A free antivirus email app offers a simple and effective way to manage your incoming email and stop spam. By allowing you to check and manage your email before you download it, MailWasher is a remarkably safe way to stop spam email before it ever has a chance to infect your computer. The non-expiring app works with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, Incredimail, Thunderbird and more.

This is a great way to turn the tables on spammers because it fools them into thinking they've reached an invalid address. It also allows you to add bounced senders to a blacklist so that all future spam attempts will automatically bounce back to them. MailWasher's comprehensive anti-spam tools include personal friends lists and blacklists, customizable filters, external blacklists, bayesian spam filtering and email virus filtering.

Security software firm Intego has identified a new piece of malware that masquerades as an antivirus program called MACDefender. This is in no way associated with the German company called MacDefender that runs the MacDefender.org website and writes geocaching and other GPS-related software.

In order for you computer to be infected by MACDefender, you must visit a poisoned website, allow the web browser to open files after the file downloads itself, and then enter an admin password in the installer. MACDefender then adds itself to the login items, displays a menu bar icon, and appears to be a legitimate antivirus program. The goal of the malware, however, is to scam users into paying for the program and possibly steal credit card numbers as well. To that end, it pops up notifications every few minutes that a virus has been found in an attempt to make the user think they're infected.

You should never let a tight budget stop you from protecting your computers with antivirus and spyware solutions. Windows provides some built-in security features and what's missing can usually be downloaded for free. The biggest security expense is usually on software suites like McAfee or Norton, but there are totally free and good security suites out there waiting for you to download.

For example, AVG Antivirus Free Edition is free for only personal use on home computers. It includes virus, spyware, and rootkit protection, and offers protection from social networking threats and a link scanner to display safety information on sites before you visit them. Microsoft Security Essentials is also free for personal use and free for businesses on up to 10 PCs. It includes protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits, and other malware. The network inspection system detects malware before they hit your computer.