AVAST 4 Home Edition provides free antivirus protection for Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98. The scanner installed just under 40MB and 6 running processes to our Windows XP Pentium 4 test system, taking a slightly bigger toll than other free antivirus scanners, but still well suited for older PCs or those with limited system resources.

There is a review of Free Antivirus Software.

AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic provides free antivirus protection for Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98. The svelte scanner installed only 34MB and 3 running processes to our Windows XP Pentium 4 test system, making it an excellent option for those with older PCs or limited system resources.

Korean-based Iocell has announced VaccineDrive, a USB drive that includes the Hauri ViRobot antivirus scanner. Iocell uses C2, their own developed operating system. They claim to the be the "World's First Portable Anti-Virus Drive.

Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition is an all-in-one security suite that leaves most of the protective decision making for adware and spyware blocking and removal up to the user. One wrong choice and your system may continue to spy on you or dish up ads.

AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall Edition is light on resources, heavy on protection. The firewall provides permission-based access control reminiscent of the popular ZoneAlarm firewall. The high level of control and customization will appeal to the most advanced users, while less savvy users will find the Basic interface simple to understand and use.

It's not just viruses that plague today's Internet users. Spyware surreptitiously monitors your computer and Internet use, while adware can bombard your PC with unwanted advertising. Both pose a drain on your bandwidth and can lead to loss of security.

G DATA AntiVirusKit 2005 (AVK) provides a double layer of protection, bundling both the Kaspersky and BitDefender antivirus engines under a single, easy-to-use console. The use of these engines offers an important advantage to AVK.

A public beta of Microsoft AntiSpyware was released on January 6, 2005. Beta software is software that has not been thoroughly tested and may exhibit unexpected behavior ranging from benign inconsistencies to serious incompatibilities. Beta software should never be installed on production systems.

Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 builds on the already superb foundation of virus, spam, and firewall protection found in their 2004 security suite. Now PC-cillin 2005 also includes spyware removal, anti-phishing controls, Wi-Fi intrusion detection and home network controls.