Assemble your own Internet Security Suite

If your computer runs Windows and spends any amount of time online, it is essential to protect your computer from malicious software such as viruses, trojans, and spyware. There are several excellent Internet Security suites available that address a wide range of security threats. These suites typically include:

• A software firewall;
• Antivirus protection;
• Anti-spyware; and
• Anti-spam filters.

If you're in the market to purchase any of these Internet Security suites, expect to pay $40+ for the software, and $20+ every following year to renew your subscription to program updates and virus definitions. If that sounds like fun, check out:

• ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite
• Norton Internet Security
• McAffee Internet Security Suite
• Panda Internet Security

If you'd rather save that $40 + $20 per year, let me show you some free solutions, when combined, that can protect your computer at no cost.

• Internet Security Suite Step 1: Comodo Personal Firewall
• Internet Security Suite Step 2: AVG Anti-virus Free Edition
  
• Internet Security Suite Step 3: Windows Defender (anti-spyware)
  
• Internet Security Suite Step 4: Mozilla Thunderbird (anti-spam)

Dollars saved = $40

Internet Security Suite Step 1: Comod Personal Firewall

The first step I recommend to protect your computer from outside threats is to install a software firewall. A software firewall is an application that monitors communication to and from your computer, and allows or denies that communication depending on rules that are automatically generated and or created by you. My choice for a firewall is Comodo Personal Firewall (which also seems to be known as Comodo Firewall Pro). Here's why I like it:

• Provides solid security;
• Does a good job of autogenerating rules;
• Is pretty straightforward for defining your own rules;
• I can get it to work with applications such as Shareaza.
  

About that last point: previously, I used the firewall that came with the commercial ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, and no matter what I tried, I couldn't configure it to allow Shareaza to function properly. I thought it might be my router, or the program itself, but when I switched to Comodo, I was able to configure it correctly right away. The latest version of Comodo Personal Firewall has a new component called Defense+. This monitors how the components, programs and files on your computer interact with each other, and provides another level of protection. For example, Defense+ might notice an program trying to modify files in a specific directory, which, if you're not familiar with the program, could be an indicator of some unauthorized activity.

One warning: once you have installed Comodo Personal Firewall, and you begin using your computer, expect to get a lot of allow/deny warning messages every time you open a new program. By allowing or denying the activity, you're helping the firewall develop rules for your computer. It should be pretty straightforward about when to allow or deny. If you're starting a program, you'll want to allow, etc. In time, these warnings will tail off dramatically, once the firewall has learned about the other programs on your computer.

Internet Security Suite Step 2: AVG Anti-virus Free Edition

Once you have installed your firewall to prevent any unauthorized access to your computer, it's time to install anti-virus protection. My top pick for free anti-virus protection is AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. Here's why:

• Frequently updated virus definitions;
• Automatic downloads of said definitions;
• Doesn't eat up a ton of system resources;
  
• Regularly scheduled full system scans; plus
• Real-time scanning.

Real-time scanning is a rarity in free virus products, and this is one of the main reasons I recommend AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition over other free virus programs out there. Just so you know, this free edition differs from the pay edition in a few ways:

• No customer support is available;
• Download speeds for virus definitions are capped; and
• You have less control over the scheduling of scans.

In my opinion, none of these features is worth the upgrade price.

Internet Security Suite Step 3: Windows Defender (anti-spyware)

Our third step in assembling our free Internet Security Suite is installing an anti-spyware program. There are fewer free anti-spyware choices available, compared with free firewalls and free antivirus, but there are a few good choices, including my recommended pick, which comes to us from a company you might not have expected: Microsoft. Microsoft's Windows Defender has a lot going for it:

• Scheduled automatic scans;
• Real-time protection
  
• Automatic spyware definition updates;
• A software explorer for enabling/disabling programs; and
• 2 free "support incidents".
  

About that last point: support incidents can include any issues you have with installation, configuration, updates, detection, or removal of spyware. I found Windows Defender to be very easy to set up and use, but if you need some help, it's good to know that it's available. One thing to note: to download Windows Defender, you'll have to go through Microsoft's Genuine Advantage validation process. So, if you're not comfortable with that, you'll have to find another solution (Grisoft's Ad-Aware 2007 Free is a good choice, but without the real-time protection found in Windows Defender).

Internet Security Suite Step 4: Mozilla Thunderbird (anti-spam)

The final component in our free Internet Security Suite is anti-spam protection. I think the value of all anti-spam solutions out there is debatable, since the spammers are constantly evolving their craft, making it difficult for any program to identify spam from legitimate e-mail. Instead of paying for software that still won't eliminate 100% if all spam, I have a better idea: let's use some free software to at least reduce the volume of spam we have to sift through on a daily basis. This is a two-step process:

1. Get a Gmail account. Along with a lot of other nice features, Google's free e-mail solution has a pretty good spam filter built right in. This will reduce a lot of spam right away.
2. Install Mozilla Thunderbird. Thunderbird is the Mozilla Foundation's answer to Outlook Express, and it is a snap to set it up to check your Gmail account. It also includes an easy-to-use anti-spam feature that can be configured to automatically remove a lot of the junk out of your inbox. Thunderbird also identifies e-mail messages that appear to be phishing scams, helping prevent you from falling for any of those fake PayPal alerts.

Once you have set up Thunderbird to check your Gmail account, just identify the junk messages by clicking on the big flaming "junk" button to move that message to the Junk folder. From that point on, messages from that sender will automatically divert to that folder. Don't forget to check your Junk folder from time to time, since it's likely that a legit message could wind up in there by mistake. If a real e-mail does find its way to your junk folder, you can always mark it as not junk to prevent messages from that sender from getting incorrectly filed.

Dollars Saved

If you are reading Cashless Computing from Google Reader or a similar feed reader, thank you for enjoying this blog enough to subscribe to it!

If, however, you are reading from my home on Blogger.com, you'll notice the Dollars Saved counter over on the right. This shows the dollar amount you can save by using the free programs highlighted here, instead of their commercial alternatives.

If I was clever, I'd find a way to calculate the total dollars saved for all readers combined, maybe dollars per page times unique visitors, to get something like the McDonald's "Over 99 Billion Served" thing. But guess what? I'm not that clever. number over there on the right. What is it, you ask? Well, it's a running tally of the total bucks you can keep in your jeans if you install and use the software featured on this site, instead of the for-pay alternatives.

Master Software List

Assemble your own Adobe Creative Suite, sans Adobe and price tag = $1,200

• Scribus
• GIMP
• Inkscape
• PDFCreator
• PDFill PDF Tools
  

Assemble your own System Utilities Suite =$50

• CCleaner
• NTRegopt
• PageDefrag
• JkDefrag
  

Assemble your own Internet Security Suite = $40

• Comodo Personal Firewall
  
• AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
  
• Windows Defender
  
• Mozilla Thunderbird
  

Total = $1,290

Welcome!

Welcome to Cashless Computing, where we discuss how to get more out of your computer without spending a dime. We examine free alternatives to popular and expensive programs, free enhancements to bundled Windows applications, free games, and a lot more. The key theme: it's all free!