Free Antivirus Programs for Home Use

We have mentioned the options at many classes and included some in the Software page of the Club website.

Depending on which site you go to, downloading the latest version 9.0 of AVG Free now requires registration of your email address for Australian and NZ users and then downloading a ‘stub’ installer that completes the installation by a further download during the actual installation process. The procedure to register the free version of  Avast! has always seemed to confuse some.

Now there is a “new kid on the block” – Microsoft! Yes, Microsoft has made a free antivirus, antispyware and antimalware program available called Microsoft Security Essentials, released about the same time as Windows 7. Reports so far have been favourable and you can download it here. A relatively small download at 4.72MB compared to the alternatives and seems to work away happily in the background.

Suspect the established providers of antivirus programs will not be very pleased!