User Beware. Smart Defrag By IOBit

User Beware.

In a previous post I had recommended SmartDeFrag by IOBit. Their product does a good job of Disk Defragmentation, but recently when I updated the program it tried to change my browser homepage without asking. So it essence, SmartDefrag is SPYWARE. I don't care what kind of marketing agreement they've made. Changing settings like this without a prompt, speaks volumes about the company, not in a good way.

No matter how good any software program may be, changing any of my user setting not associated with the program being installed, is totally unacceptable. As a result I must withdraw all my recommendations for any & all software by IOBit. If a company is willing to this with one of their software packages, they cannot be trusted.

If you are using IOBit products, I recommend you stop using them & uninstall immediately, as I have done. If you are not using them, don't.

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Anti-Virus - Part II

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5 is a PC Thick Client based anti-virus solution. You download a thick client (approximately 62 MB) from the Internet. Once the software is installed, the software uses the traditional method of contacting the AVG servers for updates of known viruses & malware to help protect your computer.

The user schedules the frequency of updates (I recommend once a day) and the software takes care of the rest. Same with system scans. (I recommend at least once a week). I've used for 3+ years and have nothing but good things to say. I am always on the lookout for better solutions, so I have tried a lot of anti-virus products, free & fee based. I keep coming back to AVG Anti-Virus for my thick client based solution.

The one drawback to thick client anti-virus programs is that can tend to slow down your machine a little bit, especially if you have an older machine. In these caes I recommend trying the new cloud based anti-virus from Panda.

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