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I use a system with P4 and the following configuration: 40 GB HDD and 128 RAM partitioned into two in Win 98 in C drive and XP in D drive. I have installed AVG anti-virus for the system and Solo Antivirus scanner for Internet virus, which detects Internet virus effectively. The Solo is supposed to be a trial version and it is valid only for 30 days after which I need to register. Is there any scan that I can subscribe to that comes free? N. Pradeep Babu

Users of free security products can greatly improve their malware detection rates by combining several free products to provide layered detection. Since no anti-virus product can detect all malware, we have to build some layers such as anti-virus s/w, anti-trojan scanner, anti-spyware program, popup blocker, Personal Firewall.

AVG Free Edition is an effective freeanti-virus product that can be downloaded from http://free.grisoft.com/softw/70free/setup/avg71free_362a652.exe (size 14.9 MB).

For the best protection against Trojans, you can use the Ewido Security Suite that can be freely downloaded from http://www.ewido.net/en/download/ (supports Windows 2000/XP and size is 6.32MB).

For Windows 95/98, users can use a2 (a-squared) free at http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/ (3.04 MB).

Microsoft's windows Antispyware is one of the best anti-spyware programs that can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx. (size 6.54 MB, supports Windows 2000/XP only).

Other effective anti-spyware products are Ad-aware SE Personal Edition (2.72 MB size) and Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 (4.8MB Size). It is advisable to have at least one pop-up blocker. Google toolbar is a good pop-up blocker with additional features at http://toolbar.google.com/ (447 KB size). In the Free Personal Firewall category, Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6 is one of the best products available at http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160 (Size 8.8 MB).

Please also update regularly your definition files of security products and especially Windows automatic updates. For those whose main Internet usage is e-mail and surfing well-known Web sites, it is possible to get near perfect detection using free security products.

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in

if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer.

Solution by M. Sampath

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