Free Antivirus Roundup

In this day, it is absolutely essential to have an up-to-date virus program running on your system if you are connected to the internet. Even if you do not care about protecting your PC, you could be unknowingly spreading viruses on your PC. Viruses user your Email programs to send themselves to those in your address book. A friend, relative or associate might open an Email sent from you by a virus and suddenly be infected. This can be embarrassing.

Here are some of the most popular free Antivirus programs:

AVG - One of our favorites.

Blink - Free one year subscription for personal use. Provides zero-day protection.

AntiVir - The private and individual use is completely free of charge!

avast! Home Edition - MQuick and easy free antivirus download.

Trend Micro - Free online virus scan.

There are many different types of viruses. The following includes a brief description of the most common

Boot Sector: This virus infects the System-area of a floppy or hard drive. They are activated when a user boots from an infected disk.

File Infector Viruses: Most of these viruses reside in the memory of a computer and infect a programs' .exe and .com files.

Master Boot Record Viruses: Similar to a Boot Sector viruses, these viruses infect the Master Boot Record and prevent your system from booting.

Multi-partite viruses: Infect both the Boot record and program files.

Macro viruses: Macro Viruses are prevalent in corporate environments where office suites are used. They use a program's code to infect data files.

Trojan Horses: These viruses do not replicate themselves. Instead, they usually pose as a harmless file that is downloaded from the web. These programs rely on secrecy and can result in the theft or destruction of data files. This type of virus is commonly picked up from peer to peer file sharing programs.

Worms: Worms replicate themselves without using a host file and can spread very quickly across the internet by releasing documents it has infected.

Zero-Day Attack: A zero day attack is more of an exploitation than a virus. Hackers that know of a vulnerability will attack a system that has an exploit without a patch.

Wireless Network Security

Networks have quickly evolved from the traditional Ethernet cable setup, with wires tucked under runs and tacked to ceilings and walls, to mobile setups with your valuable and personal data being broadcast throughout your neighborhood.

In this day, it is essential to protect yourself from attackers and snoopers, This article will employ simple techniques that can instantly make your wireless setup more secure.

The SSID

A Linksys Router will have a default Service Set Identifier (SSID). Everyone knows this. So one of your first steps in securing your network should be to change this to something else.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

As a minimum, you should enable this on your router. WEP encrypts the data, making it harder for intruders to snag the information flying through the air. Having since been replaced by newer protocols--the latest being IEEE 802.11i standard (also known as WPA2)--WEP is the bare minimum you should use, and is widely supported by older hardware. WEP is always better than no protection at all, but realize this is a false security and anyone with hacking knowledge can quickly compromise it.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)

WPA was created to replace WEP. It is a wireless protocol with enhanced authentication and encryption. WPA's strength is that it uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, which creates new keys as the system is being used. This fixes the exploits found with WEP because hacks could be used to quickly crack the key it used. If given the option, always choose WPA over WEP. Unfortunately, not all devices support this newer protocol and WEP must be settled for.

MAC Addresses

You can make your network static by physically inputting the MAC addresses of your hardware into the router table. This allows only those particular pieces of hardware to access the network. Since no two network devices share the same MAC address, this is a great way to secure your home network.

Disable DHCP

Simply put, don't allow your router to handout an IP address to anyone walking down the street with a laptop and a wireless card. You will need to physically assign each machine an IP address within the IP range you specify in the router.

By taking a moment to enable a few security protocols within your wireless network, you could prevent a hacker or snoop from gaining access to your valuable information.