Internet Security

Avast Antivirus is a free antiVirus program that protects against viruses, trojans, worms and most other malware. Avast features a powerful resident module that is able to detect a virus before it has any chance to infect your computer. Avast Home Edition contains resident protection of the computer file system and a resident module for e-mails and news. File system protection ensures that no virus will be started on the computer. E-mail/News protection consists of two independent modules; first, there is a generic scanner working on the SMTP/POP3/IMAP4/NNTP protocol level. It is capable of protecting any existing e-mail client that uses these protocols. Second, there is a special plugin for MS Outlook only; the mail scanning is completely transparent, requiring no special settings. A new feature of version 4 is heuristic analysis of e-mail scanners. This feature can protect against new, unknown viruses and worms that are not possible to detect by the usual means. The heuristic module performs a thorough investigation of every e-mail message and watches for suspicious signs that might announce virus presence. Avast AntiVirus also boasts a low memory footprint along with its multifaceted resident protection.

AntiVir is a free antiVirus program that borrows Kaspersky's detection engine. While not as good as Kaspersky's antiVirus program, AntiVir manages to hold its own. It has the highest detection rate, with its on-demand scanner, of any of the free antivirus programs but its design and resident protection is much lower than that of Avast. However, it is possible to run this program and other antivirus programs in tandem but you must disable AntiVir's on-access protection.

Kaspersky Antivirus is probably the best antivirus program on the market. Kaspersky is a pay program but, if you choose to use it, your computer will be far safer than most other computers. Kaspersky Antivirus tends to have detection rates slightly higher than 99%. Kaspersky Antivirus's heuristics engine is vastly superior to all other antivirus programs with the possible exception of Nod32.

Nod32 is also a pay program, but it has detection capabilities that are comparable to that of Kaspersky. However, Nod32 was not designed for the home user and requires more maintenance than Kaspersky.