Secure Windows - Free antivirus, anti-spam and firewall

Free and effective protection?
Is it possible to protect a PC running Windows XP, Vista or Seven (32 and 64 bits) without having to spend a cent? The answer is yes! To help you in making the most appropriate choice, we will present a selection of six free products across a range of categories, with these being among the best available. These include two antivirus/anti-spyware solutions, two firewall programs and finally two  programs which will help filter your emails.

A must have antivirus and anti-spyware
The programs which we will look at in this article have already proven themselves, and we have selected them as they perform a specific task well. The two that we will look at are the Avast and Avira security programs, with the antivirus and anti-spyware protecting your computers from malicious programs. They analyse files in real time on the hard drive, memory while fighting against viruses, worms, Trojan horses and root kits. Finally, the update of our selected security programs signature databases are done automatically, regularly and silently.

A firewall to monitor and filter connections
The personal firewall contributes to the machines security by monitoring incoming and outgoing communications, detecting and preventing any eventual intrusions and filters by IP addresses, protocols and applications which attempt to communicate with the outside (HTTP, email, antivirus…). You will be able to set you own automatic or custom filtering rules in programs like Comodo Internet Security and Online Armor Free.

An anti-spam to fight against unwanted emails
Everyday we receive an impressive number of email messages. Among these, there are some that we are expecting which pose no problems. There are also unwanted advertising messages, also known as spam, which contaminate our inbox. To make the filtering of unwanted messages easier, the two programs that we have selected: Spamihilator and Mailwasher Free both have filters which learn about unwanted messages while also containing black and white lists that you can configure yourself in addition to proven analysis methods like Bayesian filtering, keyword filtering, address filtering and domain name filtering.