Opera announced today that they have partnered with Haute Secure to include top-notch threat protection in their next-generation browser. A new snapshot of Opera 9.5 was posted yesterday that was bundled with a new theme, but the integration with Haute does not appear to be in place yet.

Several months ago the highly-respected AV-Test.org ran a test to rank various antivirus applications. In that test they had 30 rootkits that were tested on both Windows XP and Vista. On Windows XP none of the seven antivirus suites could detect all of the rootkits, and only four of the 14 anti-rootkit tools proved to be 100% successful. Those aren't very good odds.

--WinRAR--

Over in our forum Max noticed that it was possible to get a free version of WinRAR compliments of PC Welt (the German edition of PC World Magazine). It's been nearly two years since a free version of WinRAR was being handed out, and it's coming back around once again. This time, however, you don't get the absolutely latest version of the app.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of McAfee software, but I know plenty of people who are running it because it's what came with their computer. Most of them have opted not to pay for subscription renewals because they don't believe that it is worth the money, which leaves them running out-of-date security software.

A few weeks back I finally broke down and bought the ESET Smart Security suite (review). I needed two licenses for it, and I decided to just buy the two-year subscription up front so that I could take advantage of the extra savings. In the end my total came out to $103.99, but it was worth it for two licenses and two years of protection from one of the best security companies around.

We recently wrote about the free firewall being offered by PC Tools, and they have yet another free security application for those of you who want all the protection you can get. It's called ThreatFire, and it runs alongside your existing antivirus software. With it your computer will be more able to detect malware before it has a chance to harm your computer.

ZoneAlarm decided to be generous today and offer their Anti-Spyware application at absolutely no cost for 24-hours. The program is only for Windows XP/2000, and it will rollback to the normal $19.95 price tag on November 14th at 7AM PST.

Eset is one of the most respected antivirus development companies, and is definitely one of my favorites. Earlier this year we informed you about the product line for their next generation antivirus solutions, which includes a standalone antivirus application and a security suite complete with firewall. Next Monday, November 5th, consumers will be able to purchase the new line of products.

A recent study by Antivirus developer McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that while people think their home computers are safe from viruses and malware, they're really not.  Over 90% of the people that participated in the study believed that they had antivirus or anti-malware software installed and that it was updating at least weekly.  As it turns out, only 51% of those people actually were protected.

Have you ever been on another computer and wished that you had an antivirus program? Maybe you were trying to clean up a computer for a friend, or maybe you received an email attachment while using a public computer? One thing is for sure, and it's that having the best antivirus is important, but there are times where you just need .