About antivirus: Which is best??

Hi! Mitchel7,

 

This is probably a question, which we will all see/hear every year. Finding the best Antivirus may be tougher than the viruses they defend against. Naturally the Antivirus companies will say that they are the best. If I had a company, I would say I’m the best in the business too. It’s a marketing strategy. It worked for you didn’t it?

 

Those products that you mentioned are no doubt one of the best Antivirus's and are usually in the reviews. However, as new versions are released every year, these Antivirus try to topple each other every time. In addition, each website and/or tech magazines have their own set of tests, hence a certain Antivirus may be the best for them but not for the other.

 

In my opinion, choosing and recognizing an Antivirus software as “The Best” is entirely up to the user. In your case, it sounds like you go for computer resource usage because you mentioned that “ESET is the fastest one”.

 

That said, here are some of the top things that should be considered when choosing an Antivirus software:

 

1. What you are trying to protect – It is important to consider if you’re going to install an Antivirus to be used in an Office, Home or a Network. Different Antivirus have different capabilities and expertise. When you’re installing it for a network, for sure you need something that can handle good monitoring and remote management in your network.

 

2. Detection – A good Antivirus must be able to protect you against Trojans, Spyware, Rootkits, Keyloggers, Adware, Scareware and other malicious software, not just viruses.

 

3. Real – time protection / Firewall – It must be able to monitor and block any malicious software from getting in your PC in the first place. Other Antivirus are not that good in recognizing an intruder when it’s sneaking in to your PC.

 

4. Accurate and Thorough Scanning – It’s important that the Antivirus knows that what it sees is really a virus or a Malware as well as being able to scan software which are deeply hidden. It can be quite annoying if the Antivirus quarantines, blocks, or deletes some program that it’s not supposed to block. Some even have the option to scan your PC for vulnerabilities – ports/places where Malware can enter without getting detected.

 

5. User Interface – For a home user or not advanced, It is important that the Antivirus provide a user-friendly interface. Being able to easily configure and respond to alerts or warnings from the Antivirus can mean the difference from having a clean PC to reinstalling it.

 

6. Resource usage – It can be quite annoying if your PC starts up slowly and steadily slows down because of the Antivirus.

 

7. Anti Phishing, Anti banners, Email and IM Protection – Nowadays, just visiting a website and just opening mail and links from messenger programs can be dangerous for your PC. An Antivirus software should be able to protect you from these.

 

8. Installation – Some Antivirus have a protected installation or pre-installation scan. This helps the software to be installed properly and not get blocked or modified by a virus or Malware that is already in your PC even before installing the Antivirus software.

 

9. Cost – Of course value for the money is also a major thing to consider. We don’t want to be wasting money do we?

 

10. Reputation – If you hear/read about them a lot and constantly see them be in the top five, then that obviously means its performance is good.

 

I hope that these will help you in picking the right Antivirus. Make sure you check respectable sites on the Antivirus Software you want to install.

 

Good Luck!