Free Security Software Smackdown

You might be surprised to find that the range of available free security software makes it difficult to single out the best free internet security software downloads for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or even older Windows based systems. As a matter of fact you can find free security download in a variety of categories some of which you may not even have considered. You do not need to purchase any internet security software because carefully selected free security software is all you need.

THE ‘TRIANGLE’ OF INTERNET SECURITY
A key consideration related to free internet security software downloads for Windows XP is that in addition to great software there also exists worthless and even harmful free downloads. You should only consider proven, widely tested and well reviewed options for your short list of potential free security downloads. Unless your computer is just a test machine and readily reformatable, you should only consider highly rated free security software and stay away from unproven or potentially scam products.Worthless security software may be seen as performing invisibly rather than seen as the threat and scam they might actually be! It can be very difficult to tell if your security software is malfunctioning or worse yet just plain worthless because unlike a program such as a game, you may not get any real clues as to its status. If internet security software such as a free firewall or free antivirus software is downloaded to your system and fails to work, you may not have any idea until long after your computer has been compromised. Risking our computers security online is something that most of us should be more concerned about.

I often use the visual image of internet security protection as having a triangular shape. Each of the points represents one of the three primary classes of internet security software. Antispyware software, firewalls and antivirus programs constitute the basic groups of security software. The lines of the triangle signify other classes of security that may add to the three primary classes of internet security software. The lines of this security triangle are not as clearly defined as they once were, due to the appearance of new multifunction internet security software. This idea of three types of security software will be followed to allow us to quickly cover our six favorite internet security programs. This idea of a triangle can help you to select free security software to totally protect your Windows system from online threats. We will be looking at a few of the best security software downloads.

FREE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS
There are lots of great free antivirus software downloads for you to select from.Of all antivirus products available for download, Comodo is certainly my favorite free option and bests many paid choices. Comodo is involved in the high end enterprise portion of the internet and decided a couple of years ago to provide an antivirus product free to give everyone a safer online experience. A year or so Comodo combined their free firewall and free antivirus products into a smooth performing security suite. Using proactive heuristic threat analysis allows Comodo to even protect from new previously unknown threats based on similarity to previously identified threats. By using host intrusion detection Comodo Can preemptively block malicious software before it even starts up. Comodo stays up to date with automatic daily virus definition updates. PC Tools also has developed a great free antivirus software program called Antivirus Free Edition. Two other products from PC Tools are better known, Spyware Doctor and Registry Mechanic. PC Tools Antivirus differs from Comodo in that it adds live support and more frequent and faster virus updates. The free antivirus product from PC Tools is updated frequently and actually protects in real time. With comprehensive scanning power PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition will give you the peace of mind that your Windows XP or Vista system is secure. There are not any problems under Vista for either of theses products.

FREE FIREWALL SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS
For some reason a number of the free firewall developers have recently removed their products from distribution. This really does not matter because our two favorites are still going strong. Zone Alarm Free Edition has been picked year after year by many users as the best single purpose free firewall. Many firewall reviews have listed this as a number one choice for many years. The popularity and wide use of ZoneAlarm has made it the best understood and most reviewed free internet security firewall. Even with all of that, I can still say it is not my first choice. My favorite internet firewall is the one offered for free as a component of Comodo Internet Security. Zone Alarm Free Edition while reliable is a basic product that does not have some of the more advance features of many of ZoneAlarms retail products.Why spend a dime when the best Windows XP firewall, Comodo Internet Security, is available for free. When Comodo Firewall was an individual product it often was rated as the top firewall you could find. The combination of Comodo Firewall and Comodo Antivirus makes an even more interesting free product.

FREE ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS
With the wide selection of excellent free antispyware software downloads available you should easily be able to find one or more to protect your computer. The rule of thumb for firewalls and antivirus programs is that more than one per category may cause incompatibility, this often is not true for antispyware software. We have found a combination of three antispyware software programs that are all running at the same time on our systems: Windows Defender, Spybot Search and Destroy and Spyware Terminator. This antispyware trio has been performing together for over a year providing enhanced spyware protection and no problems.

Free security software picked from all three groups presented, will keep you safe as you spend time online. After dealing with the points of the triangle security wise, you can move on to additional security products like spam fighters and privacy products.