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.

If you are buying a new computer then there are many things that you will want to do with it once it is set up. These things that you would want to do are all different depending on your skill level with computers. If you are a person who is new to computers and has never owned one before, then you are probably going to try and get used to the machine as it is now before you do anything. If you are a person that has experience with owning a computer, then you are going to install some programs that you use on a regular basis and uninstall some programs that came with the operating system. But no matter, if you are a new person when it comes to computers or someone who has experience, there are certain things that you need to check for on your new Windows 7 operating system to make sure that it is going to be safe when you use it. In this article we will discuss these settings that you need to check.

The first thing that you need to look at

When you first turn on the computer, the thing you need to look at first is the default programs that are installed on it. Some of these programs are demos and they either offer limited functionality or they will expire in a week or a month. This is especially true for the security products that may come with the computer. Some people when they see that the program is already installed on the computer do not realize that it only works for a limited time and so they are not really protected long term. Make sure that you have an antivirus that is going to work for a long time installed on the system. If that means uninstalling the demo that is on there already and installing a truly free version such as AVG, then that is what you should do.

Make sure that your computer is protected from remote threats

Once you are certain that the software that came installed on your computer works or you have replaced it with a version that does work, your next step is to make sure that your computer is protected from remote threats. You do this by making sure that the firewall that came already installed into the system is running. Some people prefer to download new firewall software from other places but Windows 7 already has one installed in it. When you turn on the system, you need to make sure that the installed firewall is on if you haven’t replaced it already. You can go into the Network Control Panel and it will tell you if it is on or not. Most of the time, it will be on already but there are some cases where it is not.

These are the main two steps that you need to take when you purchase a brand new computer with Windows 7 on it. Windows 7 is a very secure operating system but you need to make sure that you help keep it secure by enabling all of the tools that it needs to stay that way.

All software must be upgraded, even your antivirus. When a person or a company creates software, they usually know that it is going to have to be upgraded in the future. So they work with technology that will allow them to easily do this. There are several reasons why a company must upgrade their software. The most common reason is because of the fact that they have made serious improvements to the software that warrants a new release. Also they might have you upgrade the software because there was a problem in the previous version that they could not address without you doing a brand new install. No matter the reason, you should always upgrade your software, especially your antivirus software.

Some people will confuse the fact that they updated their antivirus with upgrading their antivirus. When you update the software it just means that you are being fed new virus definitions to scoop out threats with. Upgrading means that you are installing a new version of the software. Updating your antivirus is always a good thing, especially when there are new attacks set loose upon the public every day. New updates seek to have the user’s antivirus be able to protect them whenever a new threat occurs. But an upgrade can make that protection even more efficient. Some upgrades will offer a speed improvement; others may offer better scanning of the latest antivirus. Other upgrades may include the fact that they can update you on a faster basis. No matter the reason for the upgrade, it is something that you should do and get in the habit of doing.

If you are a user of a paid version of a particular antivirus software, then you might have to pay for the new upgrade. If you want to be sure that you are getting the very best in protection then you should really think about paying the cost. Sure, in most cases you will still be able to download the updates for the latest antivirus definitions. But if you do not upgrade then you will still be missing the improved protection that the people who upgraded are sure to get. And when you are surfing the web, every little piece of protection really matters.

There are some things that you may have to worry about when an upgrade cycle comes around. You have to realize, when you are upgrading a piece of software, you are pretty much putting a new version of the software on the computer. This new version has the potential to go wrong. It may even conflict with something in the system that it didn’t before. This is especially true if you have an older version of the operating system. So before you upgrade the software, make sure that you have read the instructions and you have everything that is needed on a system that runs that particular software.

When you are running an antivirus on the system that you are using, it is a good idea to make sure that you are part of the upgrade cycle of that software. This will allow you to always have the latest in protection against the threats on the internet.

There is a famous saying, everyone gets a least 15 minutes of fame. But with the internet, that rule has been turned on its head. We all have a chance to be known now. With all of the media that we are able to create with our computers, your voice can easily be heard by the masses. There have been many people that have become overnight stars with the use of YouTube. The good way that we are able to become known over the internet is through the use of web cams. Web cam technology allows people to get a little look at our world. But if you are not careful with web cams, then they can offer people more of a look of your world than you intended them to see. That little gadget that allowed you to be social with people from around the world can be the same thing that destroys your privacy and leaves you more exposed to the public eye more than you would have liked.

This has happened to many people before. They have their web cam connected to a computer and chat through an instant messenger service like Yahoo or AOL. They then visit a web site where they are asked to download something. They download and install this program and nothing seems to happen. So the person decides that the program is no good and they forget about it. What that person does not know is that the program did work. The purpose of the program was to turn on your web cam and give whoever is controlling the program a free peak into your lifestyle. They then are able to record what you do without you knowing. All aspects of your life can now be put up to public scrutiny.

This type of prank has been around for a long time. Even though the protection software for these cameras is better than it used to be, these types of attacks still happen. Some of the attacks are done by kids who just want to get a free peep show. Other attacks are done by bad guys who want to be able to find out information so they can blackmail you with it. This means that if they catch you nude or doing something wrong on camera, they will threaten to release the video unless they are given money. This is not a fun thing for anyone to go through but it does happen.

If you are a person who likes to use their web cam a lot, you must check to see if it is on even after you turned it off. Make sure that there is nothing funny going on with it. Also you must make sure that you keep your computer secure. A good antivirus will be able to pick up if there are any of these types of programs trying to load onto your computer. Overall, if you keep your computer secure then you should not have to worry about your web cam.

We allow many things to access our computers these days. From the data that flows to our system from the internet, to the data that comes into our system from a USB disk or DVD, there are many ways that corrupted malware has a chance of entering our machine. We are used to hearing about programs from the internet being installed into our system and doing damage. This is the chance that we take when we hook up to the internet and install programs from a web site. That is why there are so many programs that are out there that will help you protect your system from intruders that may be able to access you through the internet. What about the other way that we may be able to pick up an infection on our system? There is more than one way that we install programs into our computer. Whenever we install a new piece of hardware onto the computer, we install new software as well. This may come in the form of a program that helps control the hardware or a .sys file that gives the hardware access to the operating system. It may not be as popular a topic but this is also a way that people are able to compromise your computer.

If you are running a new piece of hardware, when you install any programs that come with the hardware, you will want to scan it with an antivirus program. People who do not think twice about scanning a new program that is downloaded from the internet are hesitant to scan a program that is on a DVD disk. You should not trust anyone 100% with the safety of your data. We are not telling you to be paranoid but you should be highly aware of anything that you put on your computer. Installing a program, no matter if it is on a disk or off of the internet can change the way that your computer works completely. Make sure that it does not take you by surprise.

Even though we think of most malware as coming from the software side of things that is not the only place that corrupted code is able to hide. There is hardware out there that has malware hard coded into it. This is especially true in cheap hardware that you get from third world countries. Hardware such as cheap MP3 players and electronic picture frames may have malware hard coded into it. There have been many reported cases of someone’s computer becoming infected by just plugging in one of  these pieces of hardware to the USB slot of their machine. Not all cheap hardware is capable of this but there is a lot that is. Before you install cheap hardware of a dubious nature, make sure that you do a search on the internet for it. Check to see if anyone else is having problems with the hardware. If they are, you will usually hear about it very quickly.

Catching a virus from hardware install disk or the hardware itself is not uncommon. Make sure you are aware of this fact when you are using these types of products.

When we use our computer on the internet, we are allowing it to potentially be infested by one of the many dangers that float around on the World Wide Web. So to try and prevent that, we set up programs on our system that are supposed to seek out and stop dangers such as this. But even the latest updated antivirus will not be able to stop every danger that may be out there. This is why it is a good thing for you to know which part of your Window 7 system is a place where an infection or potential infection is most likely to hide. This way if anything strange happens to your computer and you are at a lost as to what is going on, you can check these areas to see if they are clean or not.

The first folder that you want to take a look at in your Windows 7 system is the “Downloads” folder of the computer. If you have downloaded anything to the system, then you know that by default it ends up here. So there is a good chance that anything that may be harming your system originated from this folder. Luckily for you, if the file is still in this folder and you have not accessed it beforehand, then there is a good chance that the infection can be easily removed. Programs usually have to have some sort of interaction to be installed. The method that this occurs is usually by double clicking on an .exe file. On rare occasions, a program can activate without any interaction at all. If the program in this folder is doing that, then deleting the .exe in the folder should get rid of all of your problems.

Another folder that infections like to hide in is the “Programs Files” folder. Whenever you install a new program, the .exe and other files by default are put in this folder. Many virus and other malware writers will rarely put their infections in this folder but some do and that makes it a good place to look. Or if they do put the files and .exe in this folder, then they will place it under a different name. So if you see anything in this folder that seems off and your computer is acting funny, then go online and Google some of the folders that you do not recognize. They may be your problem.

The last folder that you should check is the actual Windows folder. This is where the heart of your operating system is at. You should only access this folder if you know what you are doing. If you have never been in this folder before, then do not go in it now. Only go in if you are familiar with the files that are in this folder. If you are familiar and you see a strange name that you haven’t seen before, then it is again time to check Google.

Even if you know where to look at, you are still going to need a program that will able to analyze the files in the folders to see whether they are good or not. To do this, you can use an online virus scanner to help you out. Viruses can be tricky things; it helps to know where they may be hiding at.

If you are a person that worries about the set up of their computer, then one of the first things that you do is to make sure that everything is secure. As we all know, in the age of the internet, security is the most important things that we can think about when it comes to our computer. Earlier in the lives of home computers, there was no internet as we know it now. The main thing that we had to worry about was someone physically accessing our system. Now that is not the case. We have to make sure that we have the right software tools that will allow us to keep our computer safe when we travel down that road known as the World Wide Web. There are two key pieces of software that will help you do this. These software tools are known as a firewall and antivirus. If you are a computer beginner, you may have heard of these solutions but you might not quite know what they are. In this article we will walk you through what they do, and how you can use them to keep your computer safe.

When we talk about firewalls, we are talking about a program that guards the entrances of your computer. These entrances are known as ports and they allow you to have a connection with the outside world. Every day, the bad guys are looking for new ways to be able to get into your computer by using these ports. To prevent that from happening, you use this software to hold them off at the pass. If you set the software up right, then the bad guys will have a very hard time getting into your system. The only drawback to this type of software is that you are going to have to open up some of the ports of your computer. You have certain programs that need to be able to access the internet so you need to allow them a way through. This is known as port forwarding. Other than allowing port forwarding, all of the rest of your ports should be safe from intruders.

The most important piece of software that you should have on your computer is the one that we are about to talk about next. It is known as the antivirus and it is what keeps your computer safe from being infected. If you have watched the news at all, you will no doubt have heard about black hat hackers trying to infect your computer. They do this by putting little rogue programs on your computer known as viruses. These viruses can cause your computer to do a number of things that you do not want it to do. So to prevent that from happening, you can run a program called an antivirus that will detect them as soon as they are on your computer. This way you can stop them in their tracks before they do any harm. Antivirus is key to having a well secured computer system.

As you see, having your computer well secured is very important. If you have two of the software programs that we just discussed then you are on the right path.

When you are using the internet at home, you have to deal with a multitude of attacks that may be floating around waiting to strike. But when you have a corporate network that you maintain, you have to not only deal with the attacks that are already on the internet, but also attacks that may be created especially for you. Many black hat hackers see breaking through a corporate network as a big achievement. They know that a corporate network will have real security compared to a home user. So this means that when they are able to infiltrate past a corporate network, this will lead not only to more valuable data but also more esteem in the hacker community. To stop them, you must have not only the latest in software security, but the latest in hardware security as well.

When you have a corporate network that you have to secure, you have to make sure that your hardware firewall is one of the best in the market. A firewall becomes your mainline of defense when you are dealing with outside threats. Yes, you may have the latest in corporate security anti virus, but that is only good if the infection has already gotten past your first line of defense. You have to make sure that this doesn’t happen. So to avoid this type of intrusion from happening, make sure that your corporate firewall is top notch. A company such as Cisco will have what you need to keep your organization’s data protected from outside threats. Also, you can look into hardware that will scan the incoming emails for your organization. The email process is another way that attackers are able to get their malware on your corporate networks. So having a dedicated piece of hardware that will scan your incoming emails will help in being able to thwart the bad guys before they enter your system.

After you have the right hardware that is needed in protecting your organization, you are going to have to look at the right software solutions as well. When you are securing your computer at home, usually software is your first line of defense. But on a corporate network, it is used more as the secondary line of defense. The official back up just in case anything is able to get past your hardware protections. Also when you are looking at software solutions for a corporate network, you are not going to be able to use just the normal anti virus software. You are going to have to go with the enterprise edition since it is going to have to protect so many people. All of the top vendors have a enterprise version of their software that you can take advantage of.

But anti virus is not the only software that you are going to need when you are protecting your network. You are going to need some sort of enterprise anti spyware solution as well. While spyware can be just a nuisance on a home computer, on a corporate network it can give away lots of insider secrets. This is why you need to make sure that your network is protected from the tracking software that goes along with spyware.

To stop black hat hackers on a corporate network, you will need these tools to get the job done. As long as you make sure that everything is up to date and you should be fine.