Tag Archives: free antivirus

The Best Free Tools for your PC

Panda Free

From fashion and flights to technology and innovation, we love to get a good deal.  We get a thrill out of saving money, and it’s even better when it’s free.

There’s a world of freedoms, thanks to popular software and licenses that are offered for free, depending on what interests you. Whether you are a photo-fanatic, music-junkie, or just love a good deal, there are tons of resources at your disposal. There is even software that turns your phone into a digital wallet, in case you want to go wallet less!

The Down Low on the free Downloads

You can perfect and share a multitude of photos using free photo editing software. One of those freebies, PhotoScape, allows us to retouch and perfect all of our digital images in just a couple clicks. Once they’re fixed up, go ahead and share them on your favorite Social Network.

Because of their accessibility, we have become over-consumers of music, TV and movies. We want to use them whenever we want. You can organize and play all of your media using VLC media player, a free and open-source multimedia player that is available for different operating systems in several versions. You are able to watch movies and TV shows, and listen to music. It can be downloaded in the following formats: OGG, FLAC, MKV, MP3, MP4, WMV, MOV.

But, even freebies have imperfections. Companies have been battling to be the internet’s “most downloaded”, as seen with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer´s back and forth battle.  Explorer was recently dethroned as the most-used browser. Regardless of who is in first place, both of these web browsers continue to trail the rest, like Firefox and Safari.

Take care of your PC on a low-cost budget

If we want to take advantage of these tools we must make sure our PCs are running at optimal levels. The free software CCleaner helps us delete useless files, while keeping our PCs clean, optimizing it, and speeding it up!

What about cyber-security? Let’s not forget that hackers take advantage of large security holes in order to attack Internet users. To protect ourselves from the 227,000 new malware samples that have been detected each day this year, we have free solutions like Panda Free Antivirus 2016a great value with Panda´s guarantee. Quality isn´t always costly!

Who said it was expensive to keep your system up-to-date?

The post The Best Free Tools for your PC appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Someone Hijacks Botnet Network & Replaces Malware with an Antivirus

The Dridex banking trojan that is widely being used by cyber criminals to distribute malware onto users’ machines has now been found distributing a security software.

A portion of the Dridex banking Trojan botnet may have been hacked or compromised by an unknown Whitehat Hacker, who replaced the malicious links with Avira Antivirus installers.

What is Dridex Banking Trojan? How it Works

'Ridiculous' Bug in Popular Antivirus Allows Hackers to Steal all Your Passwords

If you have installed Trend Micro’s Antivirus on your Windows computer, then Beware.

Your computer can be remotely hijacked, or infected with any malware by even through a website – Thanks to a critical vulnerability in Trend Micro Security Software.

The Popular antivirus maker and security firm Trend Micro has released an emergency patch to fix critical flaws in its anti-virus product

Ohio school district teams up with Avast for Business

Avast teamed up with Chillicothe City School District in Ohio to provide free antivirus software their schools.

The best defense is a good offense.

The best defense is a good offense.

Educational institutions manage sensitive data including names, birthdays, and even social security numbers. That data needs to be secured to ensure sensitive student data remains confidential. Tyler Hisel is an IT technician the Chillicothe City School District in Ohio. Tyler recently started protecting his school with Avast for Business. “We had AVG before switching to Avast and we really needed to simplify our security solution.”

Servicing an entire school district’s IT needs is a challenge. That’s why Tyler said he needed software with easy-to-use centralized management where he could monitor the district’s devices. “Avast was cost saving and had lots of features that I was surprised came free,” said Tyler.

Tyler discovered Avast for Business by searching for free antivirus software for business. He explored all of the options and after considering the alternatives decided that Avast for Business was the best antivirus software for the district. “All we wanted was a simple security solution that worked, and I knew we didn’t have to pay a fortune for it.”

Budget wasn’t the biggest factor in Tyler’s decision but he claimed that it was definitely important. There were other security solutions that fit most of Tyler’s qualifications but he says that Avast for Business’ nonexistent price tag and centralized management made it the clear choice. When asked if he would recommend Avast to others he replied saying, “We’ve told businesses in the area about it already!”

Tyler’s final thoughts on Avast for Business were simply this, “I’ve got to hand it to you, it’s really an impressive product and it being free just makes it better.”

Avast for Business is free for schools, small and medium sized businesses and non-profit organizations. Visit our Avast for Business website to learn more and sign up.

Alton Towers Facebook Scam

Following an accident at Alton Towers – a theme and water park in the United Kingdom, a Facebook scam has emerged that purports to show video footage of the accident. Beware: this is a scam, which we shall now dissect for you.

Step 1: The hook

Alton Towers - step 1 the hook

This teaser Facebook post is supposedly taken from the accident (it is not). If you click on it with the (macabre) hope of seeing a video of the crash, you will be taken to a website that has been designed to look just like YouTube.

Step 2: The fake look-alike

Alton Towers fake youtube

Once on that page, you will be asked to post a link to the video on your Facebook timeline…

Step 3: The redirect

Once you accept to post the video to Facebook, you will be redirected to another website, where you will be told that to finally see that video, you need to download a video player update…

Alton Towers - step 3 the redirect

The downloaded file contains adware, that display advertisements and collects information about your browsing habits. The crooks almost certainly make money by getting a percentage of all sales on these third party ads you will be seeing in your browser.

If you see this Alton Towers scam on Facebook, avoid it. If you click on a post that tells you to download a plugin or update to watch the video, exit the page immediately. And for additional security, use Avira Free Antivirus, which blocks adware.

The post Alton Towers Facebook Scam appeared first on Avira Blog.

Give your PC some superpowers

So now that I got this out of the way, here are two important observations by Captain Obvious:

#1: This blog post is about shameless self-promotion.

#2: You’ll be safer (and perhaps mildly amused) after having read it.

So here’s the newsflash: we’ve just launched a superhero campaign that’ll unleash your PC’s superpowers: www.avira.com/en/try-superpowers

The campaign offers our free Antivirus software, as well as free trials to premium software. Take a look at the short descriptions for your PC’s new superpowers:

STRENGTH

Wield superior PC protection, forged deep within the A.V.I.R.A. labs. The process of forging summons otherworldly code, to withstand attacks from any breed of alien forces

SPEED

Be one with an accurate, effective weapon – able to navigate and propel you with supersonic speed through cyberspace. Your PC will be faster, your boot up time—shorter, your streaming—smoother, your PC—cleaner and you’ll even free up space on your hard drive.

STABILITY

Control and stabilize your PC’s elements, with a driver updater tool that’s forged from the remnants of a star. Your hardware will run smoother, your gaming will be faster and it will help prevent system freezes and crashes.

And of course, the page gives you the option at the bottom to share it with your friends and family – just in case you don’t begrudge them your new-found superpowers….

The post Give your PC some superpowers appeared first on Avira Blog.