3 Ways to Keep Your Netbook Virus-Free

Viruses. For the average computer junkie who’s constantly surfing the web, they’re inevitable. That’s why we’re giving you three great ways to help protect your netbook from settling in harm’s way.

1. Immunet Protect

Immunet Protect is a cloud-powered application, so unlike many virus prevention and detection software, there are no definition downloads necessary. The application’s still in the early stages of development, so the interface is not the best, but Immunet is fully capable of performing its intended duty. The application is light on the resources (uses < 5 MB of memory), particularly CPU power. There are also slide-out alerts indicating whether or not sources are “trusted.”

2. Microsoft Security Essentials

Like traditional anti-virus applications, Microsoft Security Essentials requires definition downloads in order to be fully functional (updated). On the bright side, the scans are fairly quick, can be scheduled, and are expected to detect ~98.5% of malicious files. Unfortunately though, there is no heuristics-based protection for this application. On the Windows 7 OS, this application is pretty light, but it’s not so light on Windows XP.

3. Panda Cloud Antivirus

The first cloud-powered antivirus program in existance, Panda is another great netbook anti-virus application. Like Microsoft Security Essentials, scans are fast, and like Immunet Protect, CPU power usage (~ 8 MB) and the memory footprint created is minimal. This application even protects when it’s disconnected from the Cloud, thanks to a local cache of Panda’s signature files.

Know of any more anti-virus software out there that’s great for use on netbooks? Let us know — we’d love to hear about them!