Antivirus Buying Guide: Choose the Best Antivirus For PC
Just like a virus infects the human body resulting in health issues; a computer virus infects a computer by disrupting its data, functionalities, etc. In this full-fledged techie environment, we possess a vast amount of personal data on our systems, along with other private information. Moreover, in this suspicious world of cyber attacks and threats, it has become of utmost importance to secure and protect our computer system from frauds and thefts.
Do you not feel the need for some software to protect your private information? Well, you need not worry! Our techies have already devised a method to accomplish the same! Antivirus Software is available in the market for many years. Here, we are going to cover maximum stuff related to Antivirus, inculcating its need, functioning, merits, etc.
What is Antivirus Software?
Antivirus software is a computer program designed specifically to prevent, search, detect and remove viruses and other malicious software like malware, spyware, Trojans, worms, etc. It is meant to protect your computer system from cyber-criminals and all the programs can scan your entire computer system to detect and remove viruses.
Why should you use an Antivirus Software?
With all the advanced technology and competition persistent in this world, frauds and damages can be encountered commonly. There exist cyber-criminals and youths seeking to breakthrough and exploit billion-dollar companies; this is where the role of an Antivirus software comes into the picture. It acts as an essential tool to help prevent such attacks. Although not every cyber attack can be prevented and not every intrusion into the system is meant to steal information or cause damage.
How does Antivirus Software work?
An antivirus software begins its work initially by checking your computer programs and then compares to the known types of malware. It scans your entire computer to monitor the behavior of various applications, compares specific bits of code against information present in its database. It detects a virus by finding the exact pattern duplicating in its database, which is then deleted or quarantined by the antivirus software.
There are three scanning detection processes performed by antivirus software:
- Specific Detection: It looks for malware using a particular set of characteristics.
- Generic Detection: Malware which are variants of known “families” or which are related by a shared code-base.
- Heuristic Detection: It looks for suspicious files that are known by scanning previously unknown viruses.
Post the scan of all the executable files; other program files pass through Defense + HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System). The unknown data are transferred to Defense + Sandbox, where they will be permitted to get executed in a restricted environment.
Features and benefits of an Antivirus Software
Let’s have a brief discussion on the features and merits of using antivirus software for your computer.
Features of Antivirus Software
Below listed are few features of antivirus software:
Full System Scans: Full System Scans are mandatory after the installation of antivirus software for the first time or when you have updated the software lately. It ensures zero viruses hidden in your system.
Background Scanning: Antivirus software scans the entire back-end file system of your computer, which is coined as on-access scanning. It safeguards your network by offering real-time protection from malicious attacks and threats.
Benefits of an Antivirus Software
Here is a brief discussion on a few merits of antivirus protector:
- Protection against online threats: A good antivirus software can block cyber threats from accessing the computer.
- Protection from identity theft: Spyware attacks can steal private information such as banking data, passwords, credit card credentials, social security numbers, etc. Antivirus is responsible for blocking the spyware from touching your computer’s data, enabling secure shopping and banking.
- Prevention of phishing attacks: Antivirus can protect the computer by preventing phishing attacks comprising unauthorized attempts by the third party to steal computer data.
- Protection from viruses: Antivirus performs its primary job of computer protection from viruses, malware, and other malicious threats.
- Firewall protection: Antivirus monitors suspicious data going in and out of the network through the Internet and blocks it from getting transmitted.
Types of Antivirus Software
Antivirus software is categorized into three categories, namely,
- System Monitoring Antivirus: This antivirus software protection can monitor computer systems and software for any behavior which is suspected by anomalous of the user. Alerts get popped up whenever a user attempts to access a large amount of data or tries to access an unknown site.
- Malware Signature Antivirus: Malware Signature Antivirus is responsible for detecting malware signatures, which are nothing but, digital fingerprints of malicious software. It scans for specific malicious codes, recognizes specific viruses and disables those programs.
- Machine Learning Antivirus: Machine Learning antivirus can limit the functioning of programs or computers if they appear to be suspicious. Machine Learning Detection makes use of algorithms to facilitate the broad scope of malware detection.
Factors to consider while choosing an Antivirus Software
Elaborating some of the factors which you must consider while purchasing an Antivirus software:
- Download Protection: You must select an antivirus software program that provides file download scanning.
- Compatibility: The antivirus software must be compatible with your computer. It is very crucial to purchase the correct version of Antivirus compatible with your system, as there are many versions available out there!
- Spyware/Malware scans: The best Antivirus also keeps an eye out for malware and spyware. These can cause a threat to your computer and steal personal information. A spyware/malware scanner can protect you from these hidden threats.
- Email Scanning: Email Scanning is a crucial feature of the best Antivirus. It can protect your computer from having its hard drive erased, or personal information disclosed. Spam emails and embedded links can cause computer attacks and threats.
- Privacy Policy: Always read the privacy policies of companies you want to purchase the antivirus software.
Free vs Premium Antivirus Software
Nowadays, PC’s generally come with pre-installed antivirus software suites. It depends on factors like the brand of PC and operating system installed in it. The antivirus software pre-installed is usually a trial version, belonging to a reputable company. People tend to buy good anti virus from third-party companies instead of extending trial version software. If the premium suite is not affordable, you can still go for pretty decent protection with the free version antivirus.
