There are some great free anti-virus products available: AVG, Avira, Avast, even Microsoft has released one called Security Essentials, plus numerous others. All of these products fair very well in detection and cleaning tests and seem to be good to be true. So you should be using these products to product your PC and laptops right? Well yes and no.
Yes, you should never leave a PC that is connected to other PCs or the internet unprotected and susceptible to all the horrible nasties that are out there. It doesn’t take long for even the most careful of web users to come across something harmful to the smooth running of their system.
So what’s the problem? If you read the EULA (End User License Agreement) when installing the software you’d see the problem. What? You mean you simply clicked “next” or “I Agree” to skip past it. Well everyone does right? The problem is that in that long diatribe of legal jargon the developer points out one simple but important proviso of using their software. It is for home or non-commercial use only. Want to use it for business then legally you have to purchase the corporate or premium edition of such products.
This is a common marketing tactic and sales model dubbed “Freemium”. You give a large portion of your product away to users for free, get them hooked on its reliability and great features then hope the users convert into purchasing the full versions for their office systems.
All too often I go in to small businesses and find that they have great anti-virus or anti-spyware products installed on their machines and they feel safe and protected when unfortunately they are breaking the law and I have to break the bad news to them that in order to be fully compliant they need to fork out for the current products or look for alternatives.
I have compiled a list of our favourite top ten programs that are absolutely free – although a word of note these may not be free for use in a commercial environment so check the terms and conditions before installing!
Avast! Anti-Virus
As their website boasts “Free antivirus software providing desktop security and data protection. avast! detects and removes all forms of malware, including spyware, rootkits and trojans. Free for home users.” Simple register and download. You will have to re-register on an annual basis to ensure the latest product updates are downloaded and your system is running well. Supports all versions of Windows from 95 right up to Vista (both 32- and 64-bit flavours).
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
OpenOffice
Many new PCs and laptops come with a copy of Microsoft Office, or the home cut-down version Works, pre-installed. But what if it doesn’t? Whilst Microsoft Office is the industry standard for office productivity suites it can be fairly expensive for home users to run on their machines. Check out OpenOffice. It can do pretty much everything Microsoft Office can do but at the great price tag of £0.00!
http://www.openoffice.org/
Google Earth
One for fun now. Google Earth is a virtual satellite at your control. You can view almost anywhere on the earth using archived satellite imagery. Check out an aerial view of your house and the surrounding area or view the best of Mother Nature’s work. You can kill hours with this little utility.
http://earth.google.com/
Foxit PDF Reader
Adobe Reader is the name synonymous with viewing PDF documents but in recent times the software has become bulky and cumbersome. How about a sleek, stream-lined version that downloads, installs and loads in a fraction of the time? Foxit PDF reader does just that.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/
7-Zip
If you download files regularly from the internet you know that they can sometimes come packaged up in compression archives such as .zip and .rar. Rather than purchase, download and install multiple file compression programs try 7-Zip. It is able to read and un-pack every single compression technology I’ve ever come across and also package up in .7z or .zip format. It also installs itself nicely to your context-menu (right-click) so it’s easy and quick to unpack files.
http://www.7zip.com/
ImgBurn
Originally created to rip and burn CD/DVD images (snapshots of a CD or DVD) “ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!”. It has now evolved into one of the best and easiest to use optical disc burning technologies. Small to download, quick to install and simple to use.
http://www.imgburn.com/
CutePDF Writer
Sometimes you need to make sure that documents you send are read-only and that everyone can open them. Create professional quality PDF files from almost any printable document. FREE for personal, commercial, gov or edu use! No watermarks! No popup Web ads! Now supports 64-bit Windows.
http://www.cutepdf.com/
Spybot Search and Destroy
Not some sort of military war-game as the name suggests but an effective spyware and malware removal tool. If you think you may have some gremlins in your system this tool will usually find them and remove them for you. It can also provide resident protection that will sit there and monitor for signs of malware trying to infect your system and allow you to stop it before it occurs.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Microsoft Live Mesh
This service from Microsoft has some of the best features I’ve ever come across from a free product. It allows you to synchronise files automatically with multiple PCs, share files with whoever you want and allow them to view and synch the files, great for collaborating on a project. You can also use Mesh as a form of free backup too so those important family photos or college work are automatically uploaded to a secure Microsoft server for you to access anywhere from the web. You can also use Live Mesh to access your PCs desktop from any other internet enabled PC. Simple to sign-up, install and manage.
https://www.mesh.com/welcome/default.aspx
CCleaner
Over time your PC can become cluttered with all those extra files and folders left behind from previously installed programs and you can find it running a bit slower and you get a bit short on disk space. The simple solution is to use CCleaner to reclaim the disk space and tune the registry for an instant performance boost.
http://www.ccleaner.com/
I hope you find these programs as useful to work with as I have. Anytime I get a new PC/Laptop or have to do some work on friend and family PCs I install at least 4 of these to improve their system. And unfortunately I seem to provide this service for free as well!
Hi and welcome to the first post on the new Teamwork Technology Services blog page. We are hoping to provide you with regular updates and insights (workload permitting) on our experiences running a busy ICT services business.
Check back soon!
Thanks, Dave