AVG Anti-Virus Free and Avast! Home Edition

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Viruses, trojans and spyware are the baddies of the internet, and we all need protection. You can pay for this, or you can use a very good, free alternative from Grisoft, AVG Anti-Virus Free. The program is regularly (and automatically if you tick the box) updated, and monitors not only downloads but emails. You can even schedule regular scans of your PC. AVG have recently also introduced a free anti-spyware program, AVG Anti-Spyware Free, which is available from the same website.

Avast! Home Edition is similar to AVG but with a programmable front-end. One advantage of Avast! over AVG is that the updating process is automatic, and you don't have to restart the computer as you sometimes need to with AVG. A nice feature is that the program confirms audibly when it has been updated.

Miss out on these programs (or something similar) at your peril.

Available from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 and http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html