TOP5 COUNTDOWN: Best Internet Security Solutions

There are many Internet Security packages for free and for purchase. So why pay when you can get a free protection? Great question! For medium and large businesses, it is safer to use paid Internet Security Suites since the workload is much higher. There are more holes for malware to get on your network. However, for small businesses and home users the intense loading of these massive anti-viruses can be a pain to deal with. I am sure many experienced a constant wait for a PC to turn on.

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For those who do not wish to spend money each year on internet security, but at the same time wish to stay protected, FREE AVG Suite protection can be a great solution.

AVG Anti-Virus is a user-friendly easy to use software. It is reliable and practically problem free. They have recently upgraded from 7.5 to 8.0 version that includes many new features like firewall and spy protection. Even though the 8.0 version is using more operating memory than 7.5 making your operations a bit slower if you do not have a lot of RAM memory, it is nothing if compared to the giant Internet Security packages that I mention below in #1 and #2. Combined with Mozilla's Firefox, it greatly reduces the amount of unwanted cookies and other malware that you do not want to have on your hard drive.

Download it for free:
(Free AVG Suite) http://free.avg.com

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If you wish to fully control and protect your computer for free, you may want to have a firewall. Firewall protects your computer against hacker attacks by notifying you about changes and connections on your computer. It does not allow to connect to your PC without your authorization.

Zone Alarm FREE Firewall is an excellent solution to the problem. Install this program along with the AVG and you can sleep in peace leaving your computer on all night long.

Download it for free:
(Zone Alarm Firewall) http://www.ZoneAlarm.com

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For a paid Anti-Spy ware I would recommend Webroot Spy Sweeper, according to several tests it is able to find most types of spyware and does not allow it to infect your computer. It is also a five-time winner of PC Magazine's PC Editor's Choice award.

Download it for $29.95:
(Webroot Spy Sweeper) http://www.webroot.com/

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The major Anti-Viruses of today are McAfee, Norton and Kaspersky. Firstly, McAfee products slow down your PC beyond belief. Every time, it finds a new way of making it difficult for you to either work with it, or work without it. If McAfee does work for you, please send me an email and I will mention it in this article. But you better provide very convincing facts.

Then there is Norton Internet Security package. The support is very knowledgeable and automated help is really on target. It fixes problems automatically (on newer versions) when a PC connects to their database on the website: bugfix utilities.

But again, soooo slooooow it just won't end! And the pity is that the newer the Norton, the heavier it gets. It would seem that the newer the software, the faster it should be since everything gets perfected. But no.

Furthermore, the later interface of Norton is very annoying since it does not let you change much. The program seems to have a mind of its own. If you did not wish to have a full system scan, it will never light up green. It will always seem that there is something wrong with a PC. I guess Symantec (the company that designs Norton) wished to make it easy for users by giving them no control over it, but in the end it made it just annoying. But hey, they only want what's best for us... yeah, right...

Download it for $69.99 for 1 year :: 15-Day Free Trial
(Norton Internet Security) http://shop.symantecstore.com/

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Kaspersky Internet Security suite is very sensitive to viruses and superb at monitoring your security. However, from time to time, Kaspersky slows down a PC very noticeably. It takes a long time to open Outlook and process Internet sources. Rarely, it may cause conflicts with drivers. A computer may get stuck and may need to be restarted in safe-mode to uninstall the driver. However, it is rare. The overall performance of Kaspersky makes more sense than other paid Suites that I explored, so I give it a well-deserved place in this countdown.

Download it for $59.95 for 1 year :: $95.92 for 2 years :: 30-Day Free Trial
(Kaspersky Internet Security) http://www.kaspersky.com/internet_security_trial

(Written on 10-Dec-2007 / Edited on 25-Nov-2008)