How to get complete antivirus protection for FREE

TIPS, TRICKS, INFO – MAKING COMPUTING FUN

Tech Talk

How to get complete antivirus protection for FREE

If your computer is connected to the Internet and/or you use flash drives, external hard drives or memory cards between different computers then an antivirus, anti-spyware or Internet security software package is a must.

Now, as you may already be aware of, most (definitely not all) of the major players in malware protection have a free version of their software which is readily available for downloading from their various websites, but here’s the things – these free packages are limited in their protection and as a result of not being as complete or robust as the full/paid versions, they are unable to fully protect you and your precious data.  I must admit that the free versions are much better than having no protection at all, there is a much better legal, no-hacking-or-piracy-involved method of getting complete protection for FREE.  How you ask?  Well, keep reading.

Most of the software companies that offer protection software will allow you to try their software for a period of time (in most case 30 days).  This trial version of their software tend to be the complete package (almost the same thing you’d get if you were a paying customer less customer support and one or two features) since it is all about them trying to impress you enough to have you pay for the package – it just comes with a trial stamp and a “days limit”.  As far as I am concerned the trail versions are much better than the free versions, but that might be debatable.

Here’s the loophole – With the amount of very good protection packages that are currently on the market, you can have year round complete protection without spending a dime or breaking any laws (software piracy).  You simply try one software package and when the trial period has expired you move on to another.  There is just one tiny detail to tend to – you need to completely uninstall the trial software from you machine using the official uninstaller, not the uninstall option that is available after you would have installed the program.  This is key if you plan on using that particular software package for another go around.

Here are links to all the major antivirus software packages uninstallers (Link1, Link2,Link3, Link 4).  And here are my top 9 choices of protection software packages (not in any particular order):

1. Kaspersky
2. Eset
3. AVG
4. Avast
5. Bitdefender
6. FSecure
7. Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus+
8. Avira
9. McAfee

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter so be sure to leave your comments in the comment section and remember to subscribe if you’d like to receive email notifications whenever new articles are uploaded.

If your laptop is getting hot you should most definitely be concerned. Get the facts and empower yourself...

TIPS, TRICKS, INFO  – MAKING COMPUTING FUN

Tech Talk

The issue of overheating laptops (Part 1)

A while back a good friend of mine brought his laptop for me to check for him. “It needs a good cleaning up” he said.  So I turned on the computer and had him login so that he could show me what made him conclude that his machine needed a “good cleaning up.”

I do not want to exaggerate here, but the laptop could not have been on for more than about five minutes when I realized that it had gotten very hot.  I’m not talking about normal operational heat – the laptop was overheating.  I was somewhat taken aback by his failure to identify this particular occurrence as a problem, so I asked him if the machine “normally” got that hot or if it was the first time this had happened.  He then informed me that “it used to work okay when it was new, but I started noticing it warming up in the last couple months.”

Now, in case you are not aware, there is nothing normal about a computer overheating.  If it was overheating from when it was brand new, then it would have been safe to say that either he bought a faulty device or that the problem was as a result of the laptop being poorly designed/built on the manufacturers end (insufficient vents, or poorly designed vents, crappy fan etc.). But the fact that the problem started long after he would have bought the machine (over two years later) meant that there were other forces at play apart from the two mentioned above.

While it is natural for a device to get a bit warm when in use, it should NEVER get hot.  And I know you may be saying that what is hot for one person can be considered warm for another and you’d be correct (to a certain extent).  But hair-splitting aside, I think most persons with a little something between their ears will know when a device is hot as opposed to it being warm.

For this article I will be focusing on laptop computers, but that does not mean that desktop computers do not overheat as well.  It’s just that laptops are (unfortunately) more prone to overheating than desktops.

So what causes a computer to overheat (apart from the manufacturer messing up)?

1. Blocked air vents – This can be due to a build up of dust and other lint-like particles OR as a result of the user using the laptop on a surface which does not allow the air to flow as it should such as on a mattress, carpet, pillow etc..
2. Dirty fans – A build up of dust on the fan blades will decrease the fan’s effectiveness and can even lead to the fan failing long before it should.
3. Failing/Faulty fans – As with everything, wear and tear will eventually take a toll on the fans and they will need to be replaced.  A failing fan often becomes noisy and would cease to spin as fast as it should.
4. Overclocking – If you increase the speed of your processor, you should also consider getting a “better” fan to handle the additional heat that will be generated.
5. Overloading – Giving the computer more tasks to do than is necessary can result in the processor having to work harder.  If the cooling system is already compromised (dirty fans, blocked vents etc.) then this can lead to overheating.
6. A dying battery – As battery cells degrade/die over time they tend to get hotter than normal during the charging process which can in turn lead to the laptop overheating.

While there are other factors which can contribute to the problem of overheating, the six mentioned above are at the top of the list.

I guess the question now is, “how do I fix the problem or avoid it from occurring if it hasn’t already?”  Well, the answer will be covered in a subsequent article.

As always, I love hearing from you, so if you have something to say please fell free to do so in the comment section and remember to subscribe to this website if you haven’t already done so.