I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I have bought a new laptop with no antivirus installed. I'm wondering how to choose an appropriate antivirus software to install.
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Measuring real-world antivirus performance is difficult to do because malware risk is hard to quantify. AV-Comparatives and AV-Test are two independent Antivirus testing organizations. They perform periodic tests from multiple features such as detection, performance, enterprise functionality, etc. Here is a summary report of AV performance for 2012 split into categories so you can chose what is best suited for you. Free AVs are good choices too because they provide all the basic features and the same signature database as the premium version. They lack extra features such as SPAM and phishing protection, firewall or parental controls. |
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What you want for software in general is that it:
Windows 8 comes with Microsoft's antivirus already included (it is called "Windows Defender"), which fulfills point 3 (you already paid for it, so it is technically "cheap") and point 2 (the software which is easiest to install is the software which is already installed). As far as I know, it also does the job, and since it is backed by a big company (Microsoft) which has a vested interest into this antivirus keeping on doing its job properly, I tend to think that it is a reasonable choice. For previous versions of Windows, the same antivirus is known as "Security Essentials" and can be downloaded and installed for free. It is also a reasonable choice. (I have used other antivirus in the past, but most had some irksome feature, such as "nagging" the user with ads for the full, non-cheap version. Also, this is only for Windows; the main OS on my laptop happens to be a Linux, which can safely operate without any antivirus.) |
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AVG Free 2013 has received positive reviews and rankings on independent lab tests. The latest Webroot and Norton(I suppose) has also scored well but are around $40 per year. If you're trying to avoid firewalls, stay away from 'Internet Security Suite' software and look specifically for Anti-Virus. The latest Bit-Defender scores were pretty good according to AV-TEST. http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/producer/bitdefender/ The most effective thing you can do is keep your software, especially web browers+plugins(java, adobe *, etc) up to date and be mindful of the sites that you visit. Try running firefox, adblock, and NoScript if you're really concerned. |
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You can try http://www.av-comparatives.org/ . I really can't vouch that they aren't paid to make certain companies look good, however they have comprehensive reports that show which AV's picked up on what. Seems bias-free. Some basic ones that might help: -Microsoft Security Essentials -MalwareBytes -AVG All free, and will certainly get the job done! |
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Antivirus is fine but not too good when it comes to prevent security the right way. Install a good antivirus (Personally I like Kaspersky, and that is what I am using), and monitor what you really is doing considering there are many 0Day exploits coming which no Antivirus provider would be able to detect early unless it goes into wild. So :
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You should know that antivirus cannot block all of viruses. So you should definitely, first and most important thing is to BE CAREFUL while you are surfing. Secondly, I offer you to use behaviour based tools. My favourite one is, Zemana. With one word, it is awesome. My third suggestion is to use SandBoxie. If a virus enters your computer, it couldn't copy itself to other places in PC, and at the end of the day you can just delete it. I have used many antiviruses but Emsisoft is the one making me feel safest. |
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