If you have never gotten a virus or spyware on your computer, you either run a Mac (don’t get me started) or you are pretty diligent in keeping your cyber-self protected. Or else you have a virus AND spyware and just don’t know.
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Well, let’s hope for the former, but either way, Microsoft Security Essentials is a great, free tool to help keep you safe. Here’s what they say about themselves:
Use Microsoft Security Essentials to guard against viruses, spyware, and other evil software. It provides real-time protection for your home or small business PCs.
Microsoft Security Essentials is free* and we designed it to be simple to install and easy to use. It runs quietly and efficiently in the background so you don’t have to worry about interruptions or making updates.
Now, don’t let the “free” part throw you. This is not one of those deals where it seems great because it is free but you find out later that there are pieces missing (that you need to pay for). This program is self contained and does what it does. And does it well. The question is how can I prove it to you…
Well, I’m not going to send you to a page that I know has a virus on it (though I totally could!) but I can give you my thoughts on why Microsoft created an easy and thorough virus and spyware protection program. “Because Microsoft gets all the viruses.” Now don’t think for a second that I am knocking them. I’m not. They are on something like 95% of all the computers in the world and the program is huge and they have to leave in all sorts of ways to make the program “accessible” which means that people will take advantage.
But who is going to know more about all the things that people use to attack Microsoft better than Microsoft? Well, yes, the people making the viruses, but Microsoft will know second! So download Microsoft Security Essentials and give it a spin. You don’t need to get rid of your existing virus programs, either. They can run next to each other, and more security is always better.
It runs smoothly and “quietly” in the background. Even when it is doing a scan you can still do work on your machine without everything taking forever. So while it is easy to say that something free is “worth the investment” but this program would be even if it cost money. Good luck! And let us know how it goes in the comments.
