How to build the ultimate PC security suite for free

PCWorld - If you have a PC, you’re a target.

Those kinds of sweeping, dramatic statements tend to set my eyes a-rollin’, as they frequently lead into a pitch to spend your hard-earned cash on a high-priced security suite.

Here’s the thing, though: As crass as the delivery is, the message itself is true. If the bad guys aren’t phishing for your personal data, they’re trying to trick you out of your credit card details or angling to turn your machine into a botnet zombie. If you’re connected to the Net, you really are a potential target.

But that doesn’t mean you need to shell out cash for a premium security suite. Though the likes of McAfee and Symantec offer simple, seamless solutions, you can cobble together a DIY security suite of your own that provides most of the protection that the boxed options do, at none of the cost. Once you’ve slapped these apps on your PC and read up on how to avoid the Web’s most devious security traps, you’ll have a decent amount of protection from the majority of the Web’s worst boogeymen.

Get a good, free antivirus program

 

AVG Free 2014 is designed with a Windows 8-esque aesthetic. 

(Click to enlarge.)

AVG Free topped the charts in our most recent free antivirus roundup, and this superb software suite has only gotten better since. Fast and efficient, AVG does a great job of blocking malicious downloads before they happen, and it’s even better at eradicating malware that has already slipped onto your machine.  More

iHeartRadio for Android Review

 

The best free streaming-radio app available

CNET - 

CNET Editors' Rating

4.5 stars - Outstanding

The good: With iHeartRadio, you can access more than 1,500 live stations from around the U.S., as well as the service's library of more than 15 million songs. The best part, though, is that custom stations are ad-free.

The bad: No pause, rewind, or record controls.

The bottom line: The best free streaming-radio app on the market, iHeartRadio takes some of (but not all) the best features from TuneIn Radio Pro and combines them with Pandora-like functionality.

Read the Full Review

How to test-drive Windows 8 for free in VirtualBox

PCWorld - Upgrading to a new operating system can be an intimidating undertaking that massively disrupts your daily workflow. And considering the dramatic interface changes introduced in Windows 8, you may not want to invest in Microsoft's latest OS without first giving it a thorough shakedown.

Fortunately, there's an easy, hassle-free way to test-drive Windows 8. Using a program called VirtualBox and the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise, you can try out the new OS for free, without disturbing your current operating system. Read on—we’ll show you how.

Important considerations

For this project, you'll need to use the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise, which you can download directly from Microsoft at the MSDN Evaluation Center website. There are a few things you should know about the evaluation edition, but you might want to start the download now—at 3.4GB, it will take a while.

Wording on the download page identifies it as “Windows 8 evaluation for developers,” but anyone who has a Microsoft account (such as a free Hotmail or Live account) can download the software and try it out. The download link is at the very bottom of the page. Simply select the 32- or 64-bit version of the operating system, log in, and fill out a brief questionnaire. Just like that, you’re downloading Windows 8!

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Get Norton Identity Safe free for all platforms

CNET - This Web-credentials manager is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. It’s not the best product in its class, but the price is right.

Norton Identity Safe is not a password manager in the traditional sense. It’s more of a log-in manager, able to automatically plug in your username and password when you sign into various sites that require them — all the while keeping that info secure and synced.

Originally, the software came bundled with various Norton security suites, but now it’s a standalone product with a surprising (for Symantec) price. As long as you grab it before October 1, you can get Norton Identity Safe absolutely free.

The tool is available not only for Windows and Mac, but also Android and iOS. It’s a direct competitor to the likes of LastPass and RoboForm, the latter a $30 product.

However, those tools include a feature I consider essential: a desktop password manager that can be used to organize more than just Web credentials. Norton Identity Safe can do likewise, maintaining things like credit card numbers and software registration codes, but you need your browser and Internet access if you want to retrieve them.     More

15 Free (or Almost Free) Wi-Fi Security Testing Tools

 

Wi-Fi Security Testing Tools

Attempting to “hack” into your own wireless network can help you better understand Wi-Fi security vulnerabilities and how to protect against them. Here are some Wi-Fi hacking techniques and the tools — nearly all free — you can use for penetration testing. These tools will help you uncover rogue access points, weak Wi-Fi passwords, and spot other weaknesses and security holes before someone else does.

 

Stumblers and Sniffers: Vistumbler

Wi-Fi stumblers can detect nearby APs and their details, like the signal level, security type, and MAC address. You might find APs set with weak WEP security, which can be easily cracked, or possibly rogue APs setup by employees or others that could be opening your network up to attack. You can use wireless sniffers to capture raw network packets sent over the air. You could import the captured traffic into other tools, such as to crack encryption. Vistumbler is an open source Windows application that displays the basic AP details, including the exact authentication and encryption methods, and can even speak the SSID and RSSI. It also displays graphs of signal levels. It’s highly customizable and offers flexible configuration options. It supports AP names…

 

Stumblers and Sniffers: Kismet

Kismet is an open source Wi-Fi stumbler, packet sniffer, and intrusion-detection system that can run on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD. It shows the AP details, including the SSID of “hidden” networks. It can also capture the raw wireless packets, which you can then import into Wireshark, TCPdump, and other tools. In Windows, Kismet only works with CACE AirPcap wireless adapters due to the limitation of Windows drivers. It does, however, support a variety of wireless adapters in Mac OS X and Linux.

 

Stumblers and Sniffers: Wifi Analyzer

Wifi Analyzer is a free Android app you can use for finding APs on your Android-based smartphone or tablet. It lists the basic details for APs on the 2.4-GHz band, and on supported devices on the 5-GHz band as well. You can export the AP list (in XML format) by sending it to email or another app or take snapshot of the screens. It also features graphs showing signals by channel, history, and usage rating and also has a signal meter feature to help find APs.

 

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The 40 Best Free iPhone Apps

PCMag.Com - The iPhone made its debut in June 2007. One year later, in July 2008, Apple launched the official App Store, the ultimate source of programs for the iPhone (in the first year, iPhone owners got apps through iTunes).

For iPhone owners, 2008 may seem like a long time ago, but it’s only been three years. What’s most interesting to me about the iPhone is the thought that neither consumers nor developers have yet worked out what standards and norms they want in the app ecosystem. Sure, Apple has its own set of rules, some of them quite strict, about the process for getting apps to market, but in terms of what consumers are willing to buy and how much they’re willing to pay, I think we’re still in uncharted water.

And you might as well drink up while you can! Truth be told, for most paid apps, there is a free and suitable alternative. Some developers give their apps away for free, but require a subscription or membership to get the real meat of the content. Other developers charge $4, $5, or $6 for their app, but it’s a one-time only fee. And of course, some developers program their apps and give them away totally free. Because the marketplace for iOS apps is still relatively new, I think we’re going to continue to see free apps—truly free apps, and good ones at that—for some time to come…another year or two at least.

The 40 free iPhone apps that made the cut for this list are the ones that have shown outstanding performance, have been well received by a variety of technology users, and are free. And “free” means free. No gimmicks, no “membership required.” Free. Period.
Missing from this list are apps and features (like Siri) that come pre-installed on the iPhone, although they are certainly not to be overlooked. The YouTube, Maps, and Clocks apps in particular should not be ignored, while the iTunes, Music (formerly called iPod app), and App Store apps typically see a fair share of well-deserved usage, but I suppose you technically paid for them because you bought the phone, so they’re not really free. In any case, you don’t need to choose to download them, so we’re not listing them here.

If you have more recommendations for more free apps that we at PCMag need to check out, post your suggestions in the comments.

Adobe Photoshop Express
Digital photography editing, until very recently, has been a task best suited for desktop and laptop computers, but Adobe proved that it could be done in the mobile space with Photoshop Express, a free photo editing application for the iPhone and other iOS devices. It’s a powerhouse of a mobile app, and can even handle noise reduction (extraneous particles that show up on photos). All in all, Adobe Photoshop Express is a solid tool for making light photo edits on your iPhone.

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Amazon Mobile
Amazon.com sells practically anything you might need, from toilet paper to dog food to magazine subscriptions. The mobile shopping app makes sure you can buy it anytime. The app contains a barcode scanner and photo tool, so if you’re in a store deliberating the cost of an item, you can snap a picture or scan the barcode and see if Amazon has it for less.

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BBC News
Among news apps, The BBC’s has one of the best interfaces—clean, with relevant headlines, good photos, and no advertisements. (Whether you agree with its angles and choice of coverage is another matter.) As far as international news organizations go, though, the BBC really does have correspondents in every corner of the globe, as well as varied and widespread topics. Another perk is that you can elect to view some news in other languages, such as Urdu, Arabic, and two kinds of Chinese.

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Bing

PCMag proclaimed Bing for iPhone “the best general search app” in the iTunes App Store when it debuted in 2009. Since then, Microsoft has expanded the functionality of its Bing app to include voice, barcode, and photo-based search to give users a variety of ways to gather information. The iPhone app sports a simple yet elegant black-and-white interface, highlighted by a large wallpaper image. The Vision Search feature needs more time to mature, but Bing delivers consistently good search results on the iPhone.                     More