Free PC Protection By Chris Sanders Whatever type of security software you're using on your PC now, it probably wasn't free. With the high price of the OS and basic Office programs like Word and Excel, most people hand over a couple hundred dollars extra just to use their precious computers worry free. But in reality, you don't have to shell out any extra cash to make your PC run a lot smoother and without crashing your bank account. Anti-Virus AVG 7.5 free edition Available at http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/AVG-Free-Edition.shtml When it comes to protecting my computer, my number one concern is finding software that will not sap my computers resources. While many home users are familiar with the big names like Norton and McAfee, AVG 7.5 free edition is streamlined to give a basic yet strong virus protection, without having a resource heavy application running in the background. Even with the scheduled definition update and virus scan, this no frills program barely uses any RAM. Even though it is possible to survive the rigors of surfing the net and reading e-mails without an anti-virus program, I don’t suggest it. This program will find pre-existing viruses, preventing incoming viruses as well as scan e-mail attachments for them. Anti-Adware And Anti-Spyware Ad-Aware SE Personal Available at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php SpywareBlaster Available at  http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html The next big issue for your computer is all the spyware and adware that can drastically reduce the speed of your internet. What is spyware and adware? Simply put, they are data collecting programs that can be loaded onto your computer simply by going to your favorite websites. Most of these data mining programs are innocuous, used to trace your internet traffic for marketing purposes, but on occasion there are malignant versions of the spyware and adware that can cause serious problems for your machine. SpywareBlaster is a simple program that runs almost invisibly in the background, actively blocking spyware from being loaded onto your computer. This is a nice alternative to having a machine that looks for spyware that has already been loaded onto your machine. Next, Ad-aware SE personal edition is a fantastically simple anti-adware program that is extremely powerful. This is a must have to maintain an adware free computer. General "House Keeping" ccleaner Available at http://www.ccleaner.com/ Every person needs a program that cleans up temporary files and unused folders or shortcuts. What makes this program a real gem is that it can quickly and safely clean minor registry errors without the complicated entanglements of most registry programs. This has single step measures to analyze and clean your computer, all the while offering to backup the registry, giving you the option to restore what you removed. A couple of added features to this program are the programs uninstaller and startup editor. While most users aren’t necessarily going to use these features, it is nice to know they are available, just in case. These four programs are all great substitutes for the increasingly cumbersome and pricymainstream programs mot only will they get the job done without the need to have resource dependent processes running in the background, they are all free. Remember, when installing new anti-virus programs, it is best to remove all other anti-virus programs. Having multiple AV programs can lead to problems, so save yourself the hassle. Chris Sanders lives and works in northern California and is currently fielding computer questions from friends and relatives who are not reading this article .