Safe computer - for free?
The first thought when you read such title – is this possible? Yes and no. But you must do something about your computer security anyway. And I can assure that you be safe from 85% threats if follow a few these tips. In this article I’ll talk about WindowsXP, as I think it most used nowadays. And I think Windows Vista will not overtake the market in few years or so.
So let’s see what Windows XP operation system is offering to us:
First, unbelievable not secure browser, also know as Internet Explorer. By the way, Microsoft has realized new version of this browser - Internet Explorer 7. Yes, it has more beautiful design; tabs (finally!); new feature which checks if the page you’re visiting is safe; many good pages, that using secured connections solutions are blocked, yes it much safer that IE6, but this is not changing anything.
Second, with SP2 (Service pack) there comes such peace of software like Security Center and Windows firewall. Yes, those two (with a lot of patches and "magical" function – block/unblock) protect your computer. And protect very good, just need to answers the question: how those unknown programs get in to Exception list? I didn’t approve them, so how and why they are there?
Third (not so very security related thing). I didn’t understand the Add/Remove Programs tool. Because, it don’t work as should. When you remove the software you don’t like or for any other reason, usually you get the list of components that was not removed. Well hallo there, I didn’t care what components; I care why you don’t do what you suppose to do – remove programs. Also, we need to keep in mind, that most software that you install made some corrections to windows registry. And that tool doesn’t restore it too.
Also there are more unneeded components, but, I think, its enough for beginning.
So the very first think we all know to kept our computer safe is antivirus. Security Center also will remind you if you don’t have any install on you machine. But there is good news, in market we have strong competitors, and also – free (for home/personal use): There are few of them:
avast! 4 Home Editon – powerful, nice, and free system that will help you. "System" – because there are few software components, which closely monitor your PC (eating a bit of your computer resources of course). To be honest, in my opinion, nice design, those popup windows, and pretty voice are totally needless. If you get more than one malware at the time, you get so many warnings about it that it can despair not only but your computer also.
Other free antivirus you can choose is AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition . Design simple and functional. The antivirus software is faster, and virus removing is less complicated. There opinions that AVG Anti-Virus are "eating" computer resources, but I didn’t notice it.
You can also choose to use Avira Antivirus.
So we have antivirus software (Security center satisfied and didn’t bothering us), but we need software that protect us from other malware, like spyware, adware and other trash that comes to our computer. There are a lot of software to choose from, so my estimation will only subjective.
My choose - Spyware Doctor 5.0. It is free, but you need to setup it to work "live" and protect us real time, or search our computer for trash. I choose first option. First you may not find good antispyware with real time protection, and second there are line other good software which will check and clean.
For "check and clean" stuff I use Ad-Aware 2007 . After install can appear that software is not free, but if you hit Cancel in license windows, you can use it totally free. Of course some function will be disabled. But they replaced with Spyware Doctor. Those two software pieces are great team.
Other software you may consider to use:
Registry cleaner: Abexo Free Registry Cleaner will delete a lot of needless registry keys, and don’t bother asking me (other cleaner always asking me "do I need that" key). Also this tool makes backup copies, so you can restore you registry any time.
Don’t forget that Windows registry so big that it must be fragmented. During the normal operation of a Windows system, registry data is constantly being written to and removed from the registry. Over time this data becomes scattered within the registry file and when information is deleted from the registry holes are left which fragment the data within the registry. For registry compacting and optimizing (which thus improves the whole system performance) use Free Registry Defrag . Both tools are simple and easy to use, so use them frequently.
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