How Do I Install That Free Virus Protection Software

  One of the common questions I get is how do I install that free virus software. The next question I always hear is can I have more than on virus program installed. Another popular question asked is what is the best free virus software. If you don't feel comfortable trying to remove a virus program and install a different virus program, go to a professional and have them do the uninstalling of the software and install the new virus software.
                              
                                  How To Install Avast AntiVirus Free for PC - Windows 7 - windows 8, XP
                                                                                   by Angelo r.

   There are quite a few different free virus protection software programs out there. Usually you will see three main free virus protection software programs. The first one that has generally been on top is free Avast. I use it on my computers and it works very good. You can set a schedule when you want it to run. It will come up with a message to indicate that the virus protection has been updated. Also if there is a new version update for the software it will pop up a message near the time that the update can be downloaded and installed. Some of the virus programs will indicate when they are about to expire, so you can download and install the new version or just do the registration. With free versions you may not have the tech support as in the paid version. There may be some other differences in various features.
  The second virus program I like and usually comes in near Free Avast is Free AVG antivirus software. It tends to fight with Free Avast for first place. Free AVG does a nice job. I have seen it on many computers and it has stopped a lot if viruses. It does have some pop up messages, but they can be stopped by settings. This can also be done for Free Avast. Once again AVG does have a paid version called Internet Security and it does a good job. With free AVG you will have to be aware of updates when a new versions comes out. You will have to install it your self.
  My third choice in the free category of virus protection software programs in Free Microsoft Security Essentials. This what gets installed by default on windows 8 and 8.1 computers. It is less intrusive then the first two programs. It does not pop up with any messages unless it catches or stops a virus. Honestly I have not always heard good things about this software. I myself have not had any problems with the program. I did read once that the only reason windows 8 comes with it preinstalled is because Microsoft did not want any new desktops or laptops having no virus protection off the shelf. I do believe that this is a good idea especially with all the viruses going around the internet.
  Some other free Antivirus Programs I have seen, but not used as much are Avira, Bit Defender, Zone Alarm, Panda Cloud Antivirus and Adaware Antivirus software. No matter which Antivirus program you choose only have one Antivirus Program Installed. Two programs installed will fight each other and slow the computer down.
  Thank You for reading and stay safe.

My Hard Drive Indicates It's Full and In The Red

  You may have noticed that your computer is running slower these days. So what could be the problem. What you will most likely find is that your hard drive is getting full. Okay so what can I do to correct this problem. You may be able to uninstall some programs or move some data to an external hard drive or large usb flash drive. This is usually not the answer to the problem. Basically you have just out grown your hard drive. You may get the message from your computer system that you are running out of space. I would open my computer and the full drive will be shown by a  red line.
   The best choice in this situation is to purchase a new hard drive with more available space . The best option is to buy a new hard drive with at least1 terabyte to 4 terabytes as long as your system can handle it. The cost of the 1 to 4 terabyte hard drives have come down in price and are getting cheaper all the time. I would suggest to go with a seagate or a western digital hard drive. My feeling the larger the hard drive the better, so you have more space for future programs. Make sure your desktop or laptop computer system can detect the larger hard drives such as a 3 or 4 terabyte hard drive.
    You are going to need a software program to clone your smaller older hard drive to your new larger hard drive that you will install in your current computer system. My suggestion is to purchase either Acronis or Nortons Ghost . You can find these programs from Amazon, Ebay or at your local computer store such as Office Max. I have worked with both of these software programs and choice is the acronis program. It recognizes the larger hard drives much easier and does a better job as far as I am concerned.
  There are going to be some choices as to performing the cloning. If you will be using the older hard drive in your current computer system as a second hard drive. Purchase a sata cable and a sata power cable if you have go from a molex connector to sata. Another choice is to install your older hard drive into an external enclosure. Then you will be able to use it as your back up hard drive depending if it is big enough. If your old hard drive is at least 500 gigabytes or larger you should have no problem.
   If you are not comfortable with doing the cloning have a friend or professional Computer Service Center do the cloning.
  Thank You for reading and stay safe. 

Help My Computer Is Dead

  I thought I would give a little help on a different subject other than viruses. I don't know how many times I have a computer come in to where I work and it won't turn on. The customer says it was working yesterday and now it's dead. Well the first thing you can do is see if it will have any power at all. Do you see any leds on the front of the computer coming on at all. Generally you will have a power led of some sort and a led that flickers as the hard drive is running something. The other place to look is on the back of the computer. There are some power supplies that have a green led that lights up. Compaq and Hewlett Packard Computers may have this type. The led may be dim or flickering or not on at all. I would also check the power supply and see if it has a toggle switch on the back of the power supply. I have seen these for some reason get placed in the off position.
  The next step is to open the side panel or cover depending on the manufacturer. Most computers have one or two thumb screws that you will have to remove. You may need a Phillips Head Screwdriver to remove or loosen them. Now you can remove the cover. Try and power on the computer and check to see if any fans are spinning. If nothing is spinning then you can remove one component at a time to try and narrow down the problem. I have seen modem cards, usb cards, memory cards and other peripheral cards cause no power problems. I generally disconnect one component at a time such as a optical drive or hard drive to narrow things down.
  If the above steps did not help then it is time to inspect the motherboard and any boards for damage. The most common problem found are capacitors that are popped up on top and leaking or they can be blown out at the bottom causing the capacitor to tip. If you do find this then this indicates that the motherboard has taken a surge of power resulting in the overheating of the capacitors and thus damaging the motherboard. I have seen some technicians replace the damaged capacitors and once in a great while the motherboard works again. This only works if it were due to a time period when there were a bad batch of capacitors that went out. That happened a few years ago. My best advise is just replace the motherboard, because usually there are more damaged components. You could have a situation where a component is damaged and may work for a short period of time or cause intermittent problems such as the famous blue screen of death.
         
            

  If the motherboard looks good and there isn't any damage, then I would test the power supply. There are testers that you can purchase where you connect the various connectors to check the voltages such as the 12 volt line, 5 volt line and the 3.3 volt line. If you have a digital voltmeter you can be the true technician and test for these voltages. If the voltages are bad I would test with a good known power supply if you have one. If you connect it and the computer powers on, posts tests and boots up properly just replace the power supply. If you have to purchase a new power supply I would recommend a supply putting out more than 500 watts. The higher the wattage the better due to have various drives and components in a system. Don't let someone have you put in a cheap 350 watt power supply. They were good a few years ago, but power consumption has changed in systems with new devices such a solid state hard drives and blue-ray players etc...
  Other problems I have found is a broken latch on a heatsink,  which causes the microprocessor to overheat resulting in the computer shutting off or not coming on due to it protecting the system. Another thing to check for is dust blocking fans, heatsinks and  air flow in general. You would not believe the amount of dust in some computers. They are so bad sometimes that bugs die inside the computer.
  The one thing I always stress is that before you touch anything inside the computer use good esd protection. I have information in some of my earlier posts on this subject. You can buy a esd (electro static discharge) strap fairly cheap these days. If you need it quickly check out your local radio shack or electronics store. A quick way is to touch some bare metal to discharge any static electricity. I have heard some technicians say you can not damage a board when it is installed in the computer case. That is simply not true anything can be zapped and damaged.
  Thank You for reading and stay safe.