As part of our Christmas and New Year promotion, we're giving you a full version of the commercial AVG AntiVirus 9, which has a 1-Year, 1-PC license and a value of $34.99 or £27.99. If you've ever considered downloading and using the AVG AntiVirus Free, there's no need. You can now get the commercial version, along with the added protection, completely free with every eligible order through the V3.co.uk Software Store.

Of course, there's a catch, but it's only a small condition. You get your free commercial AVG AntiVirus when you add Extended Download Insurance to your order. This enables you to go to your store, download your software, retrieve serial codes and print your original invoice, for two years after ordering, rather than the usual 30 days. Ideal if you plan to use your software on other computers, want to safeguard your purchase and more. You can read these terms online.

V3.co.uk Software Store link.

If you understand how potential Internet threats could affect your computer, then you could be safe with the minimum of security software. We recently installed a well-known security suite and found our system slowed every time we tried to open, move, copy or even look for a file on our computer. If you work with a large number of files, this constant one or two second delay (whilst the file is examined for malicious content) can take it's toll after a while. Once you've downloaded a file to your computer, why do these anti-spyware security tools insist on checking them again?

AVG Anti-Virus Free v9 has been released and it's a major release. In addition to the regular anti-virus and anti-spyware support, you also receive basic support for finding rootkit installed on your computer, an email scanner as well as the new LinkScanner, so you will be warned if potential links or websites are a potential threat. Of course, AVG Free 9 has always been a relatively lightweight application, so it uses the minimum of system resources.

AVG Anti-Virus Free v9 link.

Only a few years ago, there were two key free anti-spyware tools, which were Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware. Both were immensely popular but, for some reason, Ad-Aware didn't update their free anti-spyware tool for quite some time, which allow other free tools to make some headway and enter the market. However, Lavasoft brought out a completely new version, last year, and it's now back better than ever.

Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition 8.0.7 is now available and, if you're seeking quality free anti-spyware software, you won't need to look much further. Ad-Aware is from commercial developers and is updated regularly, meaning you'll always have the latest definitions to protect your computer from the latest threats. Of course, Lavasoft have commercial paid-for versions available in both a Plus and Pro format.

Ad-Aware Anniversary Editon link.

Many of us keep our most important files on a detachable USB drive which could easily be taken by a third-party, files copied on to their drive, without you being any the wiser. This could include your media collection, work documents, accounts or any other file. Although we setup a login and password to secure our PC, we simply forget that some of those files are not hosted on the main hard drive (and even then are not that secure).

TrueCrypt 6.2a is free encryption technology that you can use to secure your drive and prevent unauthorised users from gaining access to the contents. You can create an encrypted volume, if you desire, and simply read/write to this volume as if it was a standard partition. As TrueCrypt is a cross-platform tool, if you decided to turn your portable USB key in to an encrypted drive, you could simply move this to/from your PC and Mac and use it with few compatibility issues (irrespective of the NTFS read/write issues).

TrueCrypt for Windows and for Mac links.

Problem with traditional anti-virus software is that you rely on the technology to auto-update its database to protect itself against the latest threats. This is fine if your AV software is designed to update daily, half-daily or more often. However, if this doesn't happen, then you can get infected quite easily, without knowing you are infected. Boot your computer and you may find you can't get back in to your system.

Trend Micro HouseCall 7.0 is a beta preview of forthcoming technology that will enable you to run an online scanner from your desktop that uses the latest anti-virus definitions to thoroughly check your computer for the latest threats. The downside is that you need to have valid online connection and hope any infection hasn't affected how you interact with a remote server.

Trend Micro HouseCall link.

When we want to delete information from our computer, we drag files to the Recycle Bin (Trashcan). In the future, we'll empty the trash and realise that the file has disappeared from our computer. This is ideal if you share your computer with other users and want to hide files you've downloaded from, say, your kids. Or is it? Not at all. The files you place in your trash are kept on your drive, even though you can't see or access them. Any basic file recovery application will locate and salvage the deleted files.

Freeraser 1.0.0.22 is a free secure version of your normal Recycle bin that includes an icon within your System Tray. When you want to delete some important files or data, simply click the icon, a bin will appear and you drag them across as normal. The application will completely and securely erase the data from your computer.

Freeraser link.

We've got to the stage with computers where we can use a three-year-old PC for our day-to-day work without having to worry about having to upgrade to use the latest software. Only a few years ago it seemed to be case where even the most recent PC was out-of-date after 6 months and needed to be upgraded. However, some of the latest security suites have forced us to regress. Why? As these apps check everything we do with our PC, so it causes system slowdown. Files are checking before you save them to your computer, when you attempt to open from your desktop and, if they are within an archive, when you open the archive. Everything is checked, all the time.

AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.5 is the latest version of the free lightweight and popular anti-virus software that will give your PC protection against most day-to-day threats, without interfering with your work. You also get anti-spyware protection with the latest v8 release. Only this week, AVG announced v8.5 and, whilst this now ships with identity protection support in the paid-for version, the Free edition gains support for Windows 7 and other improvements.

AVG Anti-Virus Free link.

All manner of personal information is stored on the average computer, whether it's a work or home machine. The majority of files and folders on your machine won't be overly sensitive, but there will be a certain proportion that are and that need to be kept secure. One way of keeping this data secure is to use a file security program, that way you can hide, encrypt and even lock certain folders and files that are stored on your computer.

Folder Lock 6.1.7 is a useful application for preventing others from accessing private files and folders. You can also protect any data stored on removable media including USB Flash drives and CD-RW. This is a useful application that's incredibly easy-to-use.

Folder Lock 6.1.7 link. 

A good antivirus is one of the first things you should equip your computer with; after all, there are plenty to choose from no matter how limited your budget. Many of the leading names in computer security now offer freeware antivirus solutions that are more than capable of identifying and protecting your computer from everyday virus threats. These freeware alternatives can also be used before you purchase the full version, if required.

PC Tools AntiVirus 6 is a freeware application that provides real-time virus protection. PC tools products are widely used and are trusted by many and this free tool does what it says on the tin, it also benefits from regular database updates and comprehensive system scanning.

PC Tools AntiVirus 6 link.

Like everyone else, it's too easy to believe that the commercial security software from so-called heavyweight established developers will give better protection from the latest Internet threats. Problem is that I was offered one of the 2009-edition security suites from an established security development company and have since found that it checks, literally, everything. When we test local web content, this security suite checks the page for 'threats' before it loads in to the browser. Result? Everything is suddenly about 30% slower - email takes longer to download and process, every single file that's opened or copied from drive to drive is checked for threats and even the web browser checks the page content, making browsing a slower experience.

Irony is though that most of these security checks are superfluous. A web page that we create does not need to be checked when loaded in to the browser, locally. Files copied from one location to another location, on the same system, do not need to be checked for threats. So, all these options had to be disabled manually to keep our system sane and working smoothly. Problem is, this security suite now complains our PC is constantly 'at risk'.

One conclusion is that these so-called established security developers are seeking new ways to 'protect' your PC but, really, they are battling to protect themselves against the latest threats, thus resulting in virus developers seeking brand new methods to get in to your computer. Result is that the security software checks everything, all the time, just in case. Your system slows as a result.

Comodo Internet Security 3.8 is a completely free security suite consisting of an anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall modules. The latest version has an improved AV engine, support for Comodo's community threat database, better support for native Vista security features and much more.

Comodo Internet Security link.