Where can I get a totally free virus search program?

Question

I sent an e-mail to an Aunt of mine. It made her computer crash. I just need to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Answer 1

There are many different free Internet Security software programs out. AVG is very good, but there are others too. If you go to this website you can find all sorts of freeware and shareware software programs, and you can read reviews of them before deciding to use any of them:

http://wwwcnet.com/downloads

Look to the right and you will see a series of sections each one addressing a different computer utility.

You can also run a couple of free scans from your browser here:

http://www.pandasoftware.com

Look for the free virus scan at the left down, usually towards the top of the white area. There is also a great Spyare scan which scans for and removes the top twenty worst and most aggressive spyware infestations. Each month the list is updated as more Spyware come out which is worst than some of the last months entries.

I use both of these programs along with my Panda Internet Suite 2007. It is just good sense to use what tools are available in the fight against infestation. These days crooks are getting ever more skilled at invading and infecting home and office computers, and the goal these days is not to do a lot of damage but to harvest personal information in order to identity theft somebody and to access bank accounts ect. However, after they harvest the information and e-mail the malware to everyone in your address book, or other contact list, they usually, out of spite, cause the computer to malfunction or crash. Many of these viruses and trojans are also used to create "zombies" which are computers taken over remotely and used to send out huge amounts of spam. The victem often is unaware of the take over until their ISP cuts off their e-mail program and the victem then has to prove it was not s/he who did the spam mailing and that their compputer was a victem of Zombie take over. Sometimes even then the ISP refused to give back the account(s).

Good for you that you want to safeguard your system from these attacks. Please keep in mind you can only have one firewall and one Anti-Virus software program installed at one time. Also, if you install a Firewall and Anti-Virus program please be aware if you decide to remove it from your system you will need to contact the manufacturer and attain a Special Removal Tool.

These types of programs have to embedd deeply into an OS in order to carry out the function of protecting the system. Due to this deep embedding, the Add/Remove applet which is used in Windows to remove software programs is inadequent for the removal of these sorts of software programs. Also be aware that often manufacturer's will have two versions of the tool and you need to strongly insist on the Full Removal Tool and not get the Partial Removal Tool. These manufacturer's use these two different tools for two different removal situaitons. The Partial Removal Tool is for situations where a reason has come up for the removal of the program but the customer intends to re-installl the program. This tool does not fully remove all componants/files/ folders and Registry keys and settings, but rather just removes enough to enable the customer to do whatever maintanance is needed and then the re-install is easier to manage.

If you do not fully and completely remove these types of programs and then install a different manufacturer's solution the one which is left behind will cause interference with the new program causing it to not be able to fully protect the system, and at worst will cause instability and even crash the OS. So, just make sure you get the neccasary tool to fully remove the program.

You can have multiple Spyware/Spamware and other Malware programs on your system at any one time, but only one Firewall and one Anti-Virus program.

Good luck and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

AVG Antivirus
at Girsoft.com

Answer 4

He means http://www.grisoft.com