There is so much malware out there that can downloaded to your computer without you even knowing it, referred to as “drive-by” malware that all you have to do is visit a website and if it is infected that virus will infect your PC as well.

I have been infected twice in the past by these  “drive-by” downloads and they had completely damaged my computers when Trojan viruses infected my PC, disabled my Internet browser and I had to have the entire operating system reinstalled, this also cost $100 since I no longer had the original OS disk and I lost all my data. This really sucks!

These days even the most trusted sites are getting infected with the latest iFrame Trojan, that infected, USA Today, ABC News, Target and Wal-Mart websites.

Today I went to a favorite website of mine that I visit often and they too were hacked by the iFrame Trojan and if it weren’t for my excellent virus software it would have infected my computer.

Now, I have used and tried every type of anti virus software you can imagine, Norton, McCaffee, AVG, PC Tools, even the free version of Kaspersky, but I gotta tell you, no one is better than Avast and I MEAN NO ONE and they are FREE!

By the way, I had Norton when those viruses ate my two computers, a total piece of crap!

In the last two days alone I have escaped being infected by serious viruses a total of 10 times, that is 10 viruses just in the last two days, all by just visiting websites. And all because of Avast Anti Virus and their excellent virus real time and drive-by protection.

As soon as I enter a website that is infected, Avast literally sounds alarm bells, with a voice warning me of the danger and then a screen comes up where I can choose to abort the connection to that website, or move the virus to quarantine. In short Avast automatically blocks any virus or malware from downloading onto my computer from bad websites.

Avast is the absolute best real time protection you can get, and their computer scans are accurate at detection and quarantine.

Avast is free for home users. They have a Pro version, but basically the only difference between the home and the Pro is that the dashboard interface is better in the Pro version.

But, the real time protection is the same for both and absolutely fantastic, I highly recommend them for a much safer web surfing experience.

Make sure that you download the Avast FREE home version because they do have a free trial for the Pro version that expires after 30 days and then they will ask you to upgrade. You have to register for the free version so that you get your activation key.

Learn more at Avast.com

Data Backup

Another good resource for computer security is Mozy Online Data Backup, they give you 2GB of online data backup FREE!

This is another highly recommended service. You can set up whatever files you want to back up on your computer, daily, weekly or whatever you choose and Mozy will back them up and store them on their servers.

Online backup is a great way to secure your files and keep them safe and without having to use up tons of CD disks.

Believe me you do not want to be caught without having your files and data secure, especially if you have as much data on your computer as I have on mine. Visit Mozy and get 2GB Free, no strings attached.

Also make sure that you have WP-Database Backup plugin if you are running a wordpress blogs. It will email you a back of your database daily, weekly or whatever you select and if your blog is hacked the back up file can restore all your posts and content. Wordpress blogs are vulnerable to hacking, so better safe than sorry.