There are a few free anti-virus programs available for download from the internet. But you need to be careful when searching for one because some are actually Trojans or adware in disguise. So below are links to both free anti-virus programs and free online virus scanners which are safe however please read below before investing your time.

BitDefender Free

AVG Free

BitDefender free online scanner

McAfee free online scanner

Panda free online scanner

Trend free online scanner

Free... hmmmmm. So someone hired a programmer or more than one to write a program to detect/remove viruses and to also keep a virus definition data base up to date. For free! Well maybe and maybe not. In any case let me explain the difference between a free program and one which must be paid for each year.

The free versions do not perform what is call real time scanning. This is where the program is continually scanning files on the hard disk and also immediately scanning files which are download from email or the internet while surfing. The free versions only perform a scan when you manually tell it to. This is where the harm takes place. Once a virus enters your PC and starts running, it can replace files, delete files or what ever. In addition, when a virus is running you can not delete its file since XP will not allow it. You need to boot on a separate disk so the virus is not running then locate it and delete it. The free versions will detect the virus but can not remove it for this reason. To late!

The purchased anti-virus programs perform real time scanning so they can detect a virus as soon as it enters your PC and deletes it before it can run. In addition the purchased versions have a staff of programmers which are locating new viruses and updating your virus definitions data base on daily basis.