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With news this week of the FruitFly 2 malware which can remotely take control of a Macs webcam, mouse, or keyboards and recurring ransomware attacks on PCs, free antivirus software can be a godsend.

So, what should an antivirus program do? Getting rid of existing malware is just the beginning. Good antivirus software will prevent malicious software from infecting your computer in the first place and steer you away from bad websites.

But malware and viruses are as old as the personal computer and just as enduring.

Fox News has compiled a list of a few programs that provide good protection for your computer, all for free.

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Avast Free Antivirus 2017:Avast offers a lot for a free anti-malware program. In testing done at PC Mag, Avast blocked 87 percent of the malware samples. It posted excellent scores in hands-on malware and antiphishing tests, according to the publication. It can also perform security checks on your Wi-Fi network and offers something usually not seen in free antivirus software, password management.

Theres browser security as well, which tags websites that are unsafe.

Needless to say, there are premium features that you can pay for. For example, using Avast to set up a private virtual network (VPN) can trigger the paid service. But upgrading to Avasts paid services if you need it as part of your business might not be a bad idea considering how good the free stuff is.

Kaspersky:The Moscow-based cybersecurity and anti-virus purveyor just launched a free service on July 25.

Weve been working on this release for a good year-and-a-half, the company said in a blog post.

What do you get? All the bare essentials, according to the blog post.

Kaspersky Free includes file, email and web antivirus, automatic updates, self-defense, and quarantine and works to protect against malicious websites and phishing. In short, the indispensable basics that no one on the planet should do without, according to Kasperskys post.

The bare bones free protection wont compete against paid-for versions. The latter adds parental control, online payment protection, and secure VPN.

THREE GREAT SMARTPHONE BUYS FOR THE SUMMER Why the seemingly altruistic act? Increasing the number of Kaspersky Free installations improves the quality of protection of all users, according to Kaspersky, including paid users.

Kaspersky has received some negative media attention in the U.S. based on accusations of ties to Russian Intelligence, which Kaspersky has denied.

The free software is available in the U.S., Canada and certain Asia Pacific countries. More regions will be added in the next few months.

AVG AntiVirus Free (2017):AVGs free version includes real-time security updates, scans for both malware and performance issues and stopping malicious downloads before they reach your PC. It also sports a new, simpler interface.

The paid version adds secure personal folders with an extra layer of ransomware protection, an enhanced firewall, and detection of fake websites for safe payments.

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3 best free anti-virus software to protect your computer | Fox News - Fox News

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Porsche to recall 22000 cars over emissions software BBC News Last week it was announced that VW subsidiary Audi would be offering a free software upgrade for 850,000 diesel cars across Europe, some 600,000 of them in Germany. That leaves close to a million other cars to be included in the new refit plans. Germans find illegal software in Porsche model, order recallWinnipeg Free Press Germany recalls Porsche Cayenne models over emissions softwareStreetInsider.com all 43 news articles »

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Porsche to recall 22000 cars over emissions software - BBC News

In attics and garages across the country, there are boxes marked "VHS Tapes." Back in the day, families would shoot hours and hours of Christmas mornings and ballet recitals, Grand Canyon vacations and grade school birthday parties. Few of these video tapes were ever watched more than once, and they were all exiled to some dark corner of the house.

Digital video changed all that. Thanks to "nonlinear editing," regular folks could upload their footage and chop it into a coherent short film. Families no longer had to fast-forward to the "good parts." An aspiring cinematographer could take the best clips and arrange them on the editor, adding titles and music.

Still, editing software can be expensive. The cost of Final Cut Pro has dropped considerably in recent years, yet the $300 price tag may still scare a lot of people off. Avid and Premiere use subscription services can get costly over time.

Click here to learn how to edit your videos like a pro.

Unfortunately, YouTube is dissolving its online editing service. But you'll find plenty of other inexpensive options for chopping down your masterpieces.

So what kind of editor can you get for free (or on the cheap) that still gives you impressive movie-making tools? You might be surprised how impressive these programs can be, especially for the amount you have to spend on them.

For millions of amateur filmmakers, iMovie was the software that made video editing seem possible. The platform has always been simple and welcoming, and each version is more versatile than the last. You can piece together any kind of movie on iMovie, but the program also boasts a range of handy templates, so you can make a trailer, a vacation roundup or even a narrative film without needing to know very much about video. Better yet, Final Cut Pro X was modeled on iMovie, so if you're feeling ambitious, you can easily export your iMovie project into FCPX for fine-tuning. The downside: While iMovie is free, it only works on iOS.

If you're wondering what Lightworks can do, check out "The King's Speech" or "The Wolf of Wall Street." Lightworks has been used for so many major Hollywood films, it's hard to believe the software is free and available for anyone to download. Lightworks is another miracle of Linux programming, placing powerful tools in the hands of everyday people, regardless of their computer brand or operating system. If it's good enough for Martin Scorsese, it's good enough for pretty much anybody.

Like the YouTube editor, WeVideo empowers you to edit your films online. There are some drawbacks to this kind of platform, but if your projects are generally shorter and your Wi-Fi signal is strong, you'll love being able to instantly access your work on almost any device on the planet. Understand, WeVideo is ideal for schools and workplaces, and you won't mind shelling out $4.99 per month if you only need to export 30 minutes of video every four weeks. But if you're looking to produce longer projects with unlimited volume, the annual subscription costs quite a bit more (just under $100.)

Filmora is already a beloved video editor, with powerful features and lots of nifty effects. The suite is pretty simple, so almost anyone can figure it out, but it's powerful enough to turn out some sophisticated films. Meanwhile, there's FilmoraGo, a separate free version designed for mobile devices. If you're the kind of filmmaker who likes to shoot and edit from the comfort of your phone, this is one of the sharpest products available.

Not sure about FilmoraGo? Click here to learn about Magisto, another great mobile editor.

If you're looking for top-tier software, HitFilm Pro has earned its stripes, even if the company hasn't been around very long and doesn't have major motion pictures to its name. (We expect it will.) But HitFilm Express is free and fun to use, and the company takes pride in its 180-plus visual effects, such as lightsabers, futuristic computer displays and shotgun blasts.

Adobe Premiere is an industry standard, and editors routinely use this heavy-duty software to assemble feature-length Hollywood films. Not long ago, Adobe changed its business model, taking the ultra-expensive Premiere and turning it into a monthly subscription service. (Projects can be saved to a cloud.) But if you're looking for a simpler version of Premiere for a one-time price, look no further than Premiere Elements. This package gives you all the most essential Premiere functions without all the bells and whistles, which may make your projects even easier to put together. It isn't free, but for around $60, you'll get every feature you'll ever need.

An amazing free alternative to Photoshop

Unbelievable wildlife videos captured by drones

Stunning filters turn your photos into works of Picasso, Rembrandt and more

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Best free (and low-cost) video editors used by the pros - Komando

After a year of testing, Kaspersky Lab has finally started to roll out the free version of its anti-virus software globally. Called Kaspersky Free, the software is being rolled out in phases and should be available in India sometime in the later half of September. The company notes that the free version will not compete with its paid versions as those versions offer a bunch of extra features like Parental Control, Online Payment Protection, and Secure. However, the free version will offer basic protection features such as file, email, and web antivirus, automatic updates, Self-Defence, quarantine and more. The company also notes that while Kaspersky Free is based on the same technologies as the paid versions, the software is lighter and faster than them.

Eugene Kaspersky, the companys founder said in a blog post, Last year the product successfully piloted in the Russia-Ukraine-Belarus region, in China, and also in the Nordic countries (thats Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, in case you were wondering). I say successfully that would be an understatement; for with practically zero promo activity Kaspersky Free was installed several million times, in doing so cranking up our market share considerably. Not that increasing market share is our aim; our aim is to raise the overall level of protection on the Internet. Anyway, heres thanks to all Kaspersky Free users for helping us save the world!

The launch of Kaspersky Free should come as welcome news to anyone looking for a free antivirus service from a reputed company. We've already seen two major attacks on a global scale in the form of WannaCry and Petya and this new software should help people sleep a little more peacefully at night.

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Kaspersky Free antivirus software headed to India in September - Digit

John Warren is an Enrolled Agent, photogaphed here inside his Medford office. Enrolled Agents are federally licensed tax professionals who are allowed to represent taxpayers before the IRS for audits and collections.

Around 2,100 Massachusetts residents received one of those chilling notices that says you owe the taxman some money. But it turns out to have been a false alarm.

After receiving calls from confused taxpayers and tax preparers, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue said it found a fault in a commercial software program called TaxAct that some professionals and individuals use to file returns.

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The program had incorrectly coded payment vouchers from those customers to 2017 instead of 2016, so their checks were applied to the wrong year.

A DOR spokeswoman said the agency received payments from fewer than 50 taxpayers, all of whom should receive a refund by next week. The 2,100 affected taxpayers will also soon receive a letter to let them know that the issue has been resolved, although the spokeswoman said many had already learned of the mistake by calling into the agency.

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John Warren, president of the Massachusetts Society of Enrolled Agents, said he began hearing of the problem last week from members.

We found out about it by just networking with each other, and taking the initiative to contact the right person at DOR, Warren said.

The DOR spokeswoman said that the mix-up was due to human error: Upon receiving the specifications for state forms to prepare its program, TaxAct put the wrong year in the barcode, and the DOR did not catch the mistake when the software was reviewed.

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In a statement, TaxAct said it became aware of the problem on Monday through the DOR. It added that 5 percent of TaxAct filers in the state were affected .

We have a good working relationship with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and are working quickly and diligently with them to rectify the situation. We apologize to those impacted for the inconvenience and concern this has caused, and we will be contacting those filers impacted, TaxAct wrote.

The issue affected a relatively small portion of the approximately 3 million taxpayers in the state, but may make some question the accuracy and security of software like TaxAct. Last fall, Massachusetts decided to forgo its free online tax-filing system and encouraged residents to use commercial software programs. It joined the Free File Alliance , which offers software such as TurboTax for free to people with an income of less than $64,000. Only 2 percent of Massachusetts residents had used the states own system, and officials said at the time that commercial software is more secure.

But in 2015, Massachusetts and Vermont withheld almost 170,000 tax returns to investigate potential identity theft and fraud for taxes prepared through TurboTax. The company temporarily suspend its filing program because of suspicions that identity thieves were filing false returns using stolen identities.

TaxAct itself said a small number of accounts were affected by a data breach in late 2015, according to SC Media, a tech-industry publication. The next year, problems with TurboTax and other software was thought to cause up to 19,000 Vermont residents to pay less than what they owed the state government. H&R Block and Intuit, which makes TurboTax, paid nearly $2.5 million to the state tax agency to cover the arrears of their customers.

Amy Pitter, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, said national tax software companies tend to wait to the last minute to get updated versions of their programs approved by local tax authorities, which can cause problems for tax preparers. While the TaxAct issue seems like a minor fluke, Pitter said Mass DOR should have been able to detect the mistake.

The more you have automation, the more you need to put in checks to make sure the automation doesnt run away with itself, Pitter said.

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Over 2000 Massachusetts taxpayers billed incorrectly due to software error - The Boston Globe