Free Norton Virus Protection - Scan Your System Online
Even if you're running anti-virus software on your computer, it sometimes pays to run a free Norton virus protection scan on their website. The online virus scan service is always up-to-date with the latest viruses. Once in a while something can slip past even the best antivirus software, and the free online virus scan from Norton will sometimes find and remove these.
The free online protection is not a replacement for antivirus software on your computer, however. Norton Antivirus, Symantec Internet Security Suite and other antivirus programs run in the background all the time, keeping watch for virus infections.
They check incoming and outgoing email messages, downloaded software and other things all the time. The free Norton virus protection scan on their website will only scan your system when you access the site and request it. Because of this, it is not as thorough as the continuous protection you get from the full programs.
Can You Download Complete Protection for Free?
The next logical question... is there a free Norton virus protection download that gives you the more thorough protection? The answer to that question is... sort of.
Symantec - the company that makes Norton software - offers "trial" versions of most of their programs. These trial versions are full versions of the software, but they will only work for a limited time, usually 15 days.
The idea behind these trial versions is that you can try them out before you buy them. They do have another advantage though. If you're infected by a virus or have another problem with your computer and don't have an up-to-date antivirus or internet security program installed, you can download one of these trial versions and in many cases it will clean up your system for you.
If you take advantage of the free Norton Antivirus or Norton Internet Security download, I would recommend that you buy a full version once the trial runs out in order to ensure you continue to be protected. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when it will protect your computer from a virus - and you from having to look for more computer virus help.
Click here for the free Norton virus protection scan (and their security and spyware scan as well)
Click here to download a free trial version of many of Symantec's Norton products
** Note: Before you download any of the trial versions, double-check the system requirements if you're running an older version of Windows. Some of them work on anything from Windows 98 and up but some are only for Windows 2000 and XP.