Tips on free or commercial anti-virus softwares

Posted on November 9, 2009
Filed Under Blogging, General | 2 Comments

Antivirus softwares

Antivirus softwares

An unknown hacker has given me a nightmare hacking my server and injecting malware. Sadly, damaging one file has jeopardized almost 40% of my entire server, including websites of my clients. Well, one cannot complain, these are part and parcel of the Web 2.0 era. As a victim of this unmanly act, the first thing that I had to perform before checking my server was to clean my system and ensure it is safe. The big question was “Is my anti-virus software impotent”.

I had received couple of emails earlier asking for good anti-virus softwares. Frankly, I have been using a free one and have never, ever, paid for any softwares that I have hitherto used. It is a very careless and substandard attitude. I realise when it comes to the security of your computer/website one must apprehend the importance of never compromising with ‘free’ stuffs. Sometimes, yes you will have to shed a couple of $$, but prevention is better than cure.

An internet security lab has identified 31,61,380 malwares, 10,526 phishing sites and 1,21,272 suspicious sites. This is a clear indication of the need for potent anti-virus softwares that can prevent, detect, and remove malware, including computer viruses, worms, and trojan horses. Spending hours on your computer, browsing hundreds of websites, it is very vital to have potent software that is capable of rooting out harmful substances. You might even be unaware that your system is infected. Most of the trojans/malware once enters your sytem, goes undetected, then slowly, silently they start eating your space and devitalizing your computer’s performance.

So what is the best anti-virus software? Should one use a commercial service? Or can I just download a warez/nulled software that can have the exact same features, strength of a paid one available for free from ‘underground/illegal websites’. I should confess, I have been very stingy, and have never paid till today for any anti-virus programs. Mostly I have used the warez sites to download commercial ones illegally. However, lately I have avoided this, and have clasped with a free software downloaded from the net. There are tons of free softwares, but what I would recommend is ‘AVG antivirus’. If you lack money to own a commercial one, better to download the free AVG antirvirus from – http://free.avg.com/. My personal experience with AVG has been awesome and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a trusted security software. Interestingly, after I installed a commercial one and checked if there were still major infections which the free software could not identify, I was surprised to find, it was just sparse.

Alright, now if I have a free anti-virus, will this do? This, you will have to ask yourself. Free anti-virus softwares perform 80% of what commercial softwares render. However, the rest 20% still has the potential to perplex you. So instead of a comprise, if you are a webhead, a net freak glued to your internet, I recommend that you own a commercial anti-virus. You might also be confused if your free softwares have been missing some major virus/malwares entering your PC, so what to do? Just visit www.kaspersky.com and download the trial version of internet security 2010. Kaspersky is one of the best commercial anti-virus softwares, dedicated to combat the evil of internet, having regular updates and strong firewall protection. If you download the trial version, you have 30 days trial period, and fortunately even the trial version is capable of disinfecting the malware/virus detected on your PC. So do not hesitate to download a trial, at least better to make sure your system is free of any major infections.

If you are satisfied with the trial version, all you need to do is buy a license to make it commercial. The keys for unlocking the trial version can be downloaded from many illegal sites, but I would bar you from doing this. It might only be valid for a day or a week, but on the long run, your downloaded key might get blacklisted. On the Kaspersky website, there is an online store you can purchase a key. It costs around 1,500 Rs. I would suggest you to have a valid version of Kaspersky.

Safe browsing! If you still have questions, all you have to do is comment.

Adios ~ SAM

Comments

2 Responses to “Tips on free or commercial anti-virus softwares”

  1. Ganesh on November 10th, 2009 9:14 am

    Tx very much for this article. I have decided that kaspersjy is the best. But sam iam very poor and i dun think i can buy a key after 30 day trial period, can you unlock the program someway for me? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i beg you

  2. Indianiser on November 10th, 2009 2:24 pm

    Well Ganesh, I have already mentioned that using an illegal software would do no good on the long run. Is paying 1500 Rs a big deal? Better to get a valid key for a year. However, since you desperately asked for one, suggesting you – p o r t a l i z dot com.

    Good Luck!

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