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The latest edition of the popular Avast anti virus software is here. The Avast Home Edition is a complete ICSA & Checkmark certified anti virus program. It is also certified by Checkmark for its anti spyware and anti rootkit bundled package. Avast boasts of its featured components like an On Demand scanner with a simple, easy access user interface. The skin can be changed according to your meticulous preference. What you do is just pick out the drive or media device to scan and then simply press the Play button, Voila! On Access scanner is one other feature. These are special providers that protect mostly available email clients, instant messaging and the Network traffic which detects easily, any intrusion. It is a light weight firewall. Peer to Peer protection for file sharing programs like Kazaa. Bit torrents, the most popular file sharing method. It has Web shield which monitors and filters HTTP traffic. It has Boot time scanner which scan disks in the same time as Chkdsk does in Windows. it provides a much more secure and prompt detection of trojans and rootkits.
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Antivirus software is an essential part of a computer’s ability to rid off viruses and malicious softwares. Online, there are hundreds of Antivirus softwares just waiting for you to be discovered. Some perform very well, others just lacks particular functionality. so to help you in choosing between these softwares, we’ll narrow it down to just a few.
Top 10 Recommended Antivirus Software Programs
- BitDefender - Softwin, which owns BitDefender, has been around since 1990.
- Kaspersky - Founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, the Moscow-based company.
- Norton Anti-Virus - Owned by global security giant Symantec.
- McAfee - McAfee is another big name in Internet security.
- F-Secure - Based in Helsinki, Finland, F-Secure has been in the computer protection business since 1988.
- Shield Anti-Virus 2007 - PCSecurityShield offers protection against viruses, hackers and privacy threats.
- Protector Plus - Proland Software offers virus protection with its Protector Plus package, compatible with Windows Vista.
- DefendGate - Canada-based DefendGate offers everything from protection against viruses and identity theft to office productivity suites and desktop accelerators.
- PC DoorGuard - This program is PC DoorGuard is designed for those looking to protect their email from spam, viruses, Trojans and worms.
- CA Antivirus - CA Antivirus says it provides software to 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies and boasts that it was the first antivirus software to be awarded certification with Microsoft Vista in 2007.
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Avast Home Edition 4.8.1229.80923 is a free antivirus, and it was released this year September 23, 2008. Even if it was just released less than a month (since the date today is Oct 8), 30,937,233 people have already downloaded this program at Download.com. Even the Editor of Download.com has given Avast Home Edition a perfect score 5/5. It just proves that Avast Home Edition is a program worthy for our attention. This program has the following workings, according to the publisher’s description: On demand scanner with skinnable simple interface, choose what you want to scan and just press the play button; On access scanner, special providers to protect the most of available e-mail clients; Instant messaging–ICQ, Miranda; Network traffic–intrusion detection, lightweight firewall; P2P protection for Kazaa, BitTorrent; Web shield–monitors and filters all HTTP traffic; NNTP scanner–scans all Usenet Newsgroup traffic and all operations with files on PC; Boot time scanner–scans disks in the same way and in the same time as Windows CHKDSK does.
Anti-virus software is responsible in treating your computer if it is infected by some viruses. It is like the first line of defense or immune system of your computer. It acts in order to destroy the found virus automatically and with instructions, you can heal the infected area. The effectiveness of anti-virus varies according to its type. There are two in kinds. The free ware and the one that can be bought online via internet access and applying for their payment basis using credit cards or visa cards. The one that is being sold on the net is more reliable because it has technical support and customer service. In other words, the extent of its effectiveness is efficient compared to the free ware anti-virus. Because the developer or the authorized distributor of that software will be held responsible in updating versions of the anti-virus software where in every version, there is a special feature making way to convenience of having an efficient and effective anti-virus software installed to update your computer everyday
Technically all computers all over the globe suffer form the attacks of computer viruses, Trojans and malicious software – from home-based units, small and medium-enterprises to giant business and even government bodies. The bottom-line is that the internet is a fertile land to do crimes. It only means that a considerably large amount of money can be illegally made from creating these viruses and distributing them over the network.
The damage done by these viruses and malware can reach to billions of dollars every year. And according to some research made by Computer Economics, the lost in the world economy is close to $18 billions and is having the trend towards a growth rate of 30% to 40% annually.
If you encounter a virus attack, do something at once to prevent the spread of the virus to your system. First, concentrate on the kind of virus to remove the malicious code. There are tools which are available online tailored for that specific virus causing the damage. Next is to see the range of the damage done. If the operating system is completely destroyed, you will have to reinstall. This can be done by using the quick restore CD that comes with your computer. But before you start the process, make sure that you have the necessary information like licenses, registration and serial numbers available. Then do a thorough virus scan of your network. Be sure your anti-virus software is recently updated and that your security patches are up-to-date to prevent future attacks.
The AVG free edition anti-virus is the most common used anti-virus software or protection tool. AVG is enclosed with automatic updates whenever you turn on your computers. In fact, for as long as the product lives, the user of this protection tool will be privileged to make use of it. AVG Free is trouble-free to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements). Special Features include automatic update functionality, AVG Resident Shield that provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.
In the passed few years, there has been computer viruses that took great effect on global economic growth. However, there are these viruses that have cause millions, worse, billions of dollars loss. Here are the top 10 most destructive computer viruses of all time according to techweb:
1. CIH (1998)
Estimated Damage: 20 to 80 million dollars worldwide, countless amounts of PC data destroyed
Unleashed from Taiwan in June of 1998
2. Melissa (1999)
Estimated Damage: 300 to 600 million dollars
3. ILOVEYOU (2000)
Estimated Damage: 10 to 15 billion dollars
4. Code Red (2001)
Estimated Damage: 2 billion and 600 million dollars (2.6B $)
5. SQL Slammer (2003
Estimated Damage: Because SQL Slammer erupted on a Saturday, the damage was low in dollars and cents. However, it hit 500,000 servers world wide and actually shut down South Korea’s online capacity for 12 hours.
6. Blaster (2003)
Estimated Damage: 2 to 10 billion dollars, hundreds of thousands of infected PCs
7. Sobig.F (2003)
Estimated Damage: 5 to 10 billion dollars, over 1 million PCs infected
8. Bagle (2004)
Estimated Damage: Tens of millions of dollars…and counting
9. MyDoom (2004)
Estimated Damage: At its peak, slowed global Internet performance by 10 percent and Web load times by up to 50 percent
10. Sasser (2004)
Estimated Damage: Tens of millions of dollars
The effect of computer virus is really serious because it can harm not only computers, same is true with the life of others.
Both spyware and a computer virus are forms of unwanted or malware (malicious software) that can be harmful and give nuisance to your computer. The difference is that spyware collects information without any notice or consent. Spyware will not actually harm or corrupt the data on your computer but as stated earlier, it can give nuisance because it takes control or your computer. Anti-virus programs or software cannot remove spyware, so there is still further study of some anti-virus developer to create an antivirus that also features anti-spyware. There is a lot of ways on how Spyware can be installed on your computer. One is via virus and another is by being secretly attached to the software that you want to install or download. Furthermore, spyware is a specific type of malware that collects information about you and your computer, without you knowing it. Meanwhile, virus is just a specific way of having spyware get into your computer and be secretly distributed via e-mail or instant messaging.
A firewall is like a guard that allows or prohibits intruders to the network. It has a control policy that indicates and dictates what should be denied and permitted to access the network in order to protect the network from any harm. It is a preventive measure and not completely the solution to viruses or any harmful things that can be acquired in the internet. It is designed to protect and not to heal infected data. Firewall is not able to do that. Unlike anti-virus software, it updates and scans the memory or programs when you reboot your computer. During the reboot, it can detect whether there are viruses, the location of the viruses and eventually cure it. Anti-virus software is designed for the purpose of healing and detecting harmful virus on your computer. In other words, even if the viruses had infected some parts of the data saved in your computer, it is still capable of adjusting allowing its features to cure the infected area. Compared to a firewall, it is designed only to protect and guard the network due to its control policy.
