Free vs. paid security software

dear friend you should know that nothing is for free in world you have to pay a lot if you want to buy free things In evidence you can take this example if you take any free thing it will take you cost a lot not to buy it but make it in use so please be payee and relax that you are buying and you have a powerfull right of complaint
Thanks for question Have a nice day

I have used both paid for and free.
The problem is two fold, the free stuff comes with other things added like for instance 'AVG antivirus and some Addware' where the paid for stuff attracks hackers and others that know the programe loop holes and exploit them. Also in some of the paid for stuff you get things happening to your PC that you might not want, for instance with 'Regcure' I found that some of my 'free stuff' or settings were removed or changed.

Try this
CNet have 'AVAST antivirus' you can download, its good and it also talks to you which is a little cool.
Also there is a download called 'Error Nuker', might need to google that, it checks your registry and other bits and corrects them..........though I still run RegCure from time to time.

The best thing to think about is 'where and how' do you get Viruses and Addware and the answer is usually from the Web pages you go to and the things you download, not to mention sharing floppies and files ( that includes some music sites)
You have done the right thing though and that is go to a trusted forum and ask and remember you only get what you pay for and everything has a price to pay.
VN

Jasmine, no program, antivirus or antispyware is perfect. Some programs miss what others get and vice versa. I believe the free programs are just as good as the ones you pay for. AVG, Avast!, and BitDefender provide good antivirus programs. Spyware Blaster, Spyware Terminator,Advanced Spyware Removeer, and Spycatcher Express are effective. Jasmine, why don't you try some of the free software and supplement it by running online scans such as Trend Micro House Call, BitDefender free online virus scan, PC Pitstop, or even Symantec's Security Checks? I'm sure that the combination of a good free antivirus and antispyware programs with regular scans with the above mentioned online virus and spyware scans will give you the necessary coverage that you need.

I have been using various PC Security system including McAfee, Symmantic, Trend Micro PC-cillin, and Zone Alarm Pro, all of which have virus checking and screening along with monitoring what comes and and tried to get out of the computer. All of which, also, have an annual or bi-annual license renewal. Usually I have started with the security software that came with the computer, but when renewal time came, I have often switched to a new system. For years, I was happiest with ZoneAlarm Pro, followed by Symmantic with its Live Update. Along with whatever security package I used, I also used AdAware SE Plus and Spybot Search and Destroy, which I ran weekly; I always found something that got through and needed to be removed. Spybot also monitored attempted changes to my registry and required approval.

Most recently I ran across the free security package from COMODO and installed it on my laptop when the Symmantic package came up for renewal. Once installed and trained, it provided as many or more protective actions as had any of the other packages I have used, and it updates daily. So can a free package be as good as a commercial package. If you consider Spybot free (although you shouldn't) and the COMODO package, the answer is yes. Of course, since the software is never done, I could have an altogether different answer next year to this same question. But, maybe not.

I have tried free ZoneAlarm and AVG antivirus together and have had no problems at all. Give them a try before you invest any money in paid for programmes, it is worth a trial and both are free!

Hi Jasmine,

You're not the only person who finds the huge number of security products, all claiming to be the best!, to be overwhelming. There are a lot of products available that are useful and just as many not so useful and, unfortunately, some that are down right harmful. Luckily, there are some people have put in hours and hours of research and testing of security products just for folks like you and me who wouldn't know where to start nor how to proceed if we did get started.

You can google search for some of these reviews and comparisons, I'm sure there are many here on CNET. Or, I would suggest one place that you look at is techsupportalert.com where the author has done extensive testing on free security products and offers his advise on free and pay software, what they actually do, which one(s) are the most useful and how to use the different types of products in concert to provide the best protection.

Go to the article "How Good are Free Security Programs?" and this link you to all five parts of the article.

Hope this helps!
Kartemy

Well, Jasmine, let's jump right to the bottom line with the statement that whether you're looking for anti-virus, anti-spyware, or firewall software (and I assume you do want all three) there are free products out there in all categories that are solid options well worth considering. I think you are perfectly safe ignoring whether a product is free or is one you pay for when making a decision about what's right for you. Read the reviews, get advice from other users, do your due diligence in whatever way suits you, and then go with the product that you've decided best meets your needs, regardless of whether or not you have to pay for it. There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with free software. Like commercial software it may be very good or simply awful!

That being said let's look at your questions. How do freebie companies make money? In a few cases they don't. Some, like the Linux crew, are simply doing it for the love of creating software. On sites with this type of software you'll often see the opportunity to make a donation to help pay their hosting expensees, but the software itself is always free. Like any other software it can be very good, very bad, or anywhere in between.

In most other cases the free software is put out there by commercial software enterprises. This freeware is usually a somewhat stripped down version of their commercial product. They make their money from people who try the free product, like it, but decide that the commercial version has enough extra features to be worth buying. So in one sense the free version serves as a trial before paying for the full version. In other words the company is offering you a free lunch, while hoping you'll choose to stay and pay for dinner. But in many cases you may decide the freeware is all you need. A close reading of the comparisons on the vendor's web site may show that the added features in the full version are not anything you particularly need. And it may even be, if you're not interested in managing lots of features, that the full version will be less to your liking than the freebie.

You also wanted to know whether the free products can really be as good as the commercial ones. As I've already indicated, there are good, bad and indifferent products in both camps. Whether or not you pay for it really is not the main issue. It is probably true, though, that you will get more features in a major commercial program. However, this can be a negative as much as a positive, as the big commercial companies have to keep adding new bells and whistles to their products to keep the new sales rolling. This leads to feature creep, which means software gets more and more complex, while not necessarily getting any better. Depending on what you're looking for, a major, feature-rich application may or may not meet your requirements.

There's also the third option, between free and pay, which is the time-limited free trial. This is commercial software that you will pay for if you want to use it beyond the trial period, but that allows you to run the full-featured product for a limited time, frequently 30 days. Unfortunately the well-known big names in the security field don't seem to offer this option (at least none that I know of). I recently purchased a full internet suite from one of the big names that had received a very good review here on C-Net. In my opinion it stunk, and it's no longer on my system, but they've got my money! Instead I am currently running a free firewall, an initially free anti-spyware program that I opted to pay for the full version, and a 30 day trial on an anti-virus program that I will probably buy when the trial period expires.

As you've probably noticed, I've avoided naming specific products, as my personal preferences may be just the opposite of yours. The most specific advice I'll give, from my own sad experience, is avoid buying a product you can't test drive, unless you're absolutely sure it's the one you want. With free or free-trial software your money stays in your pocket either forever or at least until you know for sure that this is the product you want. I do think that the major players have gotten too top-heavy and complacent, and taht there are some great new products out there that just might take them down a peg or two!

One final warning, though, on free software. Don't install anything on your computer unless you have verified from reviews on reputable web sites (such as this one) that it is safe and legitimate software. Then be sure to also download it only from its official site or a reputable download service. The net abound with so-called anti-spyware and anti-virus programs that are the exact opposite and are just waiting to infect your system. That being said, I hope you'll choose to investigate the world of free security software and free software in general. Good luck!

i think you should just renew your account to your client, yeah i agree with you that there are many freeware anti virus, anti spy/adware now, but may i say this to you, most freeware has not every programs or utilities or specs found in full versions of the said softwares, and most of it it has a limited time of use, mostly 30days trials only, that sucks!! I will choose to stay to renew the account in your service provider cause it has many advantages unlike in most cases, example.. upgrades, add ons, customations etc etc.. besides I myself cant stand to see the message pop up everytime I boot my pc if i choose to use an freeware software, (30 days remaining of use, that kind of message) so stick to your provider and im sure it do more better that freeware, not to mention it has less custumation and utilities that maybe helpful in your pc, (freeware dont have like that unless you purchase the full version of it..)

anyways i hope that my opinion gives you more understanding about freewares and full versions..

by the way, pardon my grammar ok? im asian..

sincerely yours..
Red

I've used AVG free edition (free for non-commercial use) anti-virus for several years and have to say that I think it is hugely better than norton or macafee. The interface is cleaner, it slows the computer down less, doesn't have annoying pop-up bubbles, the updates are more frequent and download really fast, and the software doesn't treat you like an idiot.

It's caught all the email viruses I've received through Outlook.

In my opinion it's a fantastic marketing method - make the software free for personal use, but charge for business use. People use it on their home computers, see how much better it is than the software they use at work, and therefore migrate to the business version for work. For certain, my first choice for business stuff is currently AVG.

I'm also pretty happy with AdAware SE Personal, for spyware removal.

Hi Jasmine,
I was in a similar predicament about less than a year ago, when I was struggling with an ancient laptop I found at the back of the cupboard.
Due to the limited resources of RAM and hard disk space, I was unable to run a commercial security suite, and another application simultaneously. So I started looking into freeware alternatives to commercial software, and what I found was a staggeringly large choice of free software that run equally as well as, and sometimes even better than, their commercial counterparts.
The only major loss of opting for free software, is the loss of technical support, however this is hardly a drawback, as there are tons of forums online that provide better technical support than the commercial generic answer "Restart your machine".
So what do you need to be secure online? As a personal home user, mainly all you need is a decent antivirus, firewall and malware prevention software.
If your machine is running Windows XP or Vista, then the simplest option for a firewall is Windows Defender which is a free firewall from Microsoft that has all the backing of Microsoft. (You must have a genuine copy of Windows for this) Another extremely popular choice for a firewall is Comodo which is a very robust firewall and comes with a well-designed intrusion detection system as well.
For an antivirus, you can't go wrong with AVG Antivirus Free Edition. This product has been continuously refined since it was first released in 1991 and the recently released V7.5 makes further improvements to an already solid product. Additionally, it's relatively small, light on resources, has regular automatic updates and handles email scanning. There is a free and a pro version, the only difference being that the free version has a few non-critical features disabled and has no direct technical support. Equally effective is the free Avast! scanner.
Finally a malware/spyware prevention and removal tool; now Windows Defender does, to an extent, provide excellent malware prevention. But to be completely safe about it, I'd recommend Spyware Terminator. Unlike Windows Defender it works with all versions of Windows so it's the stand-out choice for Windows 9x users. It's no slouch either. Like Windows Defender it has strong active protection. Indeed with its built in HIPS system that warns you of any unrecognized intruders, it has stronger protection against unknown threats than the Microsoft product. Spyware Terminator has it's own spyware detection engine but gives you the option of using a second engine based on the open source ClamWin antivirus program. On the downside Spyware Terminator is slow to scan and can slow down your PC a tad.
Hope this long essay helped. Also, if it helps, on my own new personal laptop which is running Windows Vista, I only have AVG Antivirus Free Edition and Windows Defender, thus a completely free personalised security suite.

-Mayank

Jasmine,

I used to use a paid suite to keep my computer safe from viruses, malware and spyware. I now use a free set of tools from Grisoft (free.grisoft.com) that is also available from CNET's Download.com. They have paid versions of the software as well, but what you are getting with the paid version is the support from Grisoft. I have found that the AVG products find more and don't eat up computer performance. What I used before would slow my computer down and became a problem. Many of the free utilities are as good or even better than their paid counterparts. These companies make their money through their paid support programs and by also having versions that are for servers or packages for large organizations that are sold in bulk. The free versions are for the general public and I would have to say that Grisoft's AVG does a fantastic job, I use it exclusively now.

My best advice is to check them out and read up on them. See what other community members have to say about the software they chose. The community rankings are an excellent way of making your choice.

Chris S.

Hi jasmine, I have been using a computer for a few years now and after my trial security suit ran out I also looked around to see what was available with the upshot that I have been using AVG free edition from Grisoft for a while now and have found it quite acceptable for myself. They also give free antivirus updates on a regular basis. Also there is a fairly good free firewall called comodo personal firewall which you can find at comodo.com. As for spyware etc try spyware terminator and spybot search and destroy (Lavasoft) both which are free also. The only warning that i can give is you get what you pay for but it must be worth a look. J

Jasmine

Welcome to the endless? possibilities in the free world. One thing to remember is that those all-in-one packages take up enormous amounts of ram. Make notes before you start on how much ram you are using. Control+Alt+Delete and look in the processes tab. Down in the lower right corner look at your commit values. Mine is currently at 400 mb. But then, I also have kids using this computer and I have double stacked my protection programs.

Unsure what some of those processes are? Just type them into your search bar and read up, if it's safe to drop then end the process. Add up everything the current software is using. Then download some different programs and try them to see how you like them. Pick the one you like and delete the rest. Then compare your ram usage with the new software to the old. You should see much smaller numbers.

When you are ready to make changes, your first step is to create a restore point! This is critical if there are any problems in compatibility. Open up the control panel, select Performance and Maintenance tab, then system restore in the left-side tabs.

Now to have fun!

Yes, all the companys you can get free software from have paid software also, they make money from the people who want all the bells and whistles they are used to seeing. But we don't want that, we want protection without sacrificing performance.

Firewalls: Do not rely on the windows firewall. Using that is like handing the keys to your house to a burgler to watch it for you. I use ZoneAlarm from WWW.zonealarm.com choose the free software and use the defaults until you feel comfortable making changes where you get the most performance.
I also use Kiero Sunbelt at www.sunbelt-software.com again use it in default mode until you want to make changes. Yes they both give you pop-ups that tell you when programs have been changed.

Anti-Virus: AVG is one of the ones I use from www.free.grisoft.com They have 3 types there A-V, anti spyware, and anti-root kit. I use both the A-V and the anti-spyware. Updates are updated daily and A-V runs are run daily at whatever time you choose.
I also have Avast on the 2 computers my kids have running with AVG. Avast will do deeper A-V scans when you want and has mail scan. Get it at www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Spyware: I have Spyware Blaster on all 5 computers in my house. Get it from www.download.com. Spybot from www.safer-networking.org. and I also have Ad-Aware from www.lavasoftusa.com.

And last but not least browsers: Mozilla if you don't have it get it! IE has so many security holes, go back to my note about firewalls for my opinion. Get it at www.mozilla.com/en-US/. Granted there will be times when you need IE as in software up dates for your system, but use Mozilla for everything else.

With the above software on my systems I have not suffered any hacks, viruses, or other malicious items onto my systems. I am a truck driver and when I get home I run full scans on all systems at home every month, the kids won't.

I will start by saying, that sometimes the best motto is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So if you are happy with what you have, and it is working for you, then it may be easier to just keep what you got.

However, if you are like me, and don't mind doing some things yourself and saving a little money in the process, I think there are free solutions that will give you great protection. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that with free services you are going to be piecing things together yourself and you will have to manage these separate components individually. They will not be as neatly integrated with each other or have one slick interface to manage them all.

I actually have come to prefer some free services. And this is not only for the cost savings. I find that these services tend to be less system intensive (they don't hog your computer's resources) and they also don't embed themselves as deep into your registry. I will not use certain security suites for this reason (one that comes to mind rhymes with Morton.) Another thing to consider, is depending on what you have right now, some of these security suits can be very difficult to remove from your system. By trying to uninstall what you have now, and installing something else, you may find that you cause a lot of unintended problems on your computer. And another dirty secret, is that some security services are now automatically billing you when it's due, and not even giving a chance to find something else. So you may find yourself paying for it, whether you plan to use it or not.

To answer some of your questions: You are right to assume that nothing is for free. The biggest catch with these options is that you will be doing more of the work yourself. It is not difficult, and once you have things setup, it is not any more work then anything else. Most free virus programs will update themselves automatically and the firewalls are pretty worry free after a little initial setup. And most of these company's have paid versions of the same services but with more bells and whistles. They offer the free ones, in hopes that some people will use their product, like it, and then want to upgrade to something a little more robust that they offer.

As far as products I have personally used, I like Avast and AVG for free anti-virus programs. I have used AVG more, and I have no complaints about it. I use Zone Alarm for a free firewall. And I actually prefer it to even some paid services I have tried. And again there are other options out there. For anti-spyware there are a lot of great products. I have used Ad-Aware for years and I like it. I have also used Spy-Bot, and CCleaner with no trouble. Depending on what e-mail client you are using, there are several free anti-spam programs available as well.

If you are comfortable doing a little work on your computer, I think the free services can be a great way to go. If you are someone that just wants things to work, and you don't want to think about it too much, then it maybe worth paying for the convenience factor if nothing else. I do not think that using a paid service is inherently any more secure then using free ones.

First Jasmine, I would stay away from security suites and opt for best of breed components. Many of the freebies are components of paid software; e.g Zone Alarm free edition (my choice of firewalls) is given away and Checkpoint tries to sell their AV product. As for AV software the Avast and other freeware are given away and work great. The deluxe editions are paid and may have extra bells and whistles. For spyware the paid stuff such as Webroot and Spyware Doctor are probably better since they usually have more complete definitions.It doesn't hurt to have freeware such as SpyBot S&D in addition. I Hope that this is helpful.

Try either AVG 7.5 or NOD32 for antivirus. Try Adaware and Spybot for spyware. They are all good and all free.

Thanks,

Minniefingie

Mr. Jasmine H.

Try following AVG software.

This AVG Free Anti Virus is for Home users only.

AVG Free Edition 7.5.472 (Security and Privacy Tools)
About: AVG Free Edition is a well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing high-level of virus detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).
21.71MB Windows (All) Screenshot Homepage Freeware

Lakhiani Shewak
shewak@gmail.com

Above information is courtesy of Techtree.com

dear jesmine.

the difference between paid and free security suite is the that the paid suits are itselfs a package, which the frees are not. if you have a paid package you can get direct support from your vendor, addition in software /modification if software during the service period if there is serious threat occurs in the computing world and your provider thinks good to protect you. you can contact directly with them via email of phone if you find something is not understandabele of something could not be handled by the existing package. for example syamantec , the provider of norton provides , in addition of their regualr updates and upgrades to the various security packages they sale the removal tools that is very usefull if you have something very exceptional problem of virus encountered in your computer. these types of support are absenct in most cases of free suits.
the next big difference is that the paids are realy a package which will take care of the important areas of computer. for exp. in a free security suite you may not find a firewall, a spyware terminator, of instant massanger scanner or any of them.it is possible that you need to install them seperately.IN THE GOOD SIDE paid packages a normally heavy to system and use much system resources which can be avoided in usuing free packages which a normally very light in system.


ANS TO YOUR 1ST QUESTION: you have;t mentioned the name of your security suite and also the way and to what extent you use your computer. however after using a suite for a considerable time (you mentioned that the suite is up for renewal) it is very strange that you are not sure that it is protecting you of not.generally it sould if it consists anitvirus, antispyware,a firewall, a instant massanger scanner, insists windows automatic update and and support at least internet exploere and mozila. if your package does not consists any one of them then leave it and go for a package that supports all these. there is three most glamours guys in this field are symantec/macafee/avg. if you are not sure that you are being protected then go to the home page of PANDA ANTIVIOUS PACKAGE, they have an option to chek your computer of threat online withour any fees. this service is now given by symantec to . goto www.symantec.com then go for support. and scan your computer online.


ANS TO YOUR 2ND AND 3RD QUESTION: free sofware will do as much as good job as paid sofware so long as you are a knowlagable computer handler and know deeply about the threat and you are updated to the letest threat. in case of paid packages this job is done by your provider and so they charge. free package provides you the defination updates and does not support upgrade and specialised upgrades. rather they include them in their next free version.also choosing the right software matters a much. because there are nemourous number of free packages.and also you have to use coutiusly the different software in your computer. for exmple internet exploere is very much open to attact instead mozila has a very much secured browser firefox. also opera is very good. so there needs and judgement. agains firefox can be customise in a hundreds of way with their very useful add on/ extension feature that let you browse safely in net.(exp : adblock plus, site advisor plugin etc.)
in one of my laptop i use AVG 7.5 as antivirus+SPYWARE TERMINATOR as antispyware(although SPYWARE DOCTOR IS BEST)+ZONE ALARM as two way firewall+yahoo toolbar( in MOZILA FIREFOX which is my default browser ) which incorporates a very good ANTY SPY PROGRAM to protect mozila +MACAFEE SITE ADVISOR for both of my IE7 and MOZILA FIREFOX. the machine is very much exposed to internet and yet very safely running. remember my laptop contains only a 256mb of RAM.


ANS TO YOUR 4TH QUESTION :this is answered in the first section of this sheet/


ANS TO YOUR 5TH QUESTION :the said free suits are not at all free as your think/ but the cost are not directly counted in moneytory form but it costs much same like a paid one. here is how.

you have to download the letest version of all the suits you use. it takes your time, energy. and also bandwidth.
you must chek for their updates regularly as some may not be automatically updated of if they all have automacally update feature it is not wise to use it , because as they are all seperate programme they tend to crash with one another when all want to take update when you connect to interent.
you have to read regualr ly in the net or from magazine about the letest thread and their effect.
if there emerges some new threat you have to arrange a good anti of that which may not be readly availabel freely (before you are attracted). like phising is not knowin in 2004-05,

ANS TO YOUR 6HT QUESTION :there is free software in the market for possibly two reason .one to show public by the organisation about the effectiveness of their paid version of the said package by delivering some componet in the free package. secondly it is a platform where developer want recognition can show their developing skill by making good software and distirbuting free.when you are usuing the free version of say AVG for a few years you will surely go for AVG PROFESSIONAL if you want a paid package.


ADVICE : if you are not much aware of threat then go for paid package . i suggest NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2007 (which is use in my prime laptop)/ NORTON 360 DEGREE IF YOU WANT A FINE SPYWARE TERMINATOR WITH OTHER COMPONENT , of MACAFEE INTERNET SECURITY SUITE 2007 which as a very good spam filter and malware protector IF YOU USE A MAIL CLIENT TO READ EMAIL AND DOWNLAOD. or lastly AVG 7.5 PROFESSIONAL . all of above give you total secutiry. but norton does not support browser other than IE which the other two package supports

If you're thinking about renewing the security software on your computer, I would recommend that you go for the excellent, free security software alternatives. They provide sufficient protection and will most likely keep your computer system clean. When it comes to specific free security applications, I have some recommendations. Firstly I would recommend an excellent free firewall called "Comodo Free Firewall". It is available for download here:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

I would advise you to spend some time tuning the firewall just to get to know it better and to meet your specific needs. Just as important (or more important, if you will) is your anti-virus software. My top recommendation here, is "AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic" from Avira. It is available for download here:
http://www.free-av.com/

It has scored great on recent tests and even outscored "AVG Free Edition" (which is also a great anti-virus application) and "Avast! Home Edition". Have a look at this test for example: http://winnow.oitc.com/malewarestats.php
The only downside with AntiVir is that the free version doesn't support e-mail scanning. The free version of AVG does this, but in my experience I would say that AntiVir has better detection rates, which ultimately makes it a better choice.

In addition to these basic security applications I would recommend that you do at least a weekly scan with Ad-Aware SE Personal and Spybot S&D, which are both free. They will provide you with some basic spyware removal. In order to decrease the chance of malicious software infection (infection from viruses, spyware, adware and the like), I would also recommend that you switch from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox (if you haven't already). It has all the features of IE (plus a lot more, if you use plug-ins), but is in my experience a much safer and faster web-browser. Find it here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central.html

A final tip for you to tighten your security, is to do all Internet surfing while being logged on an account WITHOUT administrator privileges. Since much malicious software depend on having these privileges, you greatly decrease your chance of getting infected only by using an account without these rights. I know this might be inconvenient, but inconvenience is the price for good security. Once I heard a computer professional say that as much as 90% of malicious software infections can be avoided as long as you have proper security settings.

I hope that this answer was at least a bit helpful to you, and good luck with your new security setup whatever you chose to do!
Landsnes

To Jasmine H.

I had the same concerns when I was debating using free defense-ware. My first use of free-ware came about when the software I had paid for was switched to free-ware. I was very upset and felt betrayed but I stayed with it. Four years passed while using the free defense-ware, no problems and no viruses. As the spy-ware and virus attacks became more common, my nerves got the better of me and I went back to paying for my defense-ware. I bought what I thought was the best defense-ware on the market. It worked great for about 2 years. Then the Internet became a spy-ware and ad-ware dumping ground. My computer got hit hard and the defense-ware I had paid for failed to stop it. In fact during an attack the spy-ware destroyed my defense-ware.

I managed to disable the spy-ware/ad-ware using free-ware and manual removal of the corrupted files. I asked myself, ? Why pay for something that doesn?t work and why didn?t it work?? At the time I found that the defense-ware company I had bought my software from had at first decided that ad-ware and spy-ware were not a threat and so their product did nothing. Once they changed their minds instead of upgrading my protection to include a defense from ad-ware and spy-ware, they tried to sell me more software. I then switched back to free defense-ware. When the next attack came the free defense-ware immediately indicated there was a problem and walked me through actions steps to deal with it.

Free-ware and pay-ware are up against a time response problem. The threats are rapidly changing, it?s a keep up game that requires updates and upgrades to stay ahead and sometimes that leads to defective/buggy software. Both free-ware and pay-ware software get messed up sometimes.

One of the differences is that free-ware is a do it yourself approach in that many features such as time programable scans are not included and depending on your approach (separate programs versus a suit) you may have to run and maintain as many as 5 programs. Pay-ware is mostly offered in suit form and has a more automatic nature, install and forget. Free-ware is also more do it yourself when it comes to tech support, there should be a FAQ page and a forum hosted by the free-ware provider which should cover all your support needs. With pay-ware, in addition too the FAQ page and forum there should be a 1-800 phone number for live tech support.

Free-ware is not really free. It?s conditional, free to the individual but not free for commercial use. Providers often have full feature versions for sale and offer free use as a painless way to take a test drive of a provider?s software. For the few offerings that are totally free you can often donate to the provider.

At this time I?m using pay-ware for my Vista computer and when it runs out I will use the defense-ware from my ISP. However, I am using free-ware for my older computers which run XP and win98. I use Avast, ZoneAlarm, SpyBot Search & Destroy, AD-Aware and SpywareBlaster. In the past I used the following pay-ware, McAfee, Symantec and CA, only CA?s defense-ware was problem free when I last used it.

I tried to keep this short but I hope you find it helpful. Good luck on whatever you decide.

I am a student and I cannot afford to keep buying security software over and over and over. That is why I have looked hard to find a good set of free software apps to protect my computer. I do use Symantec antivirus software because I got it for free from my college but before that I used AVG Free (downloaded from CNET). It was totally free and I never did get a virus while I had it installed. For spyware, I use a trio of programs to scan and remove it. Spywareblaster from majorgeeks.com is great because it prevents spyware and adware from being downloaded to your computer. Second, Adaware SE Personal is free from CNET and usually catches everything. Third, I run Spybot Search and Destroy (also from CNET)just to be sure that i catch everything.

This setup has worked well for me and it didn't cost a dime. The beauty of computers is that you can try this and if it doesn't work for you then you can always try something else. Best of luck to ya.