:: Anti-Virus Programs ::

AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).

avast! antivirus Home Edition represents the best antivirus protection available and is available free of charge for non-commercial, home use. It is designed to protect your valuable data and programs, as well as keep itself up-to-date. It also comes with the kind of built-in features that many vendors charge for additionally, or don’t include at all such as anti-spyware, anti-rootkit and strong self-protection. Simply install and forget.

This is a free Online Virus Scan from Trend Micro.

Panda ActiveScan is Panda Software’s online antivirus, that works directly over the Internet. With a simple click from your browser you can scan all your files and e-mail for viruses.

Examine your computer using Symantec’s award-winning virus detection technology to determine if it is infected by any known virus or Trojan horse.

BitDefender Online Scanner is an on-demand virus scanner which incorporates the award-winning BitDefender scanning engines. You can use it to scan your system’s memory, all files and drives’ boot sectors, and to automatically clean infected files.

Easy-to-use firewall blocks hackers and other unknown threats. Stealth mode automatically makes your PC invisible to anyone on the Internet. The Free version provides you with only the basic protection, but it is enough to keep you and your PC safe from intruders.

Unlike some other free firewalls, this is not a stripped down version, but is a fully functional product. Updates are also free.

• Complete protection from Hackers, Spyware, Trojans and Identity theft
• Host Intrusion Prevention System stops malware from being installed
• Clean PC Mode registers your current applications then will allow only applications that you approve to be installed on your computer
• Malware Scan Feature checks your computer for viruses, spyware and trojans before you install Comodo Firewall Pro
• Free Download. No charges or license fees ever.

Install now for out-of-the-box protection against identity theft hackers, trojans, viruses, scripts and other unknown threats.

SUPERAntiSpyware is the most thorough AntiSpyware scanner on the market. Our Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware that other products miss! SUPERAntiSpyware will remove ALL the Spyware, NOT just the easy ones!

RootkitRevealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility. It runs on Windows NT 4 and higher and its output lists Registry and file system API discrepancies that may indicate the presence of a user-mode or kernel-mode rootkit. RootkitRevealer successfully detects all persistent rootkits published at www.rootkit.com, including AFX, Vanquish and HackerDefender (note: RootkitRevealer is not intended to detect rootkits like Fu that don’t attempt to hide their files or registry keys).

Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components.

Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.

A general homepage hijackers detector and remover. Initially based on the article Hijacked!, but expanded with almost a dozen other checks against hijacker tricks. It is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs/URLs, just the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.

A simple tool that lists all and every auto starting program on your system. You might be surprised what it finds, this is way better than Msconfig. Commonly used to troubleshoot malfunctioning systems, trojan/viral infections, new spyware/malware breed and the likes.

A small utility for removing CoolWebSearch (aka CoolWwwSearch, YouFindAll, White-Pages.ws and a dozen other names). Spybot S&D and Ad-aware tend to forget essential parts of the hijack, so until they update, you can use this to completely remove the hijack. This program is updated to remove the new variants once they come out.
Read Merijn’s article with documentation on Coolwebsearch here.

Windows Defender (Beta 2) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your computer can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware, including slow computer performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding more than 50 ways spyware can enter your computer. The worldwide SpyNet™ community plays a key role in determining which suspicious programs are classified as spyware. Microsoft researchers quickly develop methods to counteract these threats, and updates are automatically downloaded to your computer so you stay up to date.

The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available.

• Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted pests.
• Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox.
• Restrict the actions of potentially dangerous sites in Internet Explorer.

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the “good side” of the web. And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.

An anti-virus program scans files before you open them and prevents execution if a virus is detected - SpywareGuard does the same thing, but for spyware! And you can easily have an anti-virus program running alongside SpywareGuard. SpywareGuard now also features Download Protection and Browser Hijacking Protection!

This little app disables a few exploits that are commonly used by browser hijackers (including CWS), thus protecting you from infection. This does not remove an existing infection! Applicable to everyone that uses Internet Explorer.

Think of BHODemon as a guardian for your Internet Explorer browser: it protects you from unknown Browser Helper Objects (BHOs), by letting you enable/disable them individually. It also monitors your Registry and alerts you when a BHO is installed. Best of all, BHODemon knows about the most common BHOs - the good ones, and the not-so-good ones!