Like your car, you want your computer or laptop to be running at its peak optimum, secure from any intruders and as finely tuned as possible. You also want to do this as affordable as possible, preferably free.
So what’s presented is the following “no-cost” as in absolutely free privacy as well as security software utilities which will effectively and professionally protect your PC against any unwanted online violations such as, viruses, spyware and malware, while encrypting your hard drive as well.
It’s always recommended that you keep all of the files on your desktop PC or your laptop, which contains all of your delicate data be kept private, hidden, secure and safe from any potential pryers.
So since we all like the word “Free,” the following is the best security and privacy software utilities which will effectively protect you against any unwanted online violations.
Professional Grade Free Protection For Your Computer
Protecting Your PC From Malware
Malware can potentially be the biggest threat that you’ll come across when you’re online. Your computer can easily be violated by Trojan horses, viruses and other despicable forms of unwanted malware which can do immense damage to your personal computer.
Malware is capable to stealing all of your private information as well as potentially turning your PC into a complete zombie robot which can distribute spam by remotely carrying out attack commands. But there’s no need to be an online victim as you can download and immediately install the following utilities. Be safe out there!
Search And Destroy By Spybot
Like the name suggests, this excellent classic spyware utility really does what it says, and as a result, is one of the top utilities as well as one of the most popular downloads, and this for a very good reason.
Spybot Search and Destroy dedicates itself on your behalf to eliminate any and all spyware which your computer unknowingly picks up while your surfing online. This program will automatically scan your computer to find unwanted spyware, which includes any tracking cookies or spyware apps. The program once its installed will also inoculate your desktop or laptop against initially getting infected in the first place.
Security Essentials By Microsoft
This is about as good and simple as it can get, by using this excellent computer protection utility program provided by our friends at Microsoft. Once it’s installed, Microsoft Security Essentials will work completely in silence and in the background, continuously scanning all of the programs which you run to determine if they contain any malware.
If any are found, the app will then dispose of anything which proves to be malicious or threatening. Also, it will regularly scan your entire computer system ensuring that there’s no infections which may have sneaked through the back door. This is a great straightforward program which provides clean as well as free protection, thus it’s hard to beat.
Free Antivirus By Avast
This free utility is a slick, speedy and a well-designed and effective malware elimination utility which is also easy to use. It’s been rated as one of the top free antivirus programs available today.
Much like Microsoft’s Security Essentials, Avast’s Antivirus program is a set it up once and then forget it utility. Once you download and install the program, then it will automatically work like a silent butler and security guard. The scans which it performs are extremely quick, as well as using very little resources. This is so smooth that you won’t even know that it’s there.
Free Firewall By Comodo
Every computer and laptop should have a good firewall utility which will block any unwanted applications which is on the PC from making outbound connections which are not safe.
Having a firewall can become especially useful since any Trojan horses (ugg. there’s that word again) planted on your computer may attempt to make these outbound connections. A firewall also helps in preventing your computer from being hijacked and thus becoming a slave zombie, (yes, this can happen) and perform malicious attacks without you knowing.
Comodos’ Firewall utility is an excellent choice which will block these Trojan horses, stop hackers who are attempting to access and then take control of your computer, as well as warding off any other threats.
This software program however takes a bit of work to setup, since you’ll need to tell it which of your programs that’s currently on your PC are safe, and is allowed outbound connections. But setting it up is almost a minor annoyance because of the stellar protection that Comodo Firewall offers.
Properly Securing Your Computer Or Laptop
You will also want to secure the data on your desktop or laptop computer as well. This includes all of its contents and files along with all your usernames and passwords that you’ve stored. The following instantly downloadable utilities are recommended.
FreeOTFE
Are you worried, well you should be when someone happens to physically walk by your computer or laptop while it’s unattended, as they can easily access all of your PC files and applications if they want to.
You should also be concerned what can potentially happen to your data and your files if you happen to misplace or lose your laptop at the library or at the airport. Well, FreeOTFE is able to encrypt all of your files as well as your folders, or even your entire hard drive for that matter.
It will then automatically decrypt all of the data “on the fly” as you need or use the information. This however isn’t the easiest program available to use, but it does however do its job accurately.
Secunia PSI
You’re already aware that you should be taking care of any potential vulnerabilities which resides in your computers operating system. But you may be surprised or unaware to learn that any applications which are out-of-date can potentially contain unwanted security flaws which can pose significant problems.
If you have installed any applications lately but have neglected to regularly update them with patches, then your computer or laptop can be at risk. This excellent free utility, Secunia PSI can close all of these holes where unwanted malware can easily slither through.
This tool will scan all of the software programs on your system, then it will determine which of them are outdated, and will then help you install the update patches.
KeePass Utility
You most likely have a lot of usernames and passwords which you use on a daily or weekly basis. This can be for website forums, email, ATM or banking, social media sites etc. Also, more than likely, you have them stored somewhere on your computer which means that they can potentially be stolen.
What you can do is securely lock them away by using KeePass, which is an excellent free utility program that will effectively and efficiently hide all of your passwords for you in an encrypted database.
This way, only you can access and use them. Also, the program is also able to create industrial-strength uncrackable passwords for you, making it a lot less likely for anyone to be able to “break” it.