Computers have changed almost every aspect of our lives, from helping students learn as well as monitoring patients in hospitals and controlling critical manufacturing processes. The increased dependence on computer devices has also led to an increase in cyberthreats like malware, viruses and ransomware. Antivirus software is designed to identify these threats and prevent their destruction of your PC or stealing your personal data.
When you are choosing an antivirus program take into consideration the capabilities of its virus scanner and whether it comes with a firewall, and how it performs in independent laboratory tests. You may also consider its customer support and how often it updates itself and the number of devices it is able to secure. Some programs, like Norton also have additional features to secure your online privacy and help prevent identity theft.
The best programs provide a variety of protection options. They offer heuristic detection which looks for signs that are typical of viruses or malware and signature matching that compares files to a list of known malicious code. Certain programs also employ sandboxing, which separates suspicious files and runs them in a closed virtual environment where they can’t cause harm.
Many of the best antivirus programs are available for free, but they may not have as many extra features as paid-for alternatives. Bitdefender’s premium edition comes with parental controls, a file shredder and password manager, but its free edition scored well and includes a firewall. Malwarebytes which is free and was a top performer in our AV Test for 2023, was not able to pass our test of usability. Intego Mac Security X9 is a an effective combination of tools such as VirusBarrier and NetBarrier. They was able to identify business antivirus software and eliminate the majority of malware-related threats during our test.