Borolad1,
Re: iroc9555, Gargamel360, et. al., all good answers!
If you want to pay for a suite, check CNET, PC World, PC Mag, etc., for current reviews of best suite products out there. I think it best to buy a retail copy of the program you decide on.
Free versions are available as well. Avast! Home Edition Free (antivirus) is one I know, and since I am a member of this forum, one I work with all the time.
A little biased, I know!
You should know that Avast! is fast in updating newly released definitions on my system. It does it as soon as I connect to the internet.
Less than a minute to update!
COMODO Internet Security (Firewall only) Free also is updated regularly by COMODO, and works well with Avast! Greatest strength of this firewall is the Defense + feature that proactively blocks unknown executables or files from running on your system w/o your permission.
As COMODO maintains a file whitelist that is sometimes out-of-date, a file on your system may be flagged that is not malicious. Their upload feature usually will take care of that, and it is possible to manually set COMODO to trust that file anyway.
If you can, invest in a disk imaging program such as Norton Ghost, or if free,
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm. Clonezilla is one I hear of often.
You will be glad you did, should disaster strike.
Note I did not say if! It is only a matter of when.Another tool to use (actually two):
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ &
http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/Both of these programs will keep the versions of the programs you have installed up to the latest
OEM versions.
Do not install
beta versions of programs unless you know what you are doing.
For example, Java JRE version 1.7.xxx is still considered a beta. You will see this option when you run FileHippo Update Checker, for example. Always go to
http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp and only use the update checker to to check for out of date or obsolete software, not for the actual download of software needed.
Go to the actual website for the newest software needed. Use the above as a tool only.
You do not say, but the type of software is important.
If you have Windows 7 64-bit, then you need 64-bit software. If you have Windows 7 32-bit, you need 32-bit software. This is important, and can save you a lot of headaches in the future.
Wish you safe computing!
Be sure to use the link provided by Asyn. This is very important, as left-over files or services from your bundled antivirus programs will cause problems with whatever a/v you choose to install in its place. Download the a/v file first, disconnect from the internet, uninstall the a/v you do not want, reboot, install the new, and update and scan your system with the new a/v program. If the uninstallation results in no firewall, you need to address that first before you connect for the first time after installing.
