Free Virus Protection From Microsoft
If you’re looking for a free antivirus for home, you have several good options. But if you’re running a business, this is particularly good news! For years, free antivirus was only for home use, but Microsoft Security Essentials can be used on any genuine copy of Windows XP/Vista/7.
If your antivirus’ subscription is out of date, or if you’re not sure you’re protected, this is for you.
Find The Best Free Software
For years I’ve followed Gizmo’s Freeware as a way of keeping up the best free software. The software is categorized neatly, and concise and clear pros and cons are stated for each program.
The list was updated Monday, which was a reminder to mention this on my blog. If nothing else, bookmark this site so that you can refer to it in the future when you’re looking for some software: Gizmo’s Best Freeware
Tips For Virus And Spyware Removal
If you’ve ever experienced a virus or spyware on your computer, you know how painful it can be. Your computer slows to a crawl. Random advertisements pop-up on your screen. Weird things happen, and as time goes by, the problems only grow worse.
Here are a few simple steps that will help you get your computer back under control.
1) Restart your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. Tap F8 when you first turn on your computer for the Advanced Startup Menu. More in-depth instructions can be found here. This special mode allows you to access the internet, but also prevents most viruses and spyware from being able to run, making it a lot easier to remove them.
2) To remove a virus, download Malwarebytes, install and update, and then run a full scan. It’s important to run a second scan with SUPERAntiSpyware to remove any remaining traces of the virus and/or spyware.
For future protection, if you don’t already have a commercial antivirus, consider installing the free version of Avast Free Antivirus. It’s easy to use, provides excellent protection, and is free for non-commercial use!
Best Free Media and DVD Player Software
If you’ve been unable to play a DVD or media file on your computer, this is for you.
VLC Player is an all-in-one media player for your computer. It’s free and incredibly popular, and enables your computer to play DVDs and many audio and video file formats!
Send A Fax For Free Online
Have you ever needed to fax a document when you haven’t had access to a physical fax machine? Thankfully there are a number of free online faxing services. Recently I used FaxZero, and it worked perfectly, so I thought I’d pass this along as a tip. With FaxZero you can upload a document from your computer, or simply enter some text!
Reinstall Windows Quicker and Easier
Reinstalling Windows can be scary. You’ll probably want to backup data to an external drive or DVD beforehand. And once you’ve installed Windows, you’ll need to make sure your computer has the hardware drivers and software for security and functionality.
Most computers in recent years have a system recovery that allows you to restore your computer to the way it was when you first took it out of its box. To do a system recovery, you press specific keys on your keyboard when it’s first turning on. For example, on most Dell computers you press Ctrl+F11. If your computer doesn’t have a system recovery option, you can still reinstall Windows from the disc– hopefully you have one! After the install, download the drivers from the manufacturer website (http://support.dell.com, etc)
There’s also a lot of software you’ll probably want to reinstall. A handy website that makes this quite a bit easier is www.ninite.com. Simply select the programs you want to install, run the installer, and Ninite takes care of the rest. I typically install Firefox, iTunes, VLC, Picasa, Adobe Reader, Avast, Malwarebytes, all of the Runtimes, CDBurnerXP, and 7-Zip.
Microsoft To Start Bundling Starter Edition of Office 2010
Read more about Microsoft’s 2010 strategy for Office: Microsoft’s big gamble with free Office
For most home users, I recommend Open Office as an excellent (and free!) alternative to Microsoft Office. Note: Open Office doesn’t save files in Microsoft’s format by default, so if you’re planning on sharing a document, be sure to save it in a Microsoft format!
The last password you’ll have to remember!
If you’re like me you forget passwords. And it’s tempting to write passwords down, or to use the same login for almost every website.
Here’s something that’s really helped me keep track of passwords, and keep more secure. Sometimes you really can have your cake and eat it too. =D
is highly recommended, and has won many awards. Best of all it’s free, and works with all major browsers, and operating systems! www.LastPass.com.
One recommended setting: During the installation, choose to have LastPass automatically log out when the computer is idle for a certain amount of time as a precaution in case your computer is ever lost or stolen.
Avast 5, Free Anti-Virus Released
A new version of my favorite free Anti-Virus, Avast Home Edition, was released last week. Improvements include a simpler interface, easier registration, and a new, faster, scanning engine.
For the highest level of protection, and for business use, I recommend Norton or Kaspersky, but Avast is a fantastic money-saving alternative that’s worth a look.
Note: Before installing Avast, you’ll want to uninstall any other real-time Anti-Virus software you may have installed to prevent a conflict.
How To Keep Your Files Synced When Using More Than One Computer
You want your important files backed up. Maybe you’ve emailed files to yourself or carried around a flash drive. Did you know you can keep up to 2GB of your files synchronized between multiple computers for free?
Say hello to Dropbox.com. After a free registration on their website, download and install the software. Drag your important files to your DropBox folder, and you’ll be able to access this “magic pocket” from any computer where you’ve installed Dropbox.
You can also access your files on any computer with internet access by logging in at DropBox.com.
It’s extremely simple, and works with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
