Every PC MUST Have THIS piece of Software installed!

The AntiVirus Software Your Tech Coach Recommends

So you're working on that last minute project, craft design, or paper for school. Doing your research on the world wide web and BOOM, your PC starts acting up. Windows start popping up from nowhere. Pages open that you didnt want. Warnings about all kinds of different scary things. Even warnings suggesting that you have a virus and "click here to download the program to remove it". CRAP! Now what!? How do I finish my report when I can't even get back to the page I need! Virus's use all kinds of tricks to get people to install them. Other than doing your best at only clicking on what you know is safe, the backup plan is to have reliable antivirus software. And don't worry, you're not alone. We've all had it happen. But we're here to help!

Antivirus software is a big hit or miss industry. Some places charge big bucks for it, some give it away for free. Some options are just about as obtrusive and annoying as having a virus itself! But which one should you get? Which should you trust? That's the question!

The "Best" Anti-Virus options can change from year to year. While one software creator may get the nod one year, there may be another option that surpasses them the following year. Plenty of websites run various polls and tests on the subject, but I tend to lean towards the folks over at www.lifehacker.com. They've got a great site with a vast array of general tips, suggestions, cheats, etc to get you through your daily life as simple as possible. Just what we like.

For 2014, they ran a poll for the Best Antivirus. They ran a previous post where everyone could post up their favorite antivirus solution, and vote on them. They then took the top 5 and compiled another post and had everyone vote on just those. Avast! Free Antivirus got the most votes by a long shot.

Here at Your Tech Coach, we'll save you the research time on all this and give you the nitty gritty. What Antivirus should you use? We agree with the folks over at LifeHacker and suggest Avast! Free Antivirus. It beat out even the "paid" options by a long shot.

But what about all the big "paid" options? Here at Your Tech Coach, we want the best solution for our dollar (or even better, FREE!). The big name paid options have never proven their worth versus other free alternatives. And quite frankly, most of them add in so many other features besides just antivirus protection, it prevents you from doing things you WANT to do, it bogs down your computer, and can just be a royal pain in the booty. A lot of experienced tech's out there will tell you those guys are about as bad as a virus itself.

The only thing with Avast! Free Edition we really don't care for is the "Sound" notifications. Rather than just an old popup saying your virus definitions have been updated, or a recent scan completes it "says" it out loud. I don't like random, comments or noises coming out of my speakers when I don't expect them. Luckily, you can turn this feature off. Just see below.

Simply open the Avast! User Interface:

Next, choose the Settings option in the lower right corner, as shown below:

Locate the section named Sounds:

Then UN-check the box labeled Enable Avast Sounds:

Last, select the OK button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes:

Have you fell victim to a PC Virus? Let us know in the comments below and we may use it in a future blog post!


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