Help! My Computer needs fixed!
I started this site as a educational resource I can point friends and family to when they need help with their computers. I get asked the same questions alot and thought it would be nice to have a place to send people for solid, no-nonsense computer help.
It doesnt matter if your computer is running well and you want to keep it that way or if your computer is locked up with a big statement from the FBI saying you owe them a $300 fine to release your computer. This site will have some ideas to help.
A little about me, I have an MBA and have spent over 10 years in the IT field. I have worked my way up from helpdesk at a hospital system all the way through being the Director of IT for a large medical foundation. I have many industry certifications and I am currently teaching computer network engineering at a state college in Ohio.
It doesnt matter if your computer is running well and you want to keep it that way or if your computer is locked up with a big statement from the FBI saying you owe them a $300 fine to release your computer. This site will have some ideas to help.
A little about me, I have an MBA and have spent over 10 years in the IT field. I have worked my way up from helpdesk at a hospital system all the way through being the Director of IT for a large medical foundation. I have many industry certifications and I am currently teaching computer network engineering at a state college in Ohio.
Lets Talk about free Antivirus Protection Programs
To start off the site, lets talk about the difference between free virus scan and removal software and the paid-for version. Just because an antivirus maker offers a free version of their software, does not mean it sucks. In the old days, two antivirus programs ruled the market, they were Norton and McCafee. You had to buy them and they had a good overall reputation. When new antivirus protection makers tried to enter the market, they had a hard time gaining reputation over the big guys. One of these new companies was AVG. AVG started to give free versions of their software to IT professionals. The idea was for the IT guys to use it, learn to like it and then hopefully purchase the corporate versions for the places they worked at. Other antivirus makers did the same thing and over time it was a great marketing tactic and allowed many new and really good products to gain some of the marketshare. Now many companies offer a free version of their product to home users.
The free version is the EXACT same version you get if you pay for the product. Think about it this way, if the antivirus makers gave you a cheap version that did not work, would you recommend it to your company to buy? Of course not. Look at the picture below. It is from Avast, a company that offers a free version of their antivirus protection software to home users.
The free version is the EXACT same version you get if you pay for the product. Think about it this way, if the antivirus makers gave you a cheap version that did not work, would you recommend it to your company to buy? Of course not. Look at the picture below. It is from Avast, a company that offers a free version of their antivirus protection software to home users.
You can see the free version offers the exact same protection as far as antivirus is concerned. What you dont get with the free versioon is the extra bells and whistles like Secure banking and virtual surfing. While these things are important, many users dont bank online and only access well-known, safe websites like Amazon and may not feel the need to pay for services they dont feel they need.
Long story short, the free virus scan software is the same as the paid-for version. As long as you are using popular, well-known products like AVG, Avast and Avira, you will be just as safe as if you were using the $30 a year versions of Norton and McCafee. Dont let someone tell you any different.
Long story short, the free virus scan software is the same as the paid-for version. As long as you are using popular, well-known products like AVG, Avast and Avira, you will be just as safe as if you were using the $30 a year versions of Norton and McCafee. Dont let someone tell you any different.