Computers have transformed almost every aspect of life, from helping students to learn how to learn, to monitoring patients in hospitals, and regulating critical manufacturing processes. The increased dependence on computer devices has also led to a rise in cyberthreats, like malware, viruses and ransomware. Antivirus software is designed to spot these threats and stop them from damaging your PC or stealing personal information.
When selecting an antivirus program it is important to look at its ability to scan for viruses as well as whether it has a firewall and how well it performs in independent lab tests. You may also consider the quality of its customer service, how often the program updates and the number of devices it is able to secure. Certain programs, like Norton come with additional features that can help you secure your identity and protect your privacy online.
Top-rated programs offer a variety of security options. These include heuristic identification which searches for behaviors that are typical of viruses or malware, and signature matching which matches files against a database of known malicious code. Some programs employ sandboxing in order to isolate suspicious files in a virtual environment that is sealed and where they cannot do any harm.
Many of the best antivirus programs are free, though they may not offer as many additional features as paid-for alternatives. Bitdefender’s premium edition comes with parental controls, a file shredder and password manager, but its free version scored highly and also comes with a firewall. Similar to that, Malwarebytes’ free version received top marks in AV Test for 2023 but failed in our test of usability. Intego Mac Internet Security X9, however, provides a powerful combination of tools (VirusBarrier and NetBarrier) that killed and slowed the majority of malware threats during our test.
