NetBasics Things are not always as they appear. Aimed to educate people about cybersafety, this NetSafe NetBasics site features 3D animated shorts that chronicle one family's online adventures. Meet the characters, and watch each episode to find out how the Jones family fares against the nastiest stuff on the Internet. You can also get more information about everything from antivirus and antispyware software to backing up data, setting and managing strong passwords, and avoiding dangerous downloads and online trickery.

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Top Free Anti Virus Scans and Software

Is your computer free of viruses?

More often than not, if your computer already has a virus it can interfere with the installation of Antivirus programs.
Try these online scans to determine if a virus does exist on your computer, then you can attempt to remove them manually before installing a program.

Free Security and Virus Check

Symantec Security Check tests your computer's exposure to a wide range of online threats. It's free and an effective tool that helps determine your Internet security needs.

Symantec Online Virus Check is a Free Online utility. It will check your computer for viruses and advise you of them but does not remove them.
Just click the Security Check Icon to take you there.

AVG Free 9 Anti-Virus

Popularity: #1 in Antivirus Software (out of 293 products)

License: Free

Editor's Rating: 5.0 stars

Average User Rating: 4.0 stars (out of 16208 votes) Downloads: 125,966,274

Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Limitations: No limitations

Date Added: September 01, 2008

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Best Free Spyware Removal Tool

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CNet Editor’s Review: This antivirus program offers rock-solid protection. AVG Free provides the bare necessities, including a real-time shield to prevent infections, anti-virus and anti-malware wrapped up in one engine, and a link scanner for Web surfing with care.

By default, the application is set to search for new virus definitions daily, but you always can use the scheduling tool to change this. Should a virus create serious system problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode. The program doesn't tax your system when scanning or when running in the background and always proved effective in our tests. The new interface is much easier to navigate than in previous version, with tabbed navigation on the left assisting users in drilling down to the tools they need.

Though the free version of this program will suffice for average folks, those who demand more control should certainly consider AVG Anti-Virus Professional.

Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus

Popularity: #2 in Antivirus Software(out of 293 products)

License: Free

CNet Editor’s Rating: 5.0 stars

Average User Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 1595 votes)

Downloads: 15,458,698

Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Limitations: No limitations

Date Added: August 25, 2008

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From Avira: Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus is a comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users only. Avira offers: Extensive Malware Recognition of viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, worms, etc. Automatic incremental updates of antivirus signatures, engine and entire software. Permanent virus protection, with Virus Guard real time monitoring. Install and configuration in just a couple of steps. Virus protection against known and unknown threats, using an advanced heuristic system. Scheduler where you can set the scanner to make automatic virus scans or updates on your system. Forum and phone support, Knowledge Base with virus descriptions available on Web site. Rootkit Detection and Removal. Version 8 adds an enhanced interface, a modularized AV-search engine for improved scan performance, an integrated failsafe security system, SMTP support for AntiVir MailGuard and a new Fast Activation Tool (FACT).

Version 8.1.0.331 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

Avast Home Edition

Popularity: #3 in Antivirus Software(out of 293 products)

Editor's Rating: 5.0 stars

Average User Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 8080 votes)

Downloads: 29,004,523

Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista

Limitations: No limitations

Date Added: September 26, 2007

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Avast Home Edition This impressive software provides the same steadfast protection of well-known antivirus programs, yet it's surprisingly free.

Avast Home Edition guards your PC and the network with multiple shields that scan executables and files. You can select parameters for scanning, and even choose wildcards to exclude specific file types. You can adjust the sensitivity level for the program's detectors when it comes to scanning downloaded files, instant messages, e-mails, and a host of P2Ps. Its efficient interface opens up window after window to tweak its settings to your liking, for novice to advanced level protection.

Though it took quite some time to run, we're impressed with this application's boot-time antivirus scan. Fortunately, if you're in a pinch you can bypass it. If malicious contents are detected, Avast comes to the rescue with handy virus cleanup tools. Some decent PC controls are even handed out here. You can block certain URLs and file operations, such as writing to files or even renaming, deleting or formatting them.

With immediate real-time protection, clockwork updates, and much more, this free software is highly regarded in our book.

Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner

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Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner is a free online virus scanner to find out if you have any viruses or spyware on your machine without having to uninstall your current antivirus software or install a new one. Most importantly, you can see what viruses your current antivirus software let slip through. You just need to be online and using Internet Explorer.

Note: When using this service for the first time, you have to run with Administrator privileges in order to install the product. Also, you will need to download and install files about 400 KB in size followed by 9 MB of virus definitions. However, if you use the Online Scanner again, you will only need to download the files that have been updated since your last scan. The Online Scanner service offered by Kaspersky Lab uses Microsoft ActiveX technology. Microsoft ActiveX Technology and the Kaspersky Online Scanner work only with MS Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. The free Kaspersky Online Scanner does not scan boot sectors and MBRs, so it cannot detect malicious code located in these areas. The free Kaspersky Online Scanner does not protect against malicious code, and cannot prevent future infections. It only detects malware that has already penetrated your computer. We strongly recommend that you install a full antivirus solution to protect your system.