060808aol.pngIs your PC protected with the latest anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and firewall?

A study released last December by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 81% of home PCs lack at least one of the three critical protections — updated computer virus software, spyware protection, and a secure firewall — necessary to help guard against viruses, spyware, hackers, and other threats. More than half (56%) of the participants either had no anti-virus protection or had not updated it within the last week, almost half (44%) did not have a properly-configured firewall, and four in ten (38%) lacked spyware protection.

Yet, despite these findings, the large majority of users (83%) falsely believed that they were safe from online threats. 

We believe having to pay subscriptions for security software contributed greatly to these statistics. Now, thanks to AOL, PC users worldwide can protect themselves with the latest industry-strength anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and firewall at no cost, no obligation, and no AOL membership required.

AOL is giving away two security software for free:

1. Active Virus Shield

  • Powered by Kaspersky, one of the largest anti-virus providers, worldwide
  • Virus definitions are automatically updates hourly
  • New Threat Response Time of up to 2 hours
  • Real-Time Protection
  • On-Demand and Scheduled Scanning
  • Disinfects Files in Archives (ZIP, ARJ, CAB, RAR, LHA)
  • Option to Scan Only New And Modified Files
  • Harmful Program Blocking And Removal
  • Disinfect SMTP, IMAP4 & POP3 Email
  • Variable Scan Speed
  • Help Prevent Slowdown During Increased Computer Usage Periods
  • Support Power Saving for Laptops
  • Support Microsoft Windows XP x64

2. AOL Safety and Security Center

  • Virus protection powered by McAfee that is automatically-updated when the user is online to help protect their entire computer from viruses, trojans and other online threats.
  • AOL Spyware Protection, powered by CA’s eTrust PestPatrol, that offers four different levels of protection against more than 31,000 known spyware, adware, and sneakware programs.
  • Phishing protection that helps prevent theft of personal information by blocking access to known phishing sites when using the AOL Explorer browser or AOL client software (powered by anti-phishing services from RSA Security/Cyota, MarkMonitor, and Cyveillance).
  • A robust firewall, powered by McAfee, that helps protect users against hackers and other online attacks.
  • A single unified console that updates users about the status of all of the AOL security software on their computer, including anti-virus, spyware protection, firewall, phishing protection, Parental Controls*, spam protection, pop-up controls, and more.
  • Easy-to-adjust settings, with a default setting that automatically does a comprehensive scan of users’ computers at regular intervals for online threats.

* The AOL award-winning Parental Controls will be available from September onwards. It helps limit access by children to inappropriate content on the Web and allow parents to configure custom controls, such as an online timer and a regular AOL Guardian “report card” of their activity online. Parental Controls also include Internet Access Controls, which can help parents protect their children by preventing them from circumventing the controls, regardless of who is providing the access or over what connection.

If your PC is not protected with the latest anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and firewall, because you do not want to pay for them, now you have no excuse. Grab your free Active Virus Shield and AOL Safety and Security Center now!

However, if you prefer to pay, do check out the latest security software from Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, and NOD32 (by Eset).