Security software on the computer usually starts with two things, the antivirus and the firewall. Whenever you hear a beginner’s tutorial on how to protect your computer from the bad guys, these are the two technologies that you will read about. The antivirus and the firewall are definitely some of the most important pieces of software that you can have on your computer but they are not the only two pieces of security software that should be installed. There are other software that will help you protect you computer just as much. We will take a look at this other software and help you protect your computer even more than you already are.

Find the ads and bad cookies on your computer

There is technology out there that some web sites use that will track your movements when you surf the web. They will send a pop up to your screen when you hit a web site that matches a certain keyword that they are looking for. You may think that the web site itself is delivering you the pop up but in reality it is the program that is installed in your computer. This is known as spyware and is something that can be annoying. Luckily for you there is software that is known as antispyware that will help you get this off of your computer. One of the most famous pieces of software that does this is known as Ad-Aware. If you want to make sure that your computer is protected from this kind of menace then this is great software to have.

Protect your password from the bad guys

When we visit a web site that needs a password, some of us usually just use the same password that we use everywhere else. This is never a good ideal and is something that can come back and haunt you. People do this because it is too hard for them to remember a bunch of different password. To stop that problem from happening to you, there are several pieces of software that will store your password in an encrypted database that only you can get to. One of the most famous pieces of software that does this job is known as KeePass. It, and programs like it, allows you to store multiple passwords and pull them up only when you need them. This is a great way to ensure your security when you are signing up to a new web site.

Protect your children from the dangers of the internet

If you have children then a security program that you should have on the computer is a monitoring program. When kids surf the internet they do not usually worry about security and this can mean bad things for them and your computer. They will see bad things that they shouldn’t and they may pick up some kind of infection that will stay on your system. To make sure that doesn’t happen to your system use one of the many children monitoring software that is out there. It will help them safe and give you piece of mind.

These are the top three security software that you should have on your system that doesn’t include antivirus and firewalls. This software with the combination of the other software mentioned makes an unbeatable combination.

Picking the right antivirus software for your machine can be a gamble. You can never be sure if you are picking the right one since you are not an expert in the field of computer security. It is even hard for you to know what you should base the decision on. They all seem to say that they do the same thing and the only noticeable difference that you can see is the price of the product. While you may look at it as a good thing when some of the prices are cheaper than the other, the same pricing scale might cause you suspicion when the software is free. We have been brought up to automatically think that free products are useless and if they were worth anything then they would cost some amount of money. That is not always the case when it comes to software. There is plenty of good software that is available for free including antivirus software. So we will take a look in this article and see if there is any real difference between free and premium antivirus software.

Is there a difference?

The quick answer to that question is no. There is usually no difference in the quality of software between the free versions and the paid versions. The long answer is that which software you are looking at makes a huge difference in the discussion. There are some high quality free pieces of antivirus software and there are some low quality ones as well. The same rule goes for premium versions of antivirus software. There are some good brands and there are some bad brands as well. It can be hard to tell the difference but you will find out if your computer is not well protected. If you want to be sure then take a look at reviews of the software.

Why is it free then?

Most free antivirus software is that price because of two reasons, one it is software that has an enterprise version and they want you to buy that one and two the free version is missing certain features. The free version of the software for the ones that have an enterprise version is just to get you used to the software itself so that you will buy a business license. Security software vendors are able to charge a business at a higher price than they can the average consumer so it makes sense that they give it away for free. You can consider it free promotion. The same is true for the software vendors that give away a crippled version for free. They want to sell it to businesses but they also want the regular person to buy it as well. So if you want to make sure that you have full protection then you must purchase the full product. The free product will not usually give you protection for things such as your email, real time scanning, and other things of that nature.

The quality of the software all depends on the particular software that you are talking about and not the price of the product. In the software world, there is a lot of software that is free.

Creating a secure computing environment can take some work but it needs to be done. It needs to happen so that you can make sure that you will not be affected by all of the bad guys on the internet. When you are looking for ways to make sure that your computer is safe, the first thing that you will hear is to make sure that your computer has antivirus software installed in it. They will then tell you what kind of antivirus you should have installed and then they will send you on your way. In this day and age that logic is not good enough for a person who is looking to make sure that they are safe. Having antivirus installed on your system is a good first step but it is not the only step that you need. We will take the time to tell you several other steps that you need to take to make sure that your computer is safe when it surfs the internet.

The firewall

The next thing that you should do right after you install the antivirus is to make sure that you have the firewall on your computer set up correctly. Firewall is the thing that is going to stop the intruders from having a look at your local network. If you cannot stop them then all of the secrets that you have on the computer will be exposed. So you need to make sure that your firewall is both set up on the operating system and on the router. This will mean that you have two firewalls protecting your system. One may be enough but two is even better.

The right software

After you have the antivirus and the firewall set up, now you need to take a look at the software that you use on the internet. This includes the browser, phone services such as Skype, instant messengers and any other thing that need the internet to work. You should make sure that there are no security warnings on the software. When it comes to the browser, make sure that it is one of the latest versions of the brand that you are using, especially if you are using internet explorer. If you are using Internet Explorer then there should be no version on your computer earlier than 8. The rest of them are not secure enough to be used as everyday internet devices. If you have to, you might want to think about switching browsers to one of the alternatives out there, Firefox or Chrome.

After all of this is done, you want to make sure that you add some common sense to the pot as well. A lot of the security risk that you will see on your computer will involve mistakes that you make. If you are careful and you have the right software installed then you should be safe on the internet.