Top Antivirus/Spyware Programs

Software that integrates antivirus and spyware removal is becoming more common, but separate solutions are usually more thorough and offer you a better feature set. As newer products are released, it's important to read reviews and see how "all-in-one" solutions stack up. Some fall victim to overkill with too many programs on their PC for threat protection. Multiple programs that perform the same functions can interfere with each other. If you have one solid antivirus program and one solid spy/adware tool, you should be in good shape.

There are very good free options out there which are worth taking advantage of.

• For antivirus protection, one program that is highly recommended is Avast. The home edition is free with yearly registration renewal. I have been using it for years and am very content.

• For spyware and adware, free versions of Ad-Aware are recommended. The free versions do not do real-time scanning (which I recommend for most users), but I do manual scans once every few days or so, and my PC is clean as a whistle.

• The last program to be recommended is CCleaner. It's a system optimizer program that basically cleans your computer of broken files and DLLs from removed software. It will also clean out temporary directories, etc.

You can read about and download these programs directly from CNET’s Download.com.

Helpful Advice from those Friendly People at DOT-COMmunICaTions