Review – Avira AntiVir Personal v9

I've tried many anti-virus programs in my day.  Some were too slow, some were too resource intensive, others just became so bloated that it was darn right silly.  Why, in a time where computers had much less RAM and hard drive space, would you make your security program so big and laggy?

The computers we use today no longer have such limitations, but it is no excuse to stop using well-made software.  Avira Antivir is a commercial anti-virus which also comes as a very good free version.  In fact, it rates highly in the av-comparatives.org test results every time.  The only price to pay for such security is a pop-up window once a day during definition updates.  But that's not that bad now, is it?  You have a small, fast scanning, regularly updated anti-virus to protect you.

I've tried others and yet I keep coming back to Avira.  Why use anything else when you have a free product that is as good as or better than pay products after all?  Save yourself some money and get yourself some peace of mind.

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URL: http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Review – CCleaner v3.04

Privacy on a computer may be an oxymoron, but a bit of help never hurts.  Enter Ccleaner (formerly called Crap Cleaner), a small and fast utility that can be used to remove certain traces of your computer usage to give you back a bit of privacy from snooping eyes.

The most basic function that this program offers is to clear out MRU (most recently used) lists from Windows and supported apps on your computer, such as text editing programs and web browsers.  It also goes beyond that to clear out temp files, invalid registry entries and your DNS cache.

Two other included features are basic control over what programs start with Windows and an alternative to the Add/Remove control panel list which loads up faster than the OS equivalent.

As with all system utilities however, caution must be used so that your system doesn't get pooched, but I am including this review for the more tech-savvy user anyhow.

Enjoy!

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URL: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/

Review – KeePass v2.14

These days it's so frustrating trying to remember all of your logins and passwords for the sites you visit.  That is of course IF you can remember all the sites where you have created accounts!

KeePass helps with this problem quite nicely.  It lets you create an encrypted database file in which you can store your login credentials, notes and even some files if need be.  You can encrypt it all with a password and even a key file for extra security.

There are many nice options in this program: You can specify details in the way it will encrypt your data, it can protect its memory from snooping, when you copy a username or password to paste it elsewhere it will clear it out of memory after a few seconds, and the very handy autotype feature which lets KeePass send your login credentials to another program safely.

Some users even copy their database file to their Dropbox folder so that any computer they use can get access to their passwords in a safe way.

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URL: http://www.keepass.info/

Review – Mozilla Plugin Check

This webpage offers a quick plugin version check to make sure those you have installed are up to date.  This makes sure you have any updates, patches and bug fixes to keep your browsing and security at it's best.

It does a faster checkup then Secunia PSI but only checks your plugins to make sure they are safe, instead of your installed software.

Just another way browser companies are trying to keep web users safe.

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URL: http://www.mozilla.com/plugincheck/

Review – Secunia PSI v2.0

Keeping software up to date can sometimes be tricky, other times it can be a pain.  Using Filehippo's update checker is a good start, but what if an important security exploit becomes known publicly and you don't know about it?

Secunia PSI is another software update checker, but it has a focus on security fixes, bugs and patches.  There is an online version of this scanner, but it catches fewer items.  I suggest you run it now and then, as you are sure to be informed of any serious exploits right away and directed to the proper updates.  Better safe than sorry.

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URL: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

Review - Sysinternals

I've always found it handy to keep a few system utilities on hand since after all you never know when you're going to need them.  Sometimes though you'd need one or two that were a little more advanced.  That's where the SysInternals suite comes in.

The great tools in this set let you do pretty much anything you could need: there is a utility that monitors file access, one that monitors open net connections, another that wipes files securely off your hard drive, and even one that can be used as a replacement for the task manager that comes with Windows.

Overall I can't think of a reason why you shouldn't take a look and see what's available on their site.  There are easily 30 or so utilities there, all of them are free too.

One last note for fun: the apps are so good and handy that Microsoft went and bought the company!  Enjoy.

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URL: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

Review - VirusTotal

Having a good anti-virus these days is essential.  Sometimes however it's good to have a second opinion.  Well what if you had 42 of them?

VirusTotal is a nice site to have around for times when you seriously want to scan a file and make sure that it's clean.  When uploading, it calculates a hash of the file and lets you know if it has been scanned in the past to give you the result right away and avoid waiting for the scans to take place, although you can ask it to re-analyze it since newer definitions to the scanning engines have since come out, detecting newer viruses and removing some false positives.

Another nice feature is a shell extension that you can install on your computer to upload and scan files with a simple right-click.  This is optional however, and is available for your convenience.

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URL: http://www.virustotal.com/