Do you ever wonder whether it is safe to download items off the Net? I know that I am asked that question several times a month. The fact is, that it depends, like most solutions. It depends on two basic factors: how good your defences are and where you are downloading from.
You may be thinking: well, if my defences are good, why would it matter where I download from and that is a decent question, but so is: what do you think of as decent protection?
If your idea of good protection is a free version of Avira, then you are going to have trouble. One day or another you will have problems, guaranteed. I can say that with my hand on my heart, because they have a paid version too. If the free version is as good as the paid version, why do people pay?
Because they are stupid? I do not think so. By the way, I am not getting at Avira! They give away a marvelous product and as long as you are cautious, it may be all you require. Avira and all the other decent anti-virus software suites require a little help to keep you safe.
For example, they will need you to run a firewall at the same time and use an anti-spyware program on a regular basis. They will also need you to not put yourself at the greatest danger either by visiting a few types of sites and not opening attachments from senders you do not trust.
If you run the free forms of these av software programs, you will see that certain features like the firewall or and the email attachment scanner have been disabled. This is how you will pick up viruses. Another way that you lay yourself open to concerns is by downloading free utilities. These fragments of software almost always include tracking routines.
The software will do its job, but it will install a tracking cookie on your computer which will email home every day to its boss and tell them where you have been surfing, so that they can spam you with like things.
Porn sites are another good example of dangerous web sites. You get ‘free porn’, but they get your IP address and possibly your email address as well, which means that they can either spam you themselves or and sell your email address on so that half the world can spam you.
So, free av software is OK, but you have to help it. On the other hand paid software from a dependable firm like Norton, Kaspersky and Nod, to name but a few, should take care of you without you having to do anything but pay and install and permit automatic updates. You can expect that from these businesses and they can deliver that level of protection for $50-60 a year and then you can download anything you like.
The Internet is very much a case of ‘you pays your money and you takes your choice’ and ‘free’ is definitely not always the best option.