The tech industry is at timea a bizarre business, but it's not too often that a high profile security software guru is wanted for murder. As wild and crazy as it sounds, that sums up the situation surrounding John McAfee -- yes, THAT McAfee -- who is reportedly on the run from murder charges, and not for killing PC performance (ZING!). And guess what? Murder is only the tip of the iceberg.

While most of us were relaxing over the Labor Day weekend, the folks at McAfee were finishing up the security firm's second quarter Threat Report (PDF) for 2012. In it, McAfee Labs noted a 1.5 million increase in malware since the previously quarter, as well as a number of new threats like mobile "drive-by downloads" and using Twitter to control mobile botnets. All combined, McAfee detected the largest number of malware in four years.

Panda Security had its head in the cloud long before it became vogue to do so, and today marks the launch of Panda Cloud Antivirus 2.0, a free cloud-based consumer antivirus service. There are several reasons to upgrade if you're rocking a previous build, including the fact that this new release is fully compatible with Microsoft's Windows 8 Release Preview. It also supposedly scans much faster than before.

Check Point appears to be on a mission to prove you don't need to pay for full-fledged PC security, a motto that sits well with Maximum PC readers and enthusiasts in general. Starting today, you can download Check Point's ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 2013, purportedly "the most complete free Internet security solution for consumers," at absolutely no charge. You can't beat the price, but can you beat the security?