If you’ve been reading the news over the last few years you know that hacking is on the rise and that the technology needed to crack your computer is becoming more readily available.

There are many things you can do to protect your home or business computers. You can setup a firewall, you can buy a top-notch router with security protocols built-in, and you can visit only trusted websites.

The most important part of any security plan though is still a great antivirus program.

Understanding that many of our readers might not have money to throw away on an enterprise worth virus scan program we provide you with three excellent options.

After you browse our suggestions head over to Best Antivirus and check out the options available to you. That website offers comparisons between the different virus scan programs with a full list of the features each software option can provide.

AVG – The Free Software Solution That Ushered In Freemium Copycats

AVG secures your computer in several ways. First, the program continually looks for updated definition files to ensure that your computer can detect even the most cutting edge viruses. Second, AVG free offers web browsing safety protocols so suspicious websites stay off your radar and their viruses and malware also remain a distant threat.

One of the best parts about AVG free is that it is very fast and has little interference with your computers regular operations. Leave AVG running as a background task and simply go about your day.

AVG Free also provides email protection with built-in spam blocking which helps users avoiding phishing scams and downloadable content that could hurt your PC.

AVG Free also offers personal identity protection by blocking attempts by hackers to gain access to your personal data.

Premium options are available but AVG Free is an excellent offering for users who just need regular protection.

AVAST 2013 – A Well Respected Option For Any User

Just like AVG Free the Avast 2013 platform has no associated costs, yet it still offers best-in-class security protection for your PC.

The application provides standard virus and spyware scanning that runs comfortably in the users background processes. Avast also provides the ability to reach a “geek friend” with any issues being experienced.

Avast just like its competitors offers constantly updated definition files and its scan process is hyper-ast.

For $19.99 a year you can upgrade to receive email protection, extra firewall protection from hackers, and much more.

BitDefender Free – Unbreakable Protection

I personally don’t believe anything in the computer world is “unbreakable” but BitDefender likes to stand behind that claim.

This piece of entry-level free virus scan software again offers background processes that are resource freeing and quick to run.

BitDefender is great if you know nothing about computer security because the company offers “Zero Questions Configuration” which means no boxes to check or other options to fill out.

If you play games on your PC the gaming feature will  pause major system scans until you hit quit.

BitDefender Free has also been optimized for Windows 8.

Whether you choose Avast, AVG or BitDefender you will be in good hands without paying a dime out of pocket. And the best apart about each platform? If you need more security in the future you can simply upgrade to higher paid plans with each company.