This article will focus on how to get the best but free antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall for your computer. I only mentioned those three as they are just the only security tools you need when you start exposing your machine to the world (I’m talking about the world wide web).
I write based on my personal experiences and all software which I’m going to mention here are those which I’ve been using for years in short, well-tested!

AVG Free, The Most Popular Anti-virus

Who will disagree?

If you disagree, ask your friends, ask your officemates and ask me about this free anti-virus which is always available on the internet and on their website!

When did I start to use AVG?

I started to learn how to use the computer in 2004. That time, the term (computer virus) isn’t new for me. A friend, who was helping me on everything about my new computer has installed guess what, (Norton Internet Security) on my machine. At first, I didn’t care whatever software he wanted to install; and that anti-virus was just one of those ignored helpers. He told me that every 8:00AM, Norton is scheduled to scan the whole system and I would recognize it because when that time comes, navigation on my computer would become slower as it would require a big amount of my RAM “WHAT”? Because I’m just infant in using the computer, I’d easily accept it as I thought it’s normal because anti-virus carefully checks for any bad intruder hiding on my hard drive and to do this, it would need lots of my resources?

To cut the story short, after 30 days, the trial time has expired and Norton stopped functioning. That’s the time when I began to ask for any free alternative. Then, AVG, (the anti-virus I’m using until now) had been suggested to me by some people I know and from the results of my Google searches. To prove the authenticity of my own story, I want to remind you that the first website of AVG is not avg.com; if I really remember it correctly, grisoft.com was where I’ve downloaded the old AVG versions.

Performance of this anti-virus

If Norton takes a lot of your RAM, AVG is the opposite. I once set AVG to scan automatically every 8:00AM but unlike six years ago, I hardly notice when the process starts. Also, compared to Kaspersky (another security software), again, I hope you don’t get mad and bored, “it is free”! Well, that’s just a joke right there… In my personal opinion, if Kaspersky is very effective in fighting those bad instructions, so is AVG. And sometimes, AVG is the only anti-virus which can detect certain types of malware. The update process is also impressive for me as it’s done regularly.

Anti-spyware, The Difference Between Virus and Spyware

Spyware is a computer software that usually gets some information from the user’s computer without his or her consent. By its name you will notice that the job of this malware is to expose some security weaknesses on your system and spy for any activity like when you browse the internet and use a credit card for your online purchases. Like viruses, you can get it by installing free software from the internet such as games and other utility software for your computer. You will know if you already get infected if you experience any of the following:

• Slow internet browsing
• When you open a website, you are automatically redirected to another page
• Computer freezes, become frequent and without any known reasons
• strange messages on your screen asking you to click a link which will bring you to a website where you can get a free security software (most of the time fake software)
• Your homepage is changed without your permission
• And many more unusual activities

Now the recommended anti-spyware

Malwarebytes is a free anti-malware program which can be downloaded from this website. Like the other anti-spyware tools out there which require you to pay for their license key to fully activate the functionality of the program, the performance of Malwarebytes is almost identical or sometimes even better than the paid ones. Talking about their intelligent detection process, any harmful sets of source code on your computer will surely be exposed and terminated for you! It can trace almost anything from viruses, adware, malware or any type of spyware. Malwarebytes also offers a real-time protection but you also have to get a license key for this but I think it’s not really necessary as this functionality (real-time protection) is already available in AVG free.

How about your firewall? Is it really important?

Yes it’s important like anti-virus. Firewall prevents any unsolicited connection coming from outside of your home network or even within your own network. For instance, any computer that is attempting to connect to your computer and intentionally or unintentionally install viruses or any malware will be blocked based on your firewall settings. It will analyze any traffic sent from outside and prevent any activity if it’s unusual. To clarify, firewall doesn’t trace viruses but it can stop the source if it displays strange behavior. But what if not? That’s the time when your anti-virus will come into play. This is the reason why you should regularly update your anti-virus or any security software on your computer to prevent these kind of attacks.

Recommended firewall

Any security software you can find on the internet which offer bundled products has firewall included most of the time. Like the paid version of AVG, Kaspersky, Norton, Spyware Doctor, McAfee, Zonealarm, etc. But my recommendation is not included on that list. Why? Because I only recommend free software which is the most popular thing to do anyway. Just kidding. But what’s that firewall I’m talking about? The answer can be found on Windows operating system! Yes! It’s the Windows firewall!