Those terrible and damaging little files known as viruses can easily be protected against. There are many free anti virus software programs available for you to download that can detect viruses as well as other malicious software on your computer. Here are some options I think you should take the time to strongly consider.

AVG Anti-Virus is a particularly good bit of free software. They have a commercial version with upgraded features of course, but the free version is adequate enough to do most minor and some major jobs. They their database of virus information regularly and there is an automatic update feature that helps to make it a low hassle product. It supplies you with a scan history, and it also archives unwanted files for you. The overview page that they have gives a listing of security options and the status overview of your computer's health. AVG has many features available to you. These features are: anti-virus, anti-spyware, e-mail scanner, link scanner, resident shield, as well as the update manager, respectively.

Avast! is another free anti virus software program that is worth mentioning. It is said to be one of the greatest free anti-virus software programs in circulation today. The snag is that you need to register for services after 60-days. It has components that are comparable to AVG, but it uses a different interface. Avast! offers GUI skins, for interface customization abilities. Its features list boasts a standard shield, an anti-rootkit, an anti-spyware component, and neat audio alarms, also a script blocker and a network shield.

AntiVir has features and effectiveness results to rival the above mentioned free anti virus software programs. It is totally user-friendly, and has really awesome detection rates that could very well be superior to that of AVG and Avast! Even better yet it has the ability to work with several platforms. PC Pro is quoted as saying it to be: "The most effective free anti-virus package we've seen."

So, as we see, there are at least a couple of good free anti virus software program options. If you are looking for free anti-virus software, then AntiVir, Avast, and AVG come with high recommendations. They all have download sites in which to acquire these products, or you can also download from Cnet, which has links connecting them. Though these free versions may not be as broad as other commercial anti virus software program titles, such as Norton Anti Virus, they do at least offer reasonably solid anti-virus software programs and at a better value as well.