Do Free Anti-Virus Programs Work as Well as Commercial Ones?

With more and more viruses, spyware and malware being developed every day, protecting your computer system is very important. The question most of us have is whether or not free anti-virus programs will be as efficient as the ones we must pay for.

They are. While Norton and McAfee and all the other non-free virus protection programs definitely do the job, the free ones do just as well, and sometimes better! There is honestly no need to spend your hard-earned bucks on PC protection. Free anti-virus programs are taking over, and it is about time.

Without going into all the ins and outs of how anti-virus programs work, I'll explain in a nutshell why the free protection is a completely acceptable alternative. In a matter of a few minutes, your PC can be protected from thousands of threats on the Internet - all for free.

Basically, it works like this: malicious users of the Internet create harmful programs such as Trojans and Hijackers, and the anti-virus programmers write something to stop them. This cycle goes on and on, forever. So how come paying for Norton is no better than downloading AVG, for instance?

Both programs are created to intervene when threats prevent themselves. Both programs are constantly being updated, and both programs are very effective at what they do. The difference is that the free ones do not necessarily have to advertise (costing them a lot of money), and they aren't included with new machines, which means they aren't in bed with Microsoft.

In fact, every single IT Tech or computer programmer that I have ever spoken to says the same thing: please don't pay for virus protection. The leading free anti-virus programs available are actually better than some of the commercial options. A simple trip to www.download.com will net you a nice choice of anti-virus programs, including AVG, Avira and Avast, as well as many others. All of them will do what you want them to do, which is to protect your PC or laptop from Internet hazards.

Although of course there is nothing wrong with paying for your protection, and it makes some of us feel somehow safer. But maybe when your subscription runs out and you have to break out the checkbook to continue service, just give one of the free anti-virus programs a shot. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised.