Exploring the Internet, sharing files, and downloading files are some of the activities that constantly involve the use of the computer. At the same time, these are also the activities that expose the computer to harmful threats, which is why keeping an effective antivirus program to protect your computer from malicious items is such an essential factor that all computer users must keep in mind. ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition is one such antivirus program that is worthy to keep in the goal of maintaining the security and safety of a computer. This is because ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition is equipped with an ActiveDefense technology offering defense and protection against known and unknown viruses, Trojans, rootkits, worms, buffer overflows, spyware, adware and other malicious threats.

ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition also has the capability to analyze with the use of behavioral analysis that is essential in hunting down and paralyzing malicious threats that many traditional anti-virus software programs cannot detect. These threats, which are considered as too new or too clever, are not easily recognized by conventional anti-virus software program but it was proven by many users that ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition could actually detect these kinds of harmful threats. It surely has the facility to search for the most hidden files that may contain spyware and other harmful hazards to your computer system.

These activities are achieved because ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition constantly monitors the system of your computer, scrutinizing and evaluating all the process activities that your computer is undertaking making it easier to screen all known and unknown viruses embedding the system. Once a threat is recognized, ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition provides warning by giving an alert signal coupled with the full description of the harmful item. In case the threat is a well-known identifiable threat the software will automatically quarantine the malicious item, however with the case of unknown viruses, the software will alarm you and leave the decision to your judgment if you want to allow the process to continue or just decide to quarantine the process. However, you can base your decision from the detailed information about the item contained in the alert signal to you.

For those who are unaware, ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition is formerly known as Cyberhawk but unlike Cyberhawk the anti-virus program has been equipped with more enhanced features but the layout and functions works just the same as the older version. Advanced custom rules, malware quarantine and removal, rootkit scanner and the built-in search are some of the features that are incorporated in the ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition.

This free version of ThreatFire is mostly recommended for home and business users, as the name implies this edition is free of charge. However, if you have Cyberhawk previously running in your PC it is advisable to uninstall it first before switching to using the ThreatFire AntiVirus Free Edition because it is impossible to have both of these versions installed in your computer.

You can either download McAfee VirusScan Plus from the McAfee site or purchase it in retail outlets, though be prepared to experience a bit of difficulty when it comes to setting up the application because you need to first install Download Center which will analyze your system and then you can choose which product to download. In addition, you need to have Download Center connect via the Internet for further downloading that includes individual items such as VirusScan, SiteAdvisor, Personal Firewall as well as Security Center, and it can even take you an hour to download everything.

McAfee VirusScan Plus is also resource hungry taking up seventy-five MB of space on your hard drive, though it is half of what is required when using Norton, and in the bargain McAfee VirusScan Plus runs considerably more services and agents, and takes up a huge chunk of services as compared to Norton. However, McAfee VirusScan Plus will run on XP as well as Windows 2000, as compared to just Windows XP for Norton.

To get down to the interface, there is the initial Protection Center interface that has two panes, one on the left for navigating the various tools, and the right hand pane that shows system status. While navigating with McAfee VirusScan Plus you will see a couple of tables of content with one showing basic features while the other one lists advanced tools. The best part is that the overall feel is that of a whole system and not of many stand-alone systems put together.

The Security Center that has undergone some design changes is more of an advertisement for the product, and you may find that when there is a component missing, you are connected to the online store of McAfee allowing you to purchase the missing component, rather than simply explain why the component is not there.

McAfee VirusScan Plus also has more in the form of system diagnostic tools that allow you to shred your deleted files and which even allow you to perform defragmentation of your hard drive and there are even some tools for different network monitoring, and the wonderful SiteAdvisor that is a great anti-sphishing tool.

The performance of this software is quite good and is an improvement over previous versions cutting down drastically on processing times for scanning files, and so McAfee VirusScan Plus should be given above average rating.

The trouble is that there is no independent data about the effectiveness of Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 when it comes to protecting your PC and so it is hard to make comparisons with other antivirus software. And, it is also quite resource heavy requiring hundred MB for installation as well as 256MB of RAM though it does work across all versions of Windows and if you are using Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail from Vista or Mozilla Thunderbird then you are in business because Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 will scan your incoming emails and generally protect your PC.

As mentioned, the interface is rather intuitive and it is rather simple though a welcome changes when you think about the rather overbearing feel of a Norton Antivirus 2008 package. You can access the features in the left hand margin while all of the details are available on the right. There is also the occasional pop up window that comes up where you can set configuration options that allow you to control the alerts’ level which means you can choose to get individual alerts or in groups which is especially suitable for the more advanced user.

The scanning that Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 performs is streamlined and all of antivirus, antispyware and also anti-rootkit scans are integrated into a single engine and after the scan is complete you get the result regarding each and every threat. Also, the Changes scan provides you with feedback regarding changes to registry or to other main program files.

It is similar to Kaspersky as well as Norton antivirus software in that it makes use of heuristics of an enhanced variety and an example is Trend Micro Proactive Intrusion Blocking which in effect blocks proactively any possible threats. But, what is especially pleasing is its ability to clean up a number of different files including those in the cache and browser as well as Word’s last viewed file. Performance is excellent and the scanning is performed quickly and thanks to a number of improvements in this product, it is rather worthwhile anti-virus software that could do your PC a world of good.