The CCleaner revelations, while concerning, were self-disclosed, which is important to building user trust. We hope Avast's more privacy-friendly policies mean that there will be no further Jumpshot-style activities and it returns to glory as one of the best antivirus software.
In the meantime, we'd recommend using one of the many other solid choices in this realm listed above. Because the company has been in the news the past few years, let's talk about Kaspersky Lab -- specifically about the federal ban that blocks US government agencies from using Kaspersky Antivirus products. Based in Moscow, Kaspersky Lab has for years produced some of the best antivirus software for business antivirus needs and home customers. But in the US government prohibited Kaspersky security cloud software on federal government computers because of alleged ties between Kaspersky and the Russian government.
But as with China-based Huawei , the question remains: If the federal government doesn't think the products are safe enough for its own devices, should consumers avoid them as well? In a statement sent to CNET, the company said, "Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never, nor will ever, engage in cyber offensive activities.
Kaspersky Lab maintains that no public evidence of any wrongdoing has been presented by the US government, and that the US government's actions against Kaspersky Lab were unconstitutional. In Kaspersky's favor, it continues to earn top scores and awards for virus and malware detection and endpoint protection from independent testing labs. And it's reasonably priced.
In the end, even though no one has ever publicly produced a "smoking gun" linking the company to Russian intrigue, we think any of the options listed above are a safer bet.
And if you are a US government employee or work with the federal government, you'll want to steer clear of Kaspersky internet security products -- and perhaps use one of the antivirus software products mentioned here instead.
Picking the best antivirus software for Windows means finding one that keeps your PC safe, doesn't take up a lot of system resources, is easy to use and stays out of the way till you need it. Here's what to look for. Antivirus software runs virus scans for known viruses and malware, of course, and can offer real-time protection. And it watches for shady websites and suspicious links to keep you out of trouble. It can also offer ransomware protection and monitor unexpected behavior that may be a sign of new and not-yet-identified viruses and malware.
You want antivirus software that can successfully identify these unknown online threats without flagging too many false positives. Light on system resources. You don't want antivirus software that taxes your PC's resources. If after you install the program, websites open slowly, apps download or open sluggishly or file copies take longer than expected, you may want to try another service. The good news is, all our picks offer a free trial to let you try out the antivirus program, so if your system feels sluggish after installation, you may want to keep looking.
Cost and discounts. Don't just pay the sticker price for antivirus protection. Before you buy, check for discounts on a company's website. Another way to save: The prices we list above are for 10 devices -- if the company offered that package -- but you can trim your cost with antivirus packages if you need to cover three or five devices.
You may also find discounts on an app's Amazon page. To be effective, antivirus software needs to monitor what's going on with your PC, check in with company servers about unusual behavior and should provide sound banking protection.
The companies say they anonymize this technical data as much as possible to protect your privacy. But if you want to know more, the security companies on our list post privacy policies on their websites, so read their privacy statements to learn what the companies do with the information you share.
Protection for other platforms. Speaking of passwords, have you ever needed to remove a password on an Office document like an Excel spreadsheet? Speaking of audio, if you are into music, you can use LMMS to create your own music tracks. Check out WinCDEmu and create an unlimited number of virtual drives. With all this password talk, ever thought about using a free password manager?
Ever heard of KeePass or RoboForm? Both are great media players for Windows. Also, GOM Player is good too. If you take a lot of home videos, you probably need to edit and stitch them together right?
If not that, you can also check out LightWorks and HitFilm Express , two free professional-grade video editing programs. Speaking of videos, there are many times when you need to convert from one format to another. Is there a Windows process that is causing spikes in your CPU or other problems. Use Process Explorer and Process Monitor to help diagnose the issue. Work with PDF files a lot? Looking for a good PDF reader? If not, you should check out Easeus Todo Backup , a free program that lets you backup and clone your hard drives.
Another program is Paragon Backup. If you just want to backup your data and not image your entire hard drive, you can use Google Backup and Sync to backup files and folders to your Google Drive storage. Whether you know it or not, you probably have a bunch of duplicate files on your computer!
It just happens. You can use Duplicate Cleaner to find and remove those duplicate files. If you want to save more hard drive space, you should look into a program that will analyze hard disk space usage, like TreeSize. Want to see every possible program or driver that loads when Windows starts? Check out Autoruns , which is a free tool from Microsoft.
Been looking for a good free photo editor lately? NET , or Fotor! If you prefer an online photo editor, checkout Pixlr and BeFunky. Looking for detailed information about the hardware on your computer. It can also analyze and monitor your system too. You can share large files up to 2GB for free with friends and family using a program called WeTransfer.
Other programs include DropSend and pCloud. The popular notes app we all know is Evernote, but there are other great options like SimpleNote , Google Keep , and Notebook. Other good options include FileZilla and CyberDuck.
Are you a web developer or coder? Looking for a good HTML editor? Want to learn more about the WiFi networks around you? Ever wanted to create a family tree? Legacy is a free genealogy that you can use to keep track of family and relatives. Another good app is ScionPC. If you constantly use the same programs over and over, it might be a good idea to download a quick program launcher.
One of my favorites is Find and Run Robot. Ever wanted to automate a certain task in Windows? It is so important that it is now considered a component of Windows.
Windows has an inbuilt security tool called Windows Defender that does its best to protect your computer from malware, but it should just be used as a backup. The main protection should be handed over to a good third-party antivirus software.
Bitdefender consistently scores full marks, and sits on top spots in various best antivirus software researches, surveys, and reports. This is a category where I have to mention one more option to the users.
Kaspersky Lab is one of the most popular antivirus company, and creates some of the best antivirus products for Windows. Their free offering called Kaspersky Free become a fan-favourite in the free antivirus market in no time. You can try both of them and stick to the one you like the best. The Windows Firewall is pretty solid these days, but if you want more control over the network connections made by your installed programs then you should consider installing a third-party firewall software.
Comodo has no competition in the free software firewall market of Windows. Comodo Firewall has all the features that any advanced firewall software must possess.
After installing security programs, the first utility program to be downloaded and installed is a web browser. Mozilla Firefox has been a trusted web browser for years now, the recent recode and rebranding was a much-needed breath of fresh air for Firefox and its users. Now, it is fully capable to counter any other web browser. Try a web browser that has its roots in the first web browser called Mosaic through the first commercial web browser called Netscape Navigator.
Windows PCs come preloaded with sponsored software. Uninformed users consider them to be the best option for the file types that they are assigned to, and keep using them as default when they can get a much better replacement. They never think about uninstalling them, and installing better alternatives. Even if somebody removes these bloatware one by one, they come back all at once when the user uses the Recovery option to get his system back to the default factory image.
All this pain can be cured by using a wonderful portable tool called PC Decrapifier , which scans for the Bloatware on your system, and recommends the user to remove them. Prevention is better than cure. This is the philosophy behind Unchecky. When we install software, many times, the free variants of paid software are distributed by the companies along with third-party PUPs, an uninformed computer user accidentally installs these third-party PUPs along with the main program.
These unwanted applications later affect the computer badly, they change web browser settings, install toolbars, and install additional software. Ninite a great tool for installing multiple programs in one go. It saves you from searching, downloading, and installing various software separately. Ninite provides you with a software portal with most popular Windows software, which you can use to create your own customized Ninite software downloader and installer.
It is quite evident that the Web Browser companies spend little to no time and resources on the development of the Download component of their products. We get a bare-bones Download feature with hardly any features.
A Download Manager is a complex software, one that is always running in the background and monitoring various things such as the Windows Clipboard, and all of the web pages surfed inside Web Browsers. With a Download Manager, you get various advanced downloads related features such as resuming paused downloads, organising downloads in respective folders, download acceleration, clipboard monitoring, multimedia grabbing, virus scanning, etc. Free Download Manager provides all of these features along with many others, without any ads, promos or nags.
The interface is also of the best that you can get in any download manager. Although many download managers have the support for downloading torrents or downloading files from the BitTorrent protocol , but you should leave the Torrent downloading to the Torrent Clients, a type of download managers dedicated to the Torrent platform only. You don't have to sacrifice quality, either — these programs are all packed with features comparable with their paid-for counterparts.
Windows 10 comes with its own security software in the form of Windows Defender. Perhaps the most important of these is its sheer popularity; if nobody opts for a third-party program and Defender gains a monopoly on the antivirus market, it will become the number one target for criminals, putting millions of people at increased risk. This excellent free security suite gives all-round protection from online threats, including viruses, ransomware, and spyware. Its detection rates are excellent as verified in independent tests , and its hands-off approach means you can simply install it, then leave it to get on with protecting your PC without any further input.
It's a superb security package, and our choice for protecting our own machines. Its drives are hopefully a long way from failing, but you never know when you might accidentally overwrite something crucial, fall victim to a virus or ransomware attack, have your device stolen, or knock it on the floor in a whisky-fuelled post-Christmas accident.
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