During a time of year when it seems like we all spend waaaay too much on presents, holiday decorations and travel, among other things, it’s always nice to get a little something for free.

To that end, I thought I’d take a moment to point out a few free security offerings, courtesy of SearchSecurity.com contributor Peter Gregory, who you may recall produced our Security School lesson this year on Windows Vista intrusion defense, and in his spare time serves as chief of infosec and risk management at Concur Technologies. 

This week Peter offers up a helpful entry on his blog covering free information security tools and services. It’s got a little something for passengers and sailors alike: free antivirus, antispyware and anti-rootkit tools — which will help that distant cousin who will surely ask you over Christmas dessert why his AV-free PC is running so slow lately – and hardened security pros can have some fun with the file eraser and data encryption tools.

And did I mention all this was free?

A very merry Christmas and happy New Year everyone!