How to Analyze an Anti-Virus ?

It is vital to properly analyze an anti-virus program before you decide to spend your hard-earned cash on one--after all, it will be a vital line of defense for your system. There are a number of factors you should consider when looking at an anti-virus in order to ensure that you buy a product that can serve all your needs, from battling spyware to a money-back guarantee in case of disappointment.

Instructions

Look at how much the anti-virus will cost. Different products can range from $39.99 (McAfee's cheapest home-security package, September 2010) to over $60 (Kaspersky Pure, September 2010.) There are also free anti-virus programs on the market, but they can be less reliable and offer less customer support.


Consider the level of support the anti-virus software offers. This will be outlined among the features on the back of the box or on the product's website. An ideal anti-virus product will offer live chat support, no-charge telephone support and email support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Make sure the anti-virus software is compatible with your version of Windows. As an example, the latest iteration of Kaspersky anti-virus is not compatible with a Windows operating system as recent as Windows 2000, so make sure your choice is supported by your version of Windows.


Ask whether your chosen anti-virus software will receive regular updates. This is vital to ensuring your anti-virus stays up to date in the fight against new malicious files. Regular updates are essential, as viruses and spyware are always evolving.

Check whether your choice includes anti-spyware capabilities. A good program will fight threats from viruses, Trojans and worms as well as protecting your computer against easier-to-spot viruses.


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How to Analyze an Antivirus ?

With a wide variety of products to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which anti-virus program is best for you. Consider performance, ease of use and the quality of customer support when analyzing an anti-virus product. Internet surfing habits should also be taken into account. For example, someone whose teenage children use the family computer to access peer-to-peer networks might need a more robust security program.

Instructions

Read the description of features on the anti-virus to determine if the program's features are suited to your individual needs. Features offered can vary considerably. Some programs, for example, may offer email and instant-messaging protection. Others have the ability to detect as yet unidentified viruses based on their behavioral profiles, and to root out sophisticated forms of malware, such as rootkits, which disguise themselves within system files. If you are worried about spyware being installed on your computer, check if the anti-virus software offers additional protection against spyware.

Check out how well the program performs. An anti-virus program's performance is determined by how effective it is at detecting and removing viruses and preventing them from being installed on a clean system. If a program has won a lot of awards, been certified by a security company, such as West Coast Labs, and received favorable reviews, it should effectively protect your computer from viruses and other forms of malware.

Seek expert opinion. Established security websites often test and compare anti-virus software products for performance, features, ease of use and customer support. Such impartial performance tests and reviews are made freely available to help someone to make an informed choice. They also enable people to make quick side-by-side comparisons of security products, to determine which offer the features that best suit their needs, as well as the level of computer resources they may require.

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How to Evaluate Anti-Virus Programs

The security software industry is a billion-dollar industry. According to a 2009 article published in The New York Times, the leading security software company, Symantec, made approximately $1.8 billion in 2008 alone. With such a massive market, many software companies are developing antivirus programs. Consequently, choosing an antivirus program can be a confusing task. Fortunately, there are several simple questions that you can ask yourself in order to make the task more manageable.

Instructions

Write the names of several antivirus programs that you are considering across the top of a sheet of paper or spreadsheet. Consult the various manufacturer homepages and free trials of the software in order to gather the following information.


Determine the cost of the programs. Several antivirus programs, such as Windows Defender, AVG Free Anti-virus and BitDefender Free Edition, are free. The advantage of a free antivirus program is obviously the cost. The main disadvantage is a lack of technical support and often reduced functionality. The price of an antivirus program may or may not be important to you. However, you should note the price of each antivirus program so that you can clearly see the differences.


Use free trials or demos of each program to find out which programs are easy to use. The importance of this depends on your level of computer knowledge. Mark on your paper or spreadsheet which antivirus program is easiest to use.


Investigate each antivirus program's technical support. Most antivirus programs will offer some level of technical support. However, the kind of technical support offered is important. For example, does the antivirus program supply a telephone number that you can call or just an e-mail address? If it supplies a telephone number, can you use it 24 hours per day? Mark which antivirus program offers the best technical support.


Check out the antivirus program's detection rate. In order to be effective, an antivirus program needs to detect a large majority of the viruses that it is confronted with. Antivirus programs that have a good detection rate have received the Checkmark Certification. Visit the Westcoast Labs homepage (see Resources) to see whether the antivirus program you are considering has received the Checkmark Certification. Mark on your chart which antivirus program has received this certification.


Try out the program's update features. An antivirus program that is not up to date is useless against new threats. Most antivirus programs can be updated manually. Some antivirus programs update themselves automatically every day. Place a mark under the antivirus program that offers the best update features.


Add up all of the marks to determine which antivirus program received the most check marks. If there is a tie between two antivirus programs, consider reading a review about each program from a reputable technical website, such as CNET or PC World.


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The Best Antivirus Software for 2011

Each and every laptop person knows how necessary it's to have the perfect antivirus installed on his/her PC or laptop. At present, there are extra viruses than antivirus software. Amongst them, few actually dangerous viruses can severely injury your laptop or PC. You need to also know that are the very best and handiest anitvirus software. Let us take a look at few of the very best antivirus 2010.

Best Antivirus 2010 Evaluations

BitDefender Antivirus 2010
Not many people find out about this good antivirus. The BitDefender antivirus proves that it is a higher performing antivirus and the most effective towards virus safety and malware safety (Malwares are laptop viruses, spywares, worms, trojans, etc.). It's now progressively being known as top antivirus software 2010 amongst greatest antivirus 2010. The makers of this antivirus has made its person interface extra consumer friendly, and easy to understand. It has proven glorious actual-time protection and low resource usage. It can be rated amongst the very best antivirus for Mac. It is priced at approx. $25.

Kaspersky Antivirus 2010
Kaspersky is amongst most popular antivirus software. It has proved itself as the most effective promoting antivirus software program time and over again. The most recent version of Kaspersky antivirus brings out new and improved protection mechanism in opposition to computer viruses. The newest version is powerful and effective. It gives a variety of options like anti-adware, anti-rootkit, e-mail scanning, IM protection, trojan safety, worm safety, etc. This makes it very effective towards viruses and malwares. It may be amongst one of the best antivirus for home windows 7. You will get this software program for approx. $40.

NOD32 AntiVirus Model 4.2
The NOD32 antivirus is relatively a newer antivirus software, and slowly it's being thought of as the very best antivirus software. Its consumer interface is very easy and straightforward to understand. By default it presents the Normal Mode for its users. They've additionally received an Superior Mode possibility for advanced users as it provides many extra options against virus protection. It's got excellent reviews and it can be relied upon. It's a robust contender for best antivirus 2010. It is priced at approx. $40.

Panda Antivirus Pro 2010
Panda antivirus is amongst the previous pc security antivirus software and for the reason that beginning it has proved to be efficient towards viruses and malware. The newer model of the software program has been improved and made much sophisticated. Few checks performed on this software program revealed wonderful real-time safety and wonderful firewall protection. Its general system usage was very much less as compared to other antivirus software. You can get the new Panda antivirus for approx. $50.

Microsoft Safety Essentials
Amongst high free antivirus software program the Microsoft Security Essentials tops the list. It was released by Microsoft last year and it's proving to be one of the best free antivirus. What makes this product special is that, it is completely free and there's no paid upgrade to this software. Another best part about this product is that, you can get it not only for dwelling use but in addition for business purposes. Sure, you may get this antivirus for all your PCs at work with out breaking any law. And being freely obtainable doesn't suggest that it isn't effective. This antivirus has been tested again and again, and it proves to be very effective against viruses and malwares. It can be the very best free antivirus software program 2010. Please note that Microsoft Safety Necessities will only work on licensed and genuine copy of Windows.

So this was a small record of few finest antivirus 2010. It is extremely important for you to get the best antivirus, in an effort to protect your system against attainable threats. You can either get a paid software or the very best free antivirus software. And right this moment, most of our work is being done on computer systems and use of Web is also ever growing, all of this simply makes our programs more inclined to virus attacks. Getting the best antivirus is not going to solely defend our computers but may even usher in peace of mind for us.

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