BULLGUARD TO THE RESCUE

Some may wonder why we recommend free anti-virus solutions like Avast and free anti-spyware programs like Malwarebytes when we pay $60 a year for BullGuard Internet Security. Well, many readers ask for free programs, and we like them too, but we’re willing to pay if something is really good.

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SECURITY PROBLEMS

Recently, PhishMe, a private security service, sent out an email with a cute cat picture and a note that said “Check Out These Kitties” They wanted to learn how many people would click on something like that without thinking any further. Four million people did within hours.

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TAX TIME

Kaspersky, the anti-virus company, has some tips for avoiding identity theft at tax time:

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FREE ANTI-VIRUS

We recently wrote about the new free Avast Anti-Virus. Their launch date was delayed, but now it’s out and available at Avast.com. We have used this program and like it.

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NICE FREE ANTI-VIRUS

Our favorite free anti-virus program, Avast, is out in a new version for 2013, and they’ve added more features.

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IN THE VAULT

When we admitted to losing a smart phone with all our passwords stored on board, a reader wrote to suggest” “Why not use the Vault?”

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COOKIES

A reader contacted us after we wrote about fabulous freebies and asked: “What about a safe, free cookie cleaner?” Well, we have one of those.

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OUR FAVORITE FREE PROGRAMS

Our readers like free and so do we. Here are a few of our favorites. The free VLC Media Player from Download.com  is great for playing back audio and video files that your computer can’t handle. The audio files Joy recorded on her new Android smartphone, for example, weren’t playable on the PC. But the VLC player handled them easily on both Mac and PC. To make and send the recording, she tapped “attachment” from the phone’s email window and then “Voice recorder.” She tested it by  interviewing Bob about the stock market. Our two favorite free security apps have versions for Windows or Mac. Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes.org is a great program for blocking and getting rid of spyware. To [...]

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AVOIDING PROBLEMS ON YOUR ANDROID PHONE

“Advanced Mobile Care” from iObit is a free app to prevent problems on your Android smartphone. It blocks malware, helps games run smoothly, locks private photos and videos, kills memory-hogging apps and extends battery life. It also helps you uninstall apps and sort them by name, size or frequency of use.

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FREE ANTI-VIRUS

AVG.com still has our favorite free anti-virus program, but we recently tested the freebie Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 from Download.com. It’s great for slow computers because it uses hardly any system resources.

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