Computers have transformed almost every aspect of life, from helping students to learn as well as monitoring patients in hospitals, to regulating critical manufacturing processes. The increasing dependence on computers and gadgets has also brought an increase in cyberthreats including malware, viruses and ransomware. Antivirus software is designed to recognize these threats and stop their destruction of your PC or stealing your personal information.
When you are choosing an antivirus program it is important to look at the ability to scan for viruses, whether it has a firewall, and how it does in independent laboratory tests. You may also consider the customer support, how often the program updates and how many devices it can secure. Certain programs, such as Norton include additional features that help ensure your privacy online and help prevent identity theft.
Top programs offer multiple protection options. They include heuristic detection which looks for signs that are typical of malware or viruses and signature matching, which compares files against a list of known malicious codes. Some programs use sandboxing to block suspicious files in an environment that is secured and protected from any harm.
Some of the best antivirus software is available for free. However, they may not have the same features as paid alternatives. For instance, Bitdefender’s free version performed very well in our tests and has a firewall. However, its premium version includes parental controls along with a file shredder as well as a password manager. Malwarebytes, whose free version received top marks in the AV Test for 2023, was not able to pass our usability test. Intego Mac Internet Security X9 provides a powerful combination of tools (VirusBarrier and NetBarrier) that caught and killed the most malware-related threats in our test.