Rootkit Revealer 1.71 (Freeware)

Super Anti Spyware Pro

Computer technology is constantly moving forward. Machines are built to be faster than their predecessors, hard drives increase in size, and connecting to the Internet is faster now than ever. Unfortunately, in parallel with leaps in computer technology, spyware and virus writers are constantly working on creating deadlier and more difficult to detect malware.

Thankfully, there are a variety of choices when it comes to defending against malicious programs. Symantec, McAfee, and Computer Associates, to name a few, are just three companies producing software solutions protect against malware. However, their products are costly, and typically take up a bit of system resources (processor use and memory) while running on your computer. These programs usually require an annual fee to keep the software registration current.

There are other products on the market that are not only less expensive, but have free counterparts as well. Companies like Grisoft (AVG Anti-Virus), Avast, and AVIRA give away free versions of their software, with reduced functionality, but still the same core components. It is left up to the individual whether they are content with the free version, or desire the premium, paid for, version. These premium versions will typically have a yearly paid subscription, akin to the previously mentioned companies.

One such program that has a premium and a free distribution is SuperAntiSpyware (found here

). Once you can get past the unimaginative title, the software itself is excellent. This is one anti-spyware program that has a tendency to find malware that other programs, even the big names ones, fail to find. While the free version of SuperAntiSpyware works well, there are practical reasons to consider upgrading to SuperAntiSpyware Pro.

One of the bigger draws to SuperAntiSpyware Pro is real time scanning. The free version does not have this feature. Pro will monitor your computer for anything that is listed in its database of harmful programs as well as watch you computer for changes in behavior. SuperAntiSpyware Pro provides an easy method to toggle the real time scanning on and off. Simply right-click on the Start bar icon, then left-click on Enable Real-Time Protection.

From this menu, you can access SuperAntiSpyware Pro’s preferences area. Upon entering this section, you can click on the Real-Time Protection tab to see some extra choices for active scanning. In addition to the scanning while you computer is running, there is the option of having your computer scanned during startup and shutdown.

Another advantage that the Pro version has over Free are Automatic Updates. To access this feature, click on the Updates tab while in the preferences area. Here you can tell SuperAntiSpyware Pro to check for updates periodically, check for updates when you start the program itself, and how often to remind you about program updates.

I have used both the Free and Pro versions of SuperAntiSpyware. Through the website claims to the contrary, both versions have a special Repairs tab. The Repairs tab allows you to make specific repairs to things like the Task Manager, the Start Menu Run tool, and repairing your Internet Security Zones. The Repairs section was designed in mind to fix the aftermath of malware that hurts Windows functionality.

While this would not be considered an advantage over the free version, the Pro costs less than the major competitors. At $19.95, SuperAntiSpyware Pro is inexpensive and contains similar functionality to offerings from Symantec, McAfee, and the like. Of course, the Free version wins in this category though.

What it all boils down to is if you have the need for more automation with your copy of SuperAntiSpyware. The Free offering is more manual, with respect to updates and scanning. The Pro version is more “hands off” when it comes to what the user needs to accomplish. SuperAntiSpyware.com is nice enough to give out a timed trial of the Pro version to let the end user try before they buy.

Spam Blocker for Outlook Express

How do you stop all the spam emails from entering into your Outlook express inbox.Is there any spam blocker available for Outlook express. Yes,Spamfighter is a free software which integrates into your mail program and does this job for you.

Email spam has been growing rapidly or even exponentially since the invention of email.Out of this, around 80% spams are sent from botnets and virus infected computers.But nowadays due to development of mass filtering technology, the net amount of spam emails received in users inbox have decreased.Even though most of us use Outlook express or Mozilla thunderbird for receiving the email messages,there are third party applications like spamfighter which prevents spam emails from reaching your Inbox.

Related: Norton AntiSpam 2009 Free

SpamFighter

relies on blacklists, whitelists, "community" spam identification and one click spam reporting to help keep your inbox clean. It automatically builds a whitelist from your address book and includes picture filtering to stop spam sent as an image.

When a new email arrives,it is tested by spamfighter and if positive it is moved to spam folder.

Spam Blocker for Outlook express Features

• 100% clean and free
• Protects against "phishing", identity theft, and other email fraud
• Unique language filtering tool that empowers you to stop emails written in specific languages
• Unique picture filter that can recognize spam which is sent as a picture
• Automatic "real mail" protection - means no lost business mails!
• Blacklist domains and emails
• Spam Abuse Reporting with one click
• Automatic Whitelist management

Install Requirements

OS: Windows 98, ME (32 bit), 2000, XP or Windows Vista (32 bit)

Email Clients: Outlook 2000/2002/2003/2007, Outlook Express 5.5 or later, Windows Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0

Download SpamFighter 2009 [free]

Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6.2808 (Freeware)

Free for personal use, Sygate Personal Firewall provides best of breed security in a user friendly interface, protecting your PC from hackers, trojans and DoS attacks.

Features include full-ICS support, protocol driver level protection, enhanced logging, and more.

Sygate Personal Firewall delivers unobtrusive, highly configurable, enforceable rule-based security policy by constantly operating in the background of your PC. Policies regarding applications, trusted IP addresses, ports, protocols and scheduling can be customized to support and secure any network configurations or requirements. Designed with high performance in mind, it delivers top-notch security without sacrificing your computing power.

Note that from November 30th, 2005 all Sygate consumer firewall products have been discontinued but this versions is available here for free use.

Comodo Internet Security 3.11.108364 (Freeware)

Comodo claim that their firewall is unique in that it passes all known leak tests to ensure the integrity of data entering and exiting your system. Comodo has put firewall through all kinds of sophisticated tests to ensure its firewall powerful enough to ward off these attacks with default settings. No other firewall has had to work this hard.

• PC Magazine Online's Editor's Choice
• Secures against internal and external attacks
• Blocks internet access to malicious Trojan programs
• Safeguards your Personal data against theft
• Delivers total end-point security for
• Personal Computers and Networks

TrueCrypt 6.2a (Open Source)

TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted drive. On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password or correct encryption key. Until decrypted, a TrueCrypt volume appears to be nothing more than a series of random numbers. The entire file system is encrypted (i.e., file names, folder names, contents of every file, and free space).

This software is highly recommended for securing data on laptops.

TrueCrypt performs the following tasks:

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
• Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
• Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
• Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password: 1) Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system. 2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.

PeerGuardian 2.0 Beta 6c (Open Source)

PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs' premier IP blocker for Windows. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.

PeerGuardian 2 is Open Source, meaning the program code is available online for anyone who wants it. Not only does this allow you to make modifications or even branch off into your own project, but it encourages peer review of the code making sure any bugs are eliminated swiftly. Because PeerGuardian 2 is Open Source, you can rest assured there are no backdoors or spyware included.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1 (Freeware)

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 is an easy-to-use tool that helps small and medium businesses determine their security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Improve your security management process by using MBSA to detect common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer systems.

Built on the Windows Update Agent and Microsoft Update infrastructure, MBSA ensures consistency with other Microsoft management products including Microsoft Update (MU), Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Systems Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).

KeePass 1.16 (Open Source)

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

KeePass is really free, and more than that: it is open source (OSI certified). You can have a look at its full source and check whether the encryption algorithms are implemented correctly.

AxCrypt 1.6.4.4 (Open Source)

AxCrypt is used to share and work with stored documents, and e-mail attachments, in a secure manner.

If your documents reside on a document sharing service, intranet or file server AxCrypt is especially well suited and will usually seamlessly integrate, and make sharing and storing sensitive data as easy as not protecting it.

AxCrypt is great for protecting your documents such as private letters, correspondence, job information, medical information, financial details stored on a local hard disk or network server.

Just right-click any document file and encrypt it with AxCrypt. Viewing and opening for update is just as convenient as before encryption due to AxCrypt's automatic decryption/open/re-encryption function.

If you use a Key-File on a diskette or USB thumb drive, your files will be encrypted to the highest level of protection as long the Key-File is kept secret.

To encrypt a file, right-click it in Windows Explorer, select 'AxCrypt > Encrypt' and enter a pass phrase plus the path to an optional strong key file.

To edit or view an encrypted file - just double-click it.

Spyware Terminator 2.5.9.223 (Freeware)

Millions of users worldwide rely on Spyware Terminator, winner of many awards and high ratings from industry experts and users. Its free comprehensive protection is comparable to competitors' paid versions!

Spyware Terminator includes:

• Fast spyware scanning
• 100% real-time protection
• HIPS protection
• Antivirus protection
• Multilanguage Support
• Free automatic updates
• Free scheduled scans
• Free support

Spyware Terminator will scan your computer for known threats and report findings in a manner that is easy to read and interpret. Every entry is given a rating and a classification, which makes it very easy to decide if a detected item should be removed. Unlike some free software titles, Spyware Terminator will remove all threats for free.

Spyware Terminator is licensed for free for both home and business use.

WinPatrol 16.1.2009.1.0 (Freeware)

WinPatrol alerts you to hijackings, malware attacks and critical changes made to your computer without your permission. As a multipurpose support utility, WinPatrol replaces multiple system utilities with its enhanced functionality.

WinPatrol was the pioneer in using a heuristic behavioral approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. Traditional security programs scan your hard drive searching for previously identified threats. WinPatrol takes snapshots of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that occur without your knowledge.

You'll be removing dangerous new programs while others prepare to update their definition/signature data files.

Sunbelt Personal Firewall 4.6.1861(Non-Commercial Freeware)

Protect yourself from hackers. Secure your PC with a 100% free firewall download. Sunbelt Personal Firewall (SPF), previously known as Kerio Firewall, was called "our favorite" by PC Magazine.

The Windows Firewall (both XP and Vista) is worse than useless, it gives you a false sense of security. Why? It only filters incoming traffic. That means if malware has compromised your PC, it is able to send out all your personal info. That's right; the Windows "firewall" does not stop that! But SPF...

• Supports Windows XP and Vista
• Filters both ingoing and outgoing traffic!
• Keeps hackers out and your private info inside.
• Works great with VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware
• Easy to use and does not slow down your PC!

Avast 4.8

All-inclusive, comprehensive protection: avast! 4 Professional Edition includes anti-spyware protection, certified by the West Coast Labs Checkmark process, to protect against the latest spyware threats and anti-rootkit detection based on the best-in class GMER technology, built into the scan engine.

Simple to use and fully automated: Automatic incremental updates provide real-time protection of your system, including web surfing. We've made avast! antivirus as simple to use as possible, while allowing full control of your computer's security.

Tried and Trusted: With over 80 million users of avast!, you can rest assured that you are using one of the most tried and trusted antivirus products in Windows security. avast! supports more MS Windows versions (from Windows 95 to Vista 64-bit) than any other anti-malware product.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 8.0.0.506

Kaspersky anti-virus protects you from the Phishing and Malware sites that you wouldn't otherwise know were attempting to steal from you.

At the same time, the Kaspersky Security Network allows your computer to report when it discovers a threat that hasn't been seen before. All 250 million Kaspersky users benefit from our combined knowledge!

Kaspersky features include:

• Protects from viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware
• Scans files, email, and internet traffic
• Protects Instant Messengers
• Protects From Unknown Threats
• Analyzes and closes Internet Explorer vulnerabilities
• Disables links to malware sites / phishing sites
• Global Threat Monitoring (Kaspersky Security Network)
• Blocks all types of keyloggers
• Automatic Database Updates
• Free Technical Support