelled like spam (pardon the pun). I followed the link to check it out and Firefox warned me I was loading an attack site and asked if I was sure I wanted to continue.

For WiFi security, this is a pretty good selection of advice.

Posted by lesjones | TrackBack

Comments

I've been running the Iobit AWC for awile, and I also still like CCLeaner, a/k/a Crap Cleaner, from www.ccleaner.com. It doesn't do the seprate spyware thingie, but I have run it behind AWC and it finds more stuff to clean up than AWC does. It, too, is freeware, and I've got most of the folks on my team running it..both, really. I've seen dramatic improvements with the two after cleaning up user laptops.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Posted by: Rabbit at July 31, 2008

i have been using avast at home on all my systems and it works great, auto updates often and does not seem to load down my system.

Posted by: dagamore at July 31, 2008

I regularly run the following programs to keep my machine running smoothly.

CCleaner
Defraggler (100 times better than the installed windows defragmentation function)

Spybot Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware
AVG Anti-virus

All are free. I generally run CCleaner first so the junk files are gone before I run the scans. No sense scanning things that don't need to be there in the first place.

Posted by: Laughingdog at August 01, 2008