At the end of January 2004, I wrote about Computer Associate's offer for their eTrust EZ Armor antivirus and firewall solution: you can now download and use their software without any charge for one year. CA's software is also included in the recently released Microsoft's Partner Pack for Windows. IMHO, eTrust EZ Armor doesn't have an integrated experience: firewall and anti-virus are just 2 different products that are installed at once. On top of this, I find the user interface of the AV product very basic and not intuitive at all, and the firewall appears just to be a rebranded version of ZoneLabs' excellent free ZoneAlarm firewall.

There are also other anti-virus companies that offer free versions of their software for personal/home/non-commercial use. One of these companies is Alwil with their avast! anti-virus product. The "Home" edition of Alwil's avast anti-virus product can be downloaded freely without any registration. The software is available in several languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Czech, Slovak and Japanese to name a few. (Note that you'll eventually have to register the product before the end of the 60-day trial, but registering doesn't cost you a thing.)

Another company that also offers a free anti-virus solution is Grisoft with their "AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition". This software can also be used without any required payment, but you'll have to register (and give your personal contact details) before you can download the software.

Other anti-virus companies also have several offers on Microsoft's Security @ Home anti-virus page. And of course, visit http://www.microsoft.com/protect (English) or http://www.microsoft.com/belux/protect (Dutch and French) for information on keeping your PC safe and protected.