A common topic of conversation I encounter is the matter of computer viruses. For a side note, when I say virus I am referring to all things troublesome such as viruses, spyware, malware, and so forth. Though they are different they are all harmful and so classified, by me, as viruses.
So it’s the same old thing. One day your computer is running fine; you are browsing the web, checking email, downloading music, and then the next day something is definitely wrong. Your computer starts up just a little too slow or there is some unfamiliar pop-up that will not seem to go away. More than likely this can be diagnosed as a virus.
As an employee at Best Buy and a former employee of Staples I am asked quite often which is the best route to take. Using free protection that is downloaded from the internet, or paying for anti-virus. Both can work, you just have to make sure you do it right. The easiest answer, though not always the cheapest, is to pay for you anti-virus.
I have had a good deal of experience with different Anti-virus software. There are the more common such as Norton, McAfee, and Webroot and some less known like CA, Kaspersky, and Panda.
Norton is a very effective Anti-virus, but at too great a cost on your systems overall performance.
No, the Anti-virus I suggest is Kaspersky Lab, one that I use at work as well as on all of my machines. Kaspersky Lab is also highly recommended by PC World Magazine, who gives it a 4 out of 5 star rating. The beauty of software you pay for is that everything you need is kept in one user friendly menu.
If you are looking for a cheaper route, be prepared to juggle a few programs for optimal protection. Many people ask me about Avast or AVG, both of which are fine programs. Others to consider are Spybot Search & Destroy, Malware Bytes, or CCleaner. Each one is unique and will help eliminate most problems, so you should use a variety of the mentioned titles to scan your computer. In such a case, set up your scans to alternate, in order to get maximum optimization.
The thing to keep in mind is that none of the mentioned software titles (both freeware and not freeware) are 100%. There are always people out there creating new headaches for all of us, and what might work today may not work tomorrow. So keep all of you software up-to-date and make sure your computer is scanned at least once a week, and that should keep you in good practice to keep your machine clean.
Brenton Niebauer has repaired computers for Staples EasyTech and FixedbyaGeek.com. He has attended networking and hardware seminars at PTI and has earned various certifications from HP. His tech site can be found at http://bniebauer.spaces.live.com.
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