Are you trying to find the best antivirus protection for Windows or Mac? There are many options out there and they are not all equal. Having an antivirus on a computer is something that has always been considered essential for Windows users, and is now starting to become important for Mac users as Apple products are becoming more popular. No matter what kind of computer you own, and whether it’s a desktop or laptop, you should have a quality security program. There are even antivirus apps for smartphones and tablets these days.
Having protection from viruses minimizes the amount of “damage control” you have to do to clean up a mess caused by malware attack. It can also prevent you from having to pay money for ransomware. Don’t forget about phishing – there are still cyber criminals doing everything they can to scam people and profiting.
Virus scanners are obviously things to look for when choosing the right AV program. Reactive scanning is important because it scans new programs or files before they are opened. There is also the full system scan, when the AV goes through every last file and folder on your device in order to find anything suspicious and potentially harmful.
Of course, scans cannot be truly effective if the program doesn’t even know what it is looking for. This is why any antivirus you consider should come with a database of known viruses and threats, and that database should be updated frequently with the newest threat definitions. Updates should be automatic as well – you should never have to manually update your antivirus protection software (although it’s still good to have the option of scheduling updates).
Antivirus Protection by Behavioral Analysis
Some of the superior programs have “behavioral analysis” technology. This means that it will detect suspicious behavior from files even if the file isn’t found in its database. While this is a good thing for the most part, there is the downside of false positives. You don’t want your antivirus confusing genuine programs as malware and trying to block it from you. So when reading reviews and making comparisons, try to find out if a particular program has issues with false positives.
A few other things to look for with an antivirus suite include ransomware protection, a file shredder, firewall, browser protection, and a password manager. Some premium security suites also include a VPN service and parental controls.
Whatever it is you’re looking for exactly, Avast Antivirus protection is always a great choice. You can download it for free on Windows, although you might want to consider upgrading to the premium version.