A friend of mine was careless enough not to have a strong antivirus software installed on her computer when she moved to the campus where she stays during the university year. Well, after only one day she collected 250 computer viruses and worms and her computer wouldn't start. I gave you this example to understand just how dangerous is nowadays to have your computer unprotected while connecting to the internet.
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It is stupid and dangerous - just like having unprotected sex with a drug addict, hoping you won't get AIDS. There are a lot of options when it comes to finding a good antivirus software application and Norton antivirus software is definitely one of the best in this field. Besides, you can always download it free of charge, so total protection for free - what could you possibly ask for more?

The latest version of free Norton antivirus software is certainly a lot improved when compared to last year as it has better and faster updates, every fifteen minutes or so, so this helps a lot in identifying the new viruses and malware that have only recently added their signature to the virus database. Of course that "information is power" and whoever has the leatest and more complete information will be most protected against any kind of computer threat.

This software is produced by Symantec and by improving its main product the company wants to show how serious it is about it. Norton antivirus software is, as the name suggests it, an antivirus application that protects your computer against all kinds of malware or spyware or even adware. It is capable of identifying and removing computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, bots and rootkits.

It has a quiet two-way firewall that protects your computer from hackers, too. Its improved and intelligent technology allows it to perform faster and shorter scans that will not interfere with your work or slow it down in any way. The new version of Norton 2010 allows you to use a detection engine that bases its results on the virus behaviour and reputation, that is signature that you can find in the database. It examines your files and their behaviour and makes a quick comparison to other similar files belonging to other users. When the software detects something different in behaviour, it usually triggers alarm and immediately checks that file for intruders.

Norton detects the threats ion real time thanks to the permanently updated data base and is also capable of totally removing the malware it might identify. The protection extends over the newly downloaded files and Norton warns you immediately if it detects any trouble, so that you won't have to be put at risk by trying to install the infected software. Free Norton antivirus software protects your computer immediately you access a wireless internet provider. It optimizes your computer speed and the hard drive as it tries to clean any unnecessary files.

In the end you should know there is no such a thing as totally free Norton antivirus software. You can only download the software as a free trial for 30 days now and after that purchase the real deal. It just gives you a hint about its endless possibilities and convinces you to buy the genuine version as soon as the trial expires.

Big-O software Incorporated is a software company that only has two significant software applications developed: Hksfv software and AIM+. They are offered for free on the internet and can be used by anybody who cares to download the software and install it on their computer.
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HkSFV 2.01 is an utility tool that allows you to check the validity of the files you have downloaded on your computer. It makes a quick comparison of these files with a check-sum that was generated before that. It has a very simple interface with two panes. You have the possibility to search the file or folder that you want to be validated and you can do this in a very simple manner: just enter the name of the file in the little window and press enter to find what you need.

When you use this software application and want to find out if a certain file is valid or not, just point it to the Simple File Verification file on your computer. This SFV offers you a list with the checksum of each file that has been downloaded. Many people who write software programmes use this software - this SVF file to make sure the recipients get the right files. HkSFV software computes the checksum for a certain file very fast and after that it compares that number to the sum it expected to result.

This software is very easy to use and this feature is very important for any software. It verifies all the files that you pointed and quickly identifies them as being ok, bad or not found. You can also use this application to work in reverse and instead of checking the validity to generate SFV files for a folder or even a compressed file. Usually this Big-O software application is used  with CRC-32 and MD5 technology for validating the integrity of files after a download was performed on your computer or after the file was moved through a potentially unstable environment.

AIM+ 2.2.1 is known as being an add on for the AOL Instant Messenger for Windows. This one is integrated with AIM+ in an automatic way and adds instant messaging and chat (together with the history) . It can do a lot of other things like removing ads, clone, customize the friends list and others. However you should know this software had its blooming time back in the 2001-2003.

I haven't heard of any improvements being done or any new improved versions being released ever since. Besides, you don't have the possibility to apply parent control over the messages being sent and received, so I am a bit reticent as a parent. Any way, you may find it useful as it allows you to have as many friends as you want being on and at the same time you can have two AIMs being open at the same time. Even though there are only these two software applications being produced by Big-O software it has attained its purpose.

There are many reasons why people would like to monitor the activity that goes on on their computers and purchase a computer monitoring software to help them accomplish their purposes. Firstof all there is the danger of the internet on your unsupervised children. As much as you would like to be around them 24 hours a day, that is not possible .
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And you, as a parent, want to do your best to protect your children from getting exposed to unfit internet content or even to the predators' activity in the chat rooms. Children and teenagers seem to ignore these dangers and are acting rebel when you forbid them to use certain precautions - I guess it's the attraction of the forbidden fruit. So the next thing you can do, besides trying to talk some sense into their heads, is to monitor their internet activity to make sure they stay away of dangerous web sites and internet users.

Then there are the employers who have many employees working on the computer all day long. They have to know what their employees are doing , what web sites they are accessing because they want to have productivity that is not possible if the employees waste their time watching videos on YouTube or playing computer games all day long. We can include in the same category the teachers or tutors that have Computer classes and labs and must monitor their students activities because the inappropriate web sites access can disturb the educational process.

Last, but not least, there are the men or women who suspect that their spouses are cheating on them and want to gather evidence for or against this. And monitoring their emails and messenger conversations proved to be a very efficient method.

Here is a top with the best computer monitoring software applications, considering the sales made within the period of a year: 1. Spector Pro, 2. SpyAgent, 3. IamBigBrother, 4. eBlaster, 5. Golden Eye, 6. Guardian Monitor, 7. Invisible Keylogger, 8. 007 Spy Software, 9. SpyBuddy, 10. Keylogger Pro.

These software applications help you monitor the activity in the chat rooms, saving copies of all the conversations taking place there and you can check these copies later or even get a warning if your kid or the person you are monitoring uses or accesses a web site containing a word that you placed on a forbidden list. These words will be coloured in red in order for you to find them more easily.

You can also save copies of the emails sent or reveived by the person under supervision or you can even restrict access to such inappropriate web sites. You can track any downloads  made on your computer, including Peer-to-Peer and file transfers. You may also have the possibility to record all the key strokes that were made on your keyboard and reconstruct the words typed there.

This computer monitoring activity can be kept a secret and adjusted like that from the stealth settings (and I am talking about the case when you are monitoring your spouse or your very sensitive teenage child), but you can also use it openly , warning your employees or your students that their activity will be monitored so that they will be able to avoid any unpleasant situations and also to be aware that they can't play at work.