Updating the Antivirus

Provided you have paid your subscription and installed correctly, all anti virus products that I have ever seen and used, update themselves periodically automatically.....

e.g. you need to do nothing but keep your subscription paid.

If you are trying to get something for free, that you have not obtained legally, then you may find that the "stolen" software "attracts" or makes an attack easy for any viruses to get to your PC......so have I been so informed.....! No personal experience in this, but I could believe that in some cases! Better for business eventually maybe....

There are plenty of "free" programs, that may not be quite as good in all respects and features as the bought versions, but they are still better than nothing in my book....Avira Antivir Personal Edition Classic is one of these. You can download it from:-

http://www.free-av.com/

Millions of people use it. It updates itself daily if you so wish.....

CR4 will not help you trying to do anything illegal, be warned! So do not even ask.

There are plenty of "free" programs,..."

I have been using the AVG free package from grisoft.com for several years, updating it on a daily basis. I have found it to be robust and I have never experienced a problem with virus attach since using it. Of course, I also use "firefox" as my browser, which I believe also keeps the virus problems to a minimum.

One thing SparkY failed to say but did indirectly say is that McAfee and Norton are proprietary software designed especially for the Microsoft operating system and both require a subscription to update. There are other anti virus softwares, too, most are also proprietary, but some are open source. It is a shame that Microsoft has seen fit to not provide a lifetime anti virus software to protect their system. Rather, Microsoft includes a 6 month anti virus subscription and the same for most of their office suites, too. Remember, this is an "innovation" in marketing that made Bill Gates one of the wealthiest men on earth and Microsoft one of the wealthiest corporations on earth. WIth Microsoft, one must continue to pay for what they have already paid for many times over.

I have often wondered about the close relationship between Computer Malware and Security Company remedies.

For those old enough to have seen it, (not me, I hasten to add, a bit before my time.....), Charlie Chaplin made a black & White silent Movie in 1921, entitled "The Kid" - Short synops is below for part of the film:

Chaplin has become a glazier, while his adopted son (the remarkable Jackie Coogan) drums up business for his old man by cheerfully breaking windows in the neighborhood.

Noting that some Software Writing Companies have huge incomes, and of course there are Annual Subscriptions in perpetuity for the updated remedies, I have a scenario quietly playing away in the dark recesses of my mind:

There is a large anonymous building, and inside there are Malware Writers, who manufacture Viruses, Worms, Adware, Scripts etc, and release these into the Internet - They work for a Company, although they may not realise it - The Company listed below:

In another building, perhaps far away, there is the "Security Software Company", who sell "Security Software, and employ other code writers to write the remedial updates for the above.

Somewhere in between there is a bank account, growing at a hyperbolic rate in the upwards direction.

It's not only in Security Software that this could happen:

• GM hybrid seeds and Chemical Companies.
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Hospitals.
• Politicians, Bankers, Terrorists, and Military.
• Foods and Medicines.
• Lawyers and Courts (Remember every Lawyer's FIRST duty is to the Court, not his Client)
  

The dreadful list surmised above could go on much further..........

You perhaps wonder at times, what is really going on......

There is another remedy for msot anti viruses, cahnge operating systems. One will find Linux almost impervious to viruses and if it fails, it is very, very easy to reboot. Also, Linux can easily be re-installed and if you have your files stored on another server, you can reinstall all your software and reclaim all your files. And I actually find the applications for Linux to be superior to any Microsoft applications. I do not know about games since this is a working computer and not a toy, I do not play games at all, except once in a while Pysol.