Free Computer Protection

Some of the best antivirus, antimalware,  malware protection, and computer protection software is free.  Many of these great products even outperform some the most popular commercial programs.  Many of the top commercial programs run too

AVG Rescue CD - YouTube Video

many un-necessary background scans that take too much of available system resources and slow down the computer performance.  The best free computer protection programs determined by major Internet reviews are Avira, Avast, and AVG.  I have personally used AVG free version for years and have only recently switched to Avira.  I was surprised that Avira found something that AVG missed.  It really does not make sense to use expensive commercial products that do not perform as well as these programs that offer free versions for personal use.

I still only use antivirus software to detect infections and once an infection is detected I completely restore my computers back to an original known good configuration.  I accomplish this in only a few minutes using a restore or image program, such as, Norton Ghost or Partimage which is a clone of Norton Ghost.  Partimage is a free Open Source program that is highly optimized for speed and great performance.  A new free program that also shows good potential is Clonezilla.  Since I maintain large computer labs I need networking products that are optimized for speed and will work with networks.

I also use imaging software to maintain my personal computers and computers for others.  The images need to be maintained and updated, but this only takes a few minutes every month or so.  My labs are restore daily to provide optimum performance and zero downtime.  I have jobs where I maintained over thousand computers spread over many sites and I have reduced required maintenance time by over 50% and improved up-time to over 99%.  Once computers are optimized and imaged they can be easily maintained with imaging software.  Over 90% of computer maintenance is software related and by using restore or imaging products you can eliminate most all of the software related issues.

I have been teaching computer maintenance concepts for over 10 years and have many successful students working in the IT field.  I also have produced several training videos that are available on YouTube under the title Computer Repair Training.

The Computer Repair Training Plus website has additional information that you might find useful.

January 9th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: Free Computer Protection | 3 comments

Free Malware Protection

Some of the best malware protection software is free.  Malware is short for malicious software.  This includes any

AVG Rescue CD - YouTube Video

software that has been designed for malicious purposes, such as, viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, data mining, key loggers, etc.  There are several software companies that provide excellent free malware protection software that out performs most of the popular commercial programs.  Many of the commercial programs slow down your computer by robbing system resources and performing too many unnecessary background scans.  Many of the better free programs are better optimized for high performance and provide better protection.

The top 3 programs are Avira, Avast, and AVG.  I have been running AVG for many years without any problems.  AVG will out perform the most popular commercial software and provide better protection.  However, after doing some research I have found that Avira and Avast have been receiving better reviews and I have recently switched to Avira.  After installing Avira it discovered something that AVG missed.  Avast is also a very highly recommended product with many great features.  They all perform automatic daily updates to protect you from the latest malware and have free basic versions that do an excellent job protection your computer.  I still only use protection software to alert me of an infection.  Once infected I do a complete restore of my operating system.  I have found that once you are infected a virus or malware will download other programs, such as, key loggers, downloaders, other malicious software that might not get detected.  So after you go through the cleaning process you find that you are once again infected.

So to prevent reinfection and losing personal information I always restore my operating system using some imaging software, such as, Norton Ghost or Partimage.  Partimage is a free Open Source clone program of Norton Ghost.  It runs very quickly and is easy to use.  Another very good imaging program is the new Clonezilla which also operates very quickly.  I maintain my images with the latest security updates so it only takes less than 10 minutes to be up and running again with a fresh operating system.  I do this daily in my computer lab which has over 35 computers.  Imaging will correct any number of computer issues from infections, registry corruptions, fragmentations, or other software related problems.   I always store data and important files in a separate partition so when I restore I only have to restore the operating system partition.

So if you haven’t yet checked out Avira, Avast, or AVG you might not have the best protection software installed on your computer.  Some of the best software I have found is free and the best free malware protection software is Avira.

The Computer Repair Training Plus website has addition information that you might find helpful.

December 12th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , | Category: Free Malware Protection | Leave a comment

Data Recovery

One of the worst scenarios that you can have happen while working on a project on your computer is to have all of your data lost.  This can be a very stressful situation for many people.  Nothing is worse than working on a project for several hours and finding that all of your data is no longer there.  Not only is this hard on yourself, but this can be a disaster for the company you work for if the project has to do with their success.  There are a few different options that you can try when you discover that you have lost all of your data.  Make sure that if you find yourself in this position, that you purchase a data recovery program.  There is a lot of recovery software available that can help you fix your problem.

Before you purchase any recovery program, make sure that you do the research on each particular program.  There are different programs that will only function with certain Mac or PC computers.  You will want to make sure that the recovery program that you buy is equipped to work with the year, make, and model of your Mac or PC.  You can find out this information by conducting an online search.  You can type in ‘data recovery software’ into any search engine, and it should bring up a variety of different software options for you to purchase or download.  If you choose to download recovery software make sure that it is safe and will not cause more damage to your computer than it already has.

Once you find out the best recovery program for your computer, you can either purchase it online or visit an electronics store.  If you bought your computer from a local store, you should first go there.  Make sure that you explain the problem to them.  Companies are usually better to work with you if you bought the computer from their particular store.  However, if you bought the computer used or online, you should still go to an electronics store.  They will help you better understand the problem and give you tips to get your data back.

If you find that you are constantly having problems losing data, you should definitely have your computer looked at by a professional.  It is not a normal problem to have recurring lost data issues, and it is something that needs to be looked at before the problem gets worse.

The Computer Repair Training Plus website has additional information that you might find helpful.

November 17th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , | Category: Data Recovery | One comment
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