What is the Best Free Antivirus Software?

We often get asked the question: "What is the best free antivirus software?"

The best free antivirus software is actually a combination of several different free software programs. If you combine the right programs, you will have a good level of protection for your computer. The free software will protect you from virus, malware, spyware, hackers, phishing, scams, fraud web sites, and a lot more. All of the freebies on our list will give you real time protection against threats both known and unknown.

In order to give your computer a high level of protection, you need the following: (1) antivirus (2) antispyware (3) firewall (4) secure web browser (5) anti-hack tool (6) fraud, scam, and phishing filter (7) a good sandbox to isolate your browser and other programs while they are running.

Here are the freebies:

1. Antivirus: Choose one - Avira or Avast.

2. Antispyware: Choose one - Malwarebytes or Spyware Doctor.

3. Firewall: Zone Alarm.

4. Secure web browser: Explorer 8 and/or Firefox.

5.Anti-hack tool: SnoopFree Privacy Shield

6. Fraud and phishing filter: We recommend that you use both WOT (Web of Trust) and Site Advisor.

7. Sand Box: This is for for added safety, virus protection, etc. We recommend Sandboxie.

We do want to add this one thought:

Although the free software is very good, the maximum level of real time protection comes with the paid, professional versions. That is the way the software companies design the stuff. The good news? Most of the paid versions are really not that expensive.

You can use a combination of both free and paid versions for the highest levels of protection. You only need to upgrade one of the programs to get an excellent level of protection. For example, if you use the freebies here, then upgrade your Avast, Malwarebytes or Spyware Doctor to the full version, you will have a really high level of protection for your computer.

If you install and operate your Windows computer with the free software that we have shown you, your computer will well protected from online threats. For more ways to protect your privacy and your computer, visit the Spyware Blockers website.

4 Things You Should Stop Joking About Online [Opinion]

No longer must we use smoke signals to communicate. Long gone are the days in which we used cave walls to document events. It’s an age of technology, a time in which we are supposed to be advanced. However, even in such an advanced age, it seems as though Internet society has become incredibly lenient about a variety of very important social issues.

I’m not a fan of making light of stuff that actually hurts people, and it’s not even a matter of being offended – I’m not. However, I do worry about how desensitized we have become to these issues.

I really don’t know when pedophilia became funny. Why is it okay to casually reference participation in sexual acts with children? Sure, I get it. You know that pedophilia is wrong, and for some odd reason, this is why you joke about it – a possible way of coping. However, I believe that the more we joke about it, the more laid-back we will become around it. We don’t take it as seriously anymore.

Do I think this joking will lead to common acceptance of pedophilia? Nah. I’m not a conspiracist like that. However, I wish that just for once we can let the fact that there are people out there who want to have their way with children break our hearts a little bit. These folks want to rob the innocence of young boys and girls, and we make light of it by posting a picture of Chris Hansen or Pedobear. That’s kind of ridiculous.

Rape isn’t cool, and joking about it isn’t either. I’ve never been a rape victim, and I can’t say I plan on it. However, the word “rape” is thrown around too casually on the Internet these days. (Just to clarify, I don’t believe usages of the phrase such as “raped my childhood” or “raped my memories” would fall under this category, but that’s really up to your discretion.)

Once again, this isn’t an issue of me being offended, because being offended does nothing in this world. However, I do worry that seeing rape jokes on the Internet may bring up some harsh memories or feelings for actual rape victims. If you’re heartless, you may believe that these folks need to get over it and stop living in the past. However, until you’ve actually had such an experience, I don’t want to hear that kind of opinion.

Ladies and gentlemen, why must you insist on saying you wish someone would die? I don’t care if you wouldn’t actually do it, but have we gotten to a point where such hateful thoughts are acceptable? Behind the wall of the Faceless Username, cowardly individuals will come out saying that they wish that other individuals should die or, even worse, that they would kill them if they could. We’re talking about the removal of a life, here.

I’m not referring to the casual, all-in-fun, “I will kill you if you do that one more time!” Of course not, for people tend to rag on each other all the time and say this. However, what I am referring to are words that are obviously fueled by hate and anger. If the intention of this (non-fruitful) death threat is to emotionally hurt the person on the other side of the computer screen, then something needs to change.

Right up there with death threats, we have issues concerning suicide. I’ve seen a few instances where someone posts online about their thoughts of committing suicide, and then people will swoop in saying things such as “do it” or “if killing yourself will make you happy, then go for it”. It’s akin to a person standing on top of a skyscraper with a crowd of people below, screaming for him to jump.

How disgusting is this? I understand that many folks have varying views on euthanasia, but here’s what I believe when it comes to the Internet. You are not a professional, you don’t know the context of the person’s situation, and you have no clue what their life is like. If anything, I would say report the post and provide them with words of encouragement. However, if you know that your words will seem condescending in any form or fashion… shut up. Please. You’re dealing with a life that has so much potential, and the slightest thing could ruin it.

Many of you may comment on here that folks that post these things are only seeking attention and won’t actually do anything. To that I say that you should treat every hint of suicide as if the person will actually do it. If you decide to make the call that they won’t, and then they do, there’s a high chance that you will live with blood on your hands forever.

These are just four things that I believe the Internet makes too much light of. Is it a perfect post? Of course not. However, I hope it made you think a little bit.

What other things should people stop joking about on the Internet? Do you disagree with any of the items mentioned here?

Tagged: etiquette • Opinion & Polls • social • social trends

 

 

5 Sites To Find Fun And Free Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs)

Though possibly the most popular, the world of MMOs spans far beyond the realms of Everquest and World of Warcraft. There are hundreds to thousands of well-developed and even free online games for you and all of your friends to enjoy. You’ve just got to know where to look.

It could take forever to go through each individual website of every MMO you may be interested in to check out screenshots and gameplay. However, I’m here to share five MMO directories that I’ve had plenty of luck with in narrowing doing the choices.

These directories do all the work for you and present the most enjoyable, sustainable, and free games to the user. All you’ve got to do is make the decision on which to play or download.

Despite the name, Free MMORPG List features much more than just massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games. It’s first on the list because it’s probably my favorite. The site features categories for free, action, strategy (or RTS), kids, simulation, sports, browser-based, and social games. The site features 28 pages of games in total with a dozen of games displayed per page. The listing of each game offers a high-quality description, screenshot, and immediate links to download and visit the game’s official website.

If you’re specifically searching for a MMORPG, What MMORPG is the absolute best resource you’re going to find online. What MMORPG takes this MMO genre and breaks it down into subgenres of fantasy, horror, modern, space, superhero, historical, racing, and so many more.

You can also narrow games down to their cost (free included), their play style (PvE vs. PvP), their developer, and their artistic style (2D, 3D, etc.). This is a very extensive resource. Game listing pages also include ratings of every game, contributed by players like yourself.

F2P Games is 100% dedicated to bringing you MMOs that are completely free. This directory also separates free browser-based games. F2P Games also includes a very interactive and informative forum where you can go to get all the latest user-contributed F2P news.

This directory contains a little over 100 games for you to choose from. It’s got a simple list style: not as descriptive as the rest in this list, but you can browse and choose what you want quickly.

This directory has the benefit of having one of the better eye-pleasing designs compared to the rest. Not much sets MMO Games.com apart from the rest, but they do have specific categories for mobile and Facebook games.

The site features MMOs in general with a slight bias towards the MMORPG genre.

The Indie Game Database is a lot different from the previous directories we’ve mentioned. This website currently features 757 games, all created by indie developers. Not all of them are free and not all of them are MMO. You will be able to narrow down your selection using their filters though.

This directory is really cool and unique and a refreshing change from the rest. I managed to find one of my favorite indie games ever, Altitude, using this very website.

We’ve wrote before on MMO Hut, a similar directory. We’ve also whipped up a nice little article showing you three of the very best MMOs to try out. Got any more suggestions on where we can go to find these games, or fun and free MMOs in specific? Share them with us in the comments!

Tagged: mmo • mmorpg • multiplayer games • online games • video games

View the original article here

How to Find Old Newspaper Articles Online

Old newspapers and magazines offer a wealth of insight into history and critical events as they were unfolding at that time. In the past, the only way to get hold of this treasure trove of information was your local library where the back issues of certain newspapers and magazines may have been preserved.

Fortunately, the Internet and digitization of content has made everything just a click away and now you can access previous issues of old newspapers almost as easily as today’s newspaper that’s lying on your coffee table.

Here are some of the best places on the web where you can find and read old newspapers and magazines online.

1. Google News - Google News indexes thousands of newspaper websites from around the world and organizes news in clusters for easy reading. In addition to current news, Google News also offers access to stories published in old newspapers that you can search for free.

Although many of these newspaper issues are scanned images of the original printed version, you can use Google search to find stories inside the papers through the magic of OCR.  The actual content is hosted on other sites and Google will show if it cost any money to read that issue /news story.

2. Google Books - If you’re looking for an older issue of a magazine, Google Books might be the best place to find it.

These magazines are scanned and searchable and can be read online using the standard Google Book interface.  Decades worth of material are available, and the magazines are laid out just as they were when they were originally printed.  You can read archived magazines cover to cover, including the original articles, index, cover, and advertisements.

3. Trove - The National Library of Australia has a large selection of newspapers from across Australia archived online that anyone may read for free.  All the newspapers are completely scanned and can be viewed online in any modern browser, or you may download them as a PDF for offline reading.

4. Library of Congress - The Library of Congress has a large repository of historic newspapers published in America between 1880 and 1922, available as PDFs.

Though the library has made available newspapers from 14 states and Washington, DC., these states contain some of the largest newspapers and thus the archives are still a very valuable resource.  Additionally, the site has a database of records of all newspapers printed in America from 1690 to the present, including newspapers that are currently not published.

5. Newseum – Here you can find and download front pages of 800+ newspapers from around the world and the newspaper gallery is updated every day. The collection includes small-town and local newspapers as well as globally-distributed big papers.  They also maintain an archive of newspaper front pages belonging to dates of significant importance (for example, see the September 11 archive).

6. The Olden Times - If you’re looking for a popular article about a major historical event, the Olden Times may be a good place to look for it.  Although they do not contain entire newspapers, they do have snippets including popular news articles, print advertisements, and personal information sections such as births and obituaries.  All content is free, and the content ranges from between 1788 and 1920.

7. OMA – Like The Olden Times but for past magazine issues. Old Magazine Articles contains magazine pages covering from famous historical events. The articles can be downloaded as PDF files for free though they have been mildly edited to remove advertisements from the original magazines.

8. Wayback Machine – Simply enter a news website address into the search box (nytimes.com for example), and the Wayback machine will show you a list of snapshots of that site. You can then read the news as it appeared on that day. It also includes collections of news articles from major events like the Asian Tsunami of 2004.

9. NewspaperARCHIVE – This is the world’s largest online archive of historical newspapers published from 1753 onwards.  You can browse newspaper issues by date or find articles that match a particular phrase. NewspaperARCHIVE costs $9.99 a month if you subscribe for an year.

10. Ancestry.com - Although Ancestry.com is designed for building family trees or for finding information about your ancestors, its archives also includes thousands of newspapers and periodicals dating back to the 1700's. Subscriptions start at $19.95/month or $12.95/month if paid per year.

1. Times Machine – This has archived editions of The New York Times from 1851 through 1922. The issues are identical to the original newspapers, and include all pages including the advertisements.

2. Times Archive - The Times. the daily paper from the UK, offers digital archives of issues from 1785 to 1985 on their website.  All pages of the papers are completely scanned, and are additionally organized with an index of topics.  You can read the articles highlighted on their front page for free while specific papers and articles are available for £4.95/day.

3. British Library - The British Library has scanned and digitized millions of pages of historic newspapers printed in the UK and Ireland during the 1700s and 1800s and have put them all online. Anyone can search through these newspaper archives but you'll have to pay a £6.95 fee for 48 hour access to the online library. The newspapers can be downloaded in PDF format.

4. BBC – The On This Day section of BBC offers an online archive of some of the most significant stories broadcast by BBC News since 1950.   You can select any date from the menu at the top of the page, and view the news from that date as well as today’s historical news.

5. Press Display – This is like online newspaper kiosk where you can find current and past issues of hundreds of newspapers and magazines in full-color, full-page format. Individual issues cost 99¢ each and you may also download them on your Windows PC, Mac or mobile devices for offline reading.

6. Boston Globe – All issues of The Boston Globe newspaper printed since 1924 are available online. You can access all news articles printed since 1979 for free while the older articles are available at $2.95 for a single article.

Online Fix It Center

Hello all Windows users, there is some good news from Microsoft. They’re working hard to automate solutions to common software problems in an easy, intuitive way that is available when and where you need it. So if you have any problems and you are looking for a solution in help or support content, or an error report, Fix it Solution Center provides a way to apply automated fixes, workarounds, or configuration changes so you don’t have to perform a long list of manual steps yourself. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you. This is a free tool, that works great on all editions of Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Here is a list of some Diagnose and Repair Solutions for Windows you can perform with Microsoft Fix it.

Your CD/DVD drive cannot read or write media in Windows Vista
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with your CD or DVD drive when trying to read or burn media in Windows.Printing problems and printing errors
Automatically diagnose and repair when you cannot print, or for problems installing a printer, connecting to a network printer and related errors.Problems with sound and audio or no sound
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with sound and audio on your computer or when your computer does not play sound.Common system maintenance tasks
Automatically detect and fix common maintenance problems such as broken desktop shortcuts, unused icons, disk volume errors, and incorrect system time display.Problems with overall system speed and performance
Automatically diagnose and fix causes of poor system performance, such as the power saver setting, multiple anti-virus programs running, multiple startup programs running, and too many users logged on to the computer.

You can use any computer with Internet connection to get started with Fix it Center. Simply download the Fix it Center client and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. You can install Fix it Center client on as many PCs you like.

Upon installation of the Fix it Center client, it automatically downloads the latest troubleshooters in Microsoft library to your PC. The troubleshooters can “find and fix” issues immediately or “find and notify” you of the issues it detected. The “find and notify” puts you in control – you decide which issues you want the troubleshooters to resolve. No matter what you choose, it shows you a report of what was performed on your PC and offer you options to learn or further investigate the issue or submit a support request at Fix it Center Online.

 

 

Online Support How It Works

 So, how I decided to write this article? In my daily work, I encounter many computer problems and almost for each of these computer problems, that I’m trying to solve has a whole story. There is some computer problems, that could be fixed easily and quickly, also there is others computer problems, that are more complex, requiring more time,  more patience, advanced diagnostic skills and depth knowledge, but most important here  is, that more than 97% of all computer problems could be solved  remotely. However, the topic of this article does not apply to computer problems, but rather with the ways and methods of how to solve computer problems online.

Despite the technological boom, there are still many people who don’t understand what does exactly means online support or remote desktop help or any others like these. First of all I’ll try to give some basic information on what is online support means and how it works, then I’ll put some suggestions and short reviews of  some of the most used software products in the Remote Desktop industry.

In any aspects this is a software package, that allows you to access any remote computer via Internet just like sitting in front of it – even through firewalls. In simple words said, this software enables you to remotely control any PC anywhere on the Internet and displays the desktop of the remote PC, letting you use your own keyboard and mouse to control it remotely. So, if you still don’t understand what is Remote Desktop or Online Support, just try to download and install any of the products listed bellow. Here is a list of some of  the most used software products in the  Online Support and Remote Desktop industry.

Online Support and the Top Ten Remote Desktop Software  list.

Online Support How It Works, 9.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

Online Fix It Center

Hello all Windows users, there is some good news from Microsoft. They’re working hard to automate solutions to common software problems in an easy, intuitive way that is available when and where you need it. So if you have any problems and you are looking for a solution in help or support content, or an error report, Fix it Solution Center provides a way to apply automated fixes, workarounds, or configuration changes so you don’t have to perform a long list of manual steps yourself. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you. This is a free tool, that works great on all editions of Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Here is a list of some Diagnose and Repair Solutions for Windows you can perform with Microsoft Fix it.

Your CD/DVD drive cannot read or write media in Windows Vista
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with your CD or DVD drive when trying to read or burn media in Windows.Printing problems and printing errors
Automatically diagnose and repair when you cannot print, or for problems installing a printer, connecting to a network printer and related errors.Problems with sound and audio or no sound
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with sound and audio on your computer or when your computer does not play sound.Common system maintenance tasks
Automatically detect and fix common maintenance problems such as broken desktop shortcuts, unused icons, disk volume errors, and incorrect system time display.Problems with overall system speed and performance
Automatically diagnose and fix causes of poor system performance, such as the power saver setting, multiple anti-virus programs running, multiple startup programs running, and too many users logged on to the computer.

You can use any computer with Internet connection to get started with Fix it Center. Simply download the Fix it Center client and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. You can install Fix it Center client on as many PCs you like.

Upon installation of the Fix it Center client, it automatically downloads the latest troubleshooters in Microsoft library to your PC. The troubleshooters can “find and fix” issues immediately or “find and notify” you of the issues it detected. The “find and notify” puts you in control – you decide which issues you want the troubleshooters to resolve. No matter what you choose, it shows you a report of what was performed on your PC and offer you options to learn or further investigate the issue or submit a support request at Fix it Center Online.

Rating: 10.0/10 (4 votes cast)Online Fix It Center, 10.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings

Online Support How It Works

 So, how I decided to write this article? In my daily work, I encounter many computer problems and almost for each of these computer problems, that I’m trying to solve has a whole story. There is some computer problems, that could be fixed easily and quickly, also there is others computer problems, that are more complex, requiring more time,  more patience, advanced diagnostic skills and depth knowledge, but most important here  is, that more than 97% of all computer problems could be solved  remotely. However, the topic of this article does not apply to computer problems, but rather with the ways and methods of how to solve computer problems online.

Despite the technological boom, there are still many people who don’t understand what does exactly means online support or remote desktop help or any others like these. First of all I’ll try to give some basic information on what is online support means and how it works, then I’ll put some suggestions and short reviews of  some of the most used software products in the Remote Desktop industry.

In any aspects this is a software package, that allows you to access any remote computer via Internet just like sitting in front of it – even through firewalls. In simple words said, this software enables you to remotely control any PC anywhere on the Internet and displays the desktop of the remote PC, letting you use your own keyboard and mouse to control it remotely. So, if you still don’t understand what is Remote Desktop or Online Support, just try to download and install any of the products listed bellow. Here is a list of some of  the most used software products in the  Online Support and Remote Desktop industry.

Online Support and the Top Ten Remote Desktop Software  list.

Online Support How It Works, 9.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

Online Fix It Center

Hello all Windows users, there is some good news from Microsoft. They’re working hard to automate solutions to common software problems in an easy, intuitive way that is available when and where you need it. So if you have any problems and you are looking for a solution in help or support content, or an error report, Fix it Solution Center provides a way to apply automated fixes, workarounds, or configuration changes so you don’t have to perform a long list of manual steps yourself. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you. This is a free tool, that works great on all editions of Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Here is a list of some Diagnose and Repair Solutions for Windows you can perform with Microsoft Fix it.

Your CD/DVD drive cannot read or write media in Windows Vista
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with your CD or DVD drive when trying to read or burn media in Windows.Printing problems and printing errors
Automatically diagnose and repair when you cannot print, or for problems installing a printer, connecting to a network printer and related errors.Problems with sound and audio or no sound
Automatically diagnose and repair problems with sound and audio on your computer or when your computer does not play sound.Common system maintenance tasks
Automatically detect and fix common maintenance problems such as broken desktop shortcuts, unused icons, disk volume errors, and incorrect system time display.Problems with overall system speed and performance
Automatically diagnose and fix causes of poor system performance, such as the power saver setting, multiple anti-virus programs running, multiple startup programs running, and too many users logged on to the computer.

You can use any computer with Internet connection to get started with Fix it Center. Simply download the Fix it Center client and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. You can install Fix it Center client on as many PCs you like.

Upon installation of the Fix it Center client, it automatically downloads the latest troubleshooters in Microsoft library to your PC. The troubleshooters can “find and fix” issues immediately or “find and notify” you of the issues it detected. The “find and notify” puts you in control – you decide which issues you want the troubleshooters to resolve. No matter what you choose, it shows you a report of what was performed on your PC and offer you options to learn or further investigate the issue or submit a support request at Fix it Center Online.

Rating: 10.0/10 (4 votes cast)Online Fix It Center, 10.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings