The Importance of Anti-virus & Anti-malware Software

If you are a Microsoft Windows user, like most people, chances are good that you have experienced the frustration of having a computer virus. Viruses can be obtained many ways. The most common way is through an email attachment. When you receive an email that contains a virus as an attachment, and you open that attachment, the virus will then install itself onto your computer, and will then usually exploit your Address Book to send an email (from your email address) to all of your contacts. This is unfortunate, as all of your contacts will receive an email that they think is from you.

Another way to obtain a virus is to visit a website which has been hacked and infected with a virus that will then secretly download itself onto your own computer.

Regardless of how viruses are spread, the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) is especially vulnerable for two reasons: a) it is the widest-used OS in the world, and virus programmers and hackers know that a virus programmed for Windows will do the most damage; and b) Microsoft Windows has been known, among technology experts, to have many security holes which were unintentionally created during its development.

This is why having a good ant-virus program is so important. However, you may be wondering, "how do I know which program to choose?" This is a good question. There are several programs available, some of which are better than others. The following are some well known antivirus programs and my brief review. I plan to add more to this article in the near future. If you want me to cover a specific program that I have not mentioned yet, please make a comment.

1. Grisoft's AVG AVG is my number one choice for virus protection. It is simple, does not take up much system resources, updates by itself, and even alerts you if a website is dangerous to visit. System resources includes total hard drive space, memory used, and processor usage. AVG is good because it is not a hog and does not slow your computer down like some other antivirus programs. Best of all, AVG is free for individuals. If you are an individual who owns a personal computer, you can download it and use it for free (i.e. the computer that you want to install AVG onto is not owned by a company, church, school, or other organization). Bear in mind, however, that the License Agreement forbids any organization to use the free version of AVG. Learn more and download at http://www.avg.com.
2. Trendmicro Check back soon for more information on this suite of programs. Learn more and download at http://www.trendmicro.com.
3. Symantec's Norton Anti-virus and McAfee In the Technology Services office where I have worked that past few years while obtaining my B.A., we have a running joke about the "Norton virus" and the "McAfee virus." Norton and McAfee come by default with many new computers purchased from Dell and other computer manufacturers.

So you might ask, "Then these are good programs, right?" Well, I would answer yes and no. Yes, they get the job done by catching and stopping viruses. No, they are not very good programs because they take up way too many system resources (in my opinion), meaning they slow a computer down too much, and use to much memory. They are also hard to uninstall and do not make the process very easy to do. Learn more and download at http://www.symantect.com and http://www.mcafee.com.

Check back soon to read reviews on more anti-virus and anti-malware programs! Need More Help? Learn more about our services and what we can do for you.