 |
 |
*ONLY install one anti-virus program on your computer! Make sure to never click the paid advertisements on the side of websites they will almost always infect your computer.
AntiVir - Free to Home Users with Ads - Download Here (Only click the link that says "Download Latest Version". Never download CyberDefender or PC-Tools or Security Tools - it is spyware)
This anti-virus is by the far the best we have ever seen. It has consistently been the top anti-virus program for actual detection and removal of viruses for the last 3 years straight. We have recently switched our customer’s computers from AVG to Antivir due its exceptional detection and removal rate. The only real gripe we have is whenever it does an update it does display an advertisement for the full version of the software. The full version is only $27 / year and does offer some nice features such as faster update servers and an active web shield for spyware / malware.
AVG Anti-virus - Completely Free to Home Users - Download Here (Beware ads on any download site)
In recent tests we have seen AVG's detection rate of spyware go too low for us to recommend. When AVG improves this which we are sure they will we will most likely recommend this as the main anti-virus / anti-spyware program to use. Despite it's lower than acceptable spyware detection rate, AVG's virus detection rate is still one of the best available.
*Note* AVG 8.5 was recently released and now is also available for free. If you are currently using AVG 7.5 / 8.0 free edition than you will have to go to AVG's page and download AVG 8.5 free and install it on your PC.
AVAST! Anti-virus - Completely Free to Home Users - Download Here (Beware ads on any download site)
We have not personally done a lot of testing of this software but we have heard very good things. If you do not like AVG for any reason we would suggest trying this software out.
|
*Multiple anti-spyware programs can be installed
Windows Defender - Completely Free - Download Here
This anti-spyware program runs itself! With automatic scans and automatic updates this software will keep you protected fairly well with minimal user input.
Spybot Search & Destroy - Completely Free - Download Here
Probably the best anti-spyware product out there. We cannot fully recommend this product to our customers because it is not an automated program. You must update it and run it manually. If you are having a lot of problems with spyware, we suggest you download and run this product along with Windows Defender.
Malwarebytes - Free for most features- Download Here
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application that is able to get rid of some of the biggest current threats such as Vundo and Smitfraud. Whether you know it or not your computer is always at risk of becoming infected with viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and malware that are constantly evolving and becoming harder to detect and remove. Only the most sophisticated anti-malware techniques can detect and remove these malicious programs from your computer.
SuperAntiSpyware - Free for most features - Download Here
SUPERAntiSpyware is the most thorough scanner on the market. Their Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware that other products miss! SUPERAntiSpyware will remove ALL the Spyware, NOT just the easy ones!
SpywareBlaster - Completely Free - Download Here
SpywareBlaster only needs to be run to block cookies and spyware. It does not need to run in order to work, keeping your system free of one less startup program. Opening SpywareBlaster weekly and updating it is all that is needed. Our tests with SpywareBlaster showed it to be very effective at blocking many known web “bugs”. The great thing about this program is that it blocks malicious things before they ever can be installed. You just install the program and set it up to block all known spyware / cookies and that is it. Combofix is a freeware (a legitimate spyware remover created by sUBs), Combofix was designed to scan a computer for known malware, spyware (SurfSideKick, QooLogic, and Look2Me as well as any other combination of the mentioned spyware applications) and remove them.
Combofix - Completely Free - Download Here
Combofix is a freeware (a legitimate spyware remover created by sUBs), Combofix was designed to scan a computer for known malware, spyware (SurfSideKick, QooLogic, and Look2Me as well as any other combination of the mentioned spyware applications) and remove them. |
CCleaner - Completely Free - Download Here
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It will remove un-used and temporary files, safely from your system. It can also easily clean your registry, remove unwanted programs, broken entries in your add / remove programs, and best of all it can remove startup entries from the most common locations. This is a great piece of software that we highly suggest. |
If you are using AVG Anti-virus and Windows Defender they will run a scan each and every night. If you do not regularly leave your computer on, then we suggest leaving it on at least one night a week so scans can be completed. These programs will clean most viruses and spyware on their own, but it is a good idea to pay attention to the logs of the latest scans. In the AVG test center you can click the results tab at the top of the window. If all of your scans are green then you are okay, if any are red you may want to check them to make sure AVG was able to remove the virus completely. Some viruses are very difficult to remove and you may have to read online how to manually remove a particularly nasty virus. We also suggest running CCleaner and Windows Defrag once every 2 weeks. At this time, any other anti-spyware program you use should be run as well. At the very least, all of these program should be run once a month.
Anti-virus scans - Once every week
Anti-spyware scan - Once every week
CCleaner - Once every two weeks
Windows Defrag - Once every two weeks |
|
|
