While it is true that there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is such a thing as a free antivirus software program for your computer. Antivirus software is an essential part of protecting your data from damage or misuse by a criminally minded hacker or malware writer. While free antivirus software programs are often not as fully featured or well maintained as their commercial counterparts, the public can still benefit from a strong sense of security from virus infections. The free antivirus software programs listed here are some of the more lesser known but very useful antivirus tools.
One concern that a potential user should be aware of is that many of the free antivirus software programs ship with toolbar or other software add on programs that in some manner help the writer recoup the costs of writing and distributing the antivirus program. By installing and using the toolbar you will provide a modest amount of revenue to them in return for the free use of their product. However, these toolbars are not required, and in most cases it is very easy to decline to install the toolbar during the antivirus installation sequence.
Avast Free
Although not as popular as the very well known AVG Antivirus, Avast is often considered to be one of the best free antivirus programs available. Although any antivirus program tends to slow down a system to some extent, Avast does this to a lesser degree and still while providing excellent protection from viruses and spyware.
ClamWin
What sets ClamWin apart from other free antivirus programs is that it can be loaded, transported, and run from a thumb drive. This allows the user to quickly and easily inspect computers for viruses without having to download and install one on each individual machine. Simply plug in the thumb drive and run the program. Unfortunately this convenience also means that the product will often go out of date quickly, and a user must be certain to allow the software to be updated on a regular basis. It also does not provide on access scanning, meaning that files are not checked for viruses before they are opened or used.
