The free versus paid anti virus

It seems that suddenly there are too many anti virus sellers- in India at least. If FM is on, I can’t drive home from office without at least few of them urging me to buy their products. That re-starts a perpetual debate between free versus paid anti virus in particular and freeware in general. The general impression that these ads try to create is that free security is just not good enough. But I will wait before parting with my hard earned money. Reasons-

1. There is not a shred of evidence to prove that paid anti virus provides better security. Numerous studies have been done and there is simply no way to prove that free anti viruses are worse than paid anti virus in basic security- that’s detecting and removing viruses. If you don’t trust me have a look here- http://news.softpedia.com/news/AntiVirus-Free-Vs-Paid-Detection-139005.shtml. My free avira was actually top detector.
2. Paid security systems somehow feel obligated to provide “complete” security. That means everything comes bundled- anti virus, anti spyware and firewall mostly. But sometimes more bell and whistle is like to be thrown in- like parental control and some other nonsense. But this is precisely what I don’t like. I don’t trust anti virus expert to manage my firewall. I would rather go for best in both individually.
3. Finally, I have found paid anti viruses to be a big resource hog. They provide too many useless features and clog my system. What I like is lean and fast machine. That’s what I get by using free security software.

So what do I use? Here is my free security system. I have been using them for many years without much trouble. Also rest assured that I have visited my fair share of Russian hacking sites. (I am not a hacker but I love to learn things)

1. Anti virus- Avira. I used AVG for quite some time before they decided that just because they are good in making anti virus they can make good firewall and bundled their anti virus into a “security suite”

2. Anti spyware- Spybot search and destroy

3. Firewall- Online Armour. I used to like comodo too. However they have also gone into security suite business. Still, you can get hold of old versions of standalone firewall if you do some search.

Finally, security is not ensured by software but by you. Use common sense-

1. Most of threat comes from Internet. Use a secure browser like firefox. Better still, use an unpopular browser- hackers have no incentive to target them. My browser is K-meleon. Its damn good and no hacker is likely to waste his time with it because very few use it and those who use it are most likely to be tough nuts to crack. There are easier targets!

2. Don’t install unnecessary software. Don’t click on executable files. When you do install something watch out- does it ask you to install some toolbar? Uncheck it. Periodically go to add and remove programs and see what all programs are installed.

3. Periodically check your startup queue and see which all programs are automatically starting up when you start your pc. Spybot has a tool to disable unknown startup programs.

Have a safe PC!