There are a lot of factors to take into account when you’re trying to select the best antivirus solution for your needs. With the security of your data, digital identity and financial transactions at stake, it’s worthwhile investing some time in assessing each antivirus product.
Furthermore, if you make extensive use of the Internet, email, messaging and other web services, it’s important to consider a solution that includes Internet security software and technologies that can make your online activities much safer.
Criteria to help you get the best virus protection
Unfortunately, not all antivirus products provide a reliable, usable solution that delivers an adequate level of protection against malware. When measured against the following criteria, even the market’s top 10 antivirus solutions may achieve very different scores:
- Reliability
Even the most thorough antivirus solution can prove to be absolutely useless if it conflicts with other software that’s running in your computer. If these conflicts lead to a malfunction or temporary suspension in the antivirus protection processes, that could leave you vulnerable. - Usability
If the day-to-day operation of an antivirus solution requires special skills, it may be impractical for many users. Any antivirus product that is awkward to use, asks the user complex questions or needs the user to make difficult decisions, is likely to increase the chances of ‘operator errors’. In some cases, if the antivirus software is too difficult to run, the user may simply disable it. - Comprehensive protection
An antivirus solution should deliver constant protection for all computer domains, all types of files and all network elements that could be subject to attack by a computer virus or other malware. The program should be able to detect malicious code and also protect all channels or entry points to the computer — including email, the Internet, FTP and more. - Quality of protection
Whether you need an Apple or Windows antivirus security solution, each needs to be able to operate in an aggressive environment that is constantly changing — with new computer viruses, worms and Trojan viruses that can be much more complex than previously known malware, and may include new ways of avoiding the actions of antivirus programs. Quality of protection partly depends on the following:
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