| Free Software One of the advantages of being a home computer user is that there is a good deal of legitimate, spyware-free and virus-free software available on the internet which can make your computing experience much easier. Below are descriptions and links to some great resources online. If you have any questions or need any assistance with one or more of these products, please feel free to drop us a note at services@mtshomesolutions.com.  Security Software
One area about which every computer user needs to be concerned is security. Every computer that is connected to the internet needs to have a good antivirus product, a good antispyware product and a firewall. Many new home computers come with a free trial of an antivirus software product. However, once the trial period expires, users must pay an annual subscription in order to keep the security software up to date. There are free alternatives, howwever, which do a good job of securing a home computer system. Consider the following: Microsoft Security Essentials This offering from Microsoft bundles together a good antivirus product with antispyware protection. The user interface is simple and easy to understand. Also, this product does not use a great deal of system resources, unlike some of the big commercial products like McAfee and Norton. The download and installation is quick and easy. Comodo Internet Security Comodo has been offering a free firewall product for quite some time. They have now bundled together their firewall product with an antivirus product. You can download and install just the firewall software, just the antivirus software or both.
Avira Antivir Personal This is another great basic antivirus product. Though users have the option to upgrade to their full security suite of applications, this offers basic antivirus protection for your computer. - Every day software vulnerabilities are being discovered and exploited by computer hackers. One of the best ways to keep your computer secure is to keep the software on it updated. While it's fairly easy to keep the Microsoft software updated using Windows Update/Microsoft Update, this tool will monitor the other software on your computer and will let you know when an update is available. This product is free for home users.
Software to Keep Your Kids Safe Online
Today's children have always lived in an internet-connected world. It's probably not an option for kids to not have access to the Internet. At the same time, parents can't be everywhere at once. Monitoring software can help parents to keep kids safe online by keeping tabs on what their kids are doing online and in some cases blocking websites and activity which might be harmful to them. While there are several good fee-based products out there, like IMview and Cyberpatrol, here are a couple of great products which are free to parents: McGruff Safeguard This is a easy-to-use service designed to help parents manage their kids' increasingly dangerous online activity. The service intelligently monitors ALL internet activity for potential danger, including websites, online chats, instant messaging and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Myspace, etc.) The service allows parents to conveniently review their kids' activities on a secure website, or to be notified of potentially dangerous situations via cell phone and email alerts. McGruff SafeGuard alerts parents to dangerous behavior, such as Internet predators, sexual abuse, drug use, or criminal activity, and provides helpful advice to parents on how to deal with certain issues. McGruff SafeGuard is also the first and only service to electronically connect parents with law enforcement in their common battle against Internet sexual predators. McGruff SafeGuard is a partnership between the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and ParentsOnPatrol (POP).
Parental Control Bar The Parental Control Bar is a free public service that helps concerned parents prevent their children from accessing adult-oriented web sites. It's a simple, powerful tool to help shield your children from explicit websites. Simply activate Child-Mode while your children surf the internet, and the toolbar will block access to adult-oriented websites.
 Software to Keep Your Computer Running Smoothly
Computers are machines. Just as cars and other machines need regular maintenance to continue running smoothly, computers need periodic attention in order to run effeciently. Below are some products which home users can put to use to keep your computer running at its best. CCleaner This is a simple but powerful tool which "optimizes" your computer. While that term may seem like a buzzword, this product will basically clean up the junk on your system which can slow it down. Among other things, ccleaner does the following:
Removes unnecessary files on your system, such as temp files, unneeded downloads and log filesto free up disk space on your computer Scans the computer's registry for uneeded or obsolete entries Offers a tool for uninstalling software on your computer that you no longer use or need. Defraggler
From the same company which makes ccleaner, defraggler is a product can be used to defragment your hard drive. When data is saved on your hard drive, it is not always saved in contiguous spaces. That is, some of the data may be saved in one part fo the drive, while other data may be saved in a different part of the drive - even of the data is part of a single file. As data becomes scattered accross the hard disk, your disk must work harder, and take longer to find the data and present it back to you. Defragmenting the hard drive on a regular basis can help to keep your hard drive healthy and your computer running smoothly. Although Windows has a built-in tool for defragmenting, this tool is a little bit more flexible and versitle.
Autoruns for Windows
On most computers, there are a lot of programs which start up when the computer starts. In fact, many of these programs start in the background, and most home users are not able to see or modify them. One of the answers to the age-old question, "why does my computer take so long to start up?" is that there are too many programs set to start up when the computer starts. Autoruns lets users see and disable unnecessary programs and services configured to run on startup or login.
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