Peoii’s Place

Now that we know you should do some good research into the products you use, lets start off our breakdown of security with the most common tool, the Anti-Virus software. There are many many solutions out there, ranging from the free tools that give you some protection, to the industrial tools that give you most anything you want. What tool is best for you? Well, that really depends heavily on what you’re doing with your system. It’s true that nothing can replace a good piece of anti-virus software on your computer, but what is it you really need? Ahh, this question requires some more thought put into it. So as a basis for discussion, we’re going to take the following into consideration when looking at anti-virus software:

1. How much does it cost?
2. Does it guard all the time, or is it an on-demand system?
3. How much of my computers power is it going to take up?
4. Do I really need what it’s offering?
5. How easy is it to keep it up to date?

The answer to the first question really comes down to the old saying of “you get what you pay for.” And it’s true, there are many free solutions out there, but don’t expect them to give you the ease of use and convience of other, more expensive, software. Keeping anti-virus software up to date is a very costly thing indeed, so if they’re not charging you for their service, you’re most likely not getting the same quality of service as some other source may provide. But then again, this is only one part of the equation, lets go on to the next question.

_{Norton AntiVirus}

On-Demand systems may seem nice, as they’re not tieing up a part of your system resources the entire time your computer is booted, however, there are drawbacks. Without resident protection (always on), you’re vulnerable to viruses getting onto your computer, and starting to spread. If you have a resident protection enabled piece of software, most will stop the virus from even infecting your files in the first place, and that makes sure you are as protected as can be. A good piece of anti-virus software should also check your email as it’s being downloaded, that’s another huge benefit of resident protection programs as about 80% of the viruses out there are email based. It’s well worth the resources, especially in this day and age of power computers being so cheap, to keep a resident anti-virus software package running on your system at all times. You’ll thank yourself if you ever do winde up running across a virus that you had it, and it will save you a world of headaches later on down the line.

So now that we know you really want a resident protection program running on your computer, the question arises, “how much of my resources is this really going to take up?” Well, that varies greatly from product to product, and not even the same brands have the same resource usage. For instance, Norton Systemworks takes up quite a bit more resources in my experience than Norton Anti-Virus alone does. Both have anti-virus scanning in them, but because Systemworks does more than just anti-virus, it’s taking up a more resources, and slowing your system down just a little bit more in most cases. This brings us to our next question.

_{Panda AntiVirus}

Anymore it seems the big thing to bundle software packages into one big package that aims to be the be-all-end-all of solutions. This happens with Office Suites (such as Microsoft Office), and security programs (such as Norton Systemworks) alike, and sometimes they can be a very good thing, and a huge cost savings. However, in the world of security, it’s my opinion that you should get exactly what you need, and no more. Why? Because the more things that you have on your system that might potentially be doing the same job, the more likely it is for a conflict to arise between the two pieces of software, and that can cause more problems than anything else. Another good reason is that the individual tools typically do a better job at what they do than their bundled counterparts. Sometimes companies take out features in the stand alone version in order to make the bundle seem less intimidating, and that means you’re paying more for something that has less of what you were originally buying it for! That’s definately no good.

_{McAfee Virus Scan}

Finally we come to the last consideration, how easy is it to keep the software up to date? Lets face it, everyday there are probably at least 20 new viruses that hit the open field, so simply buying the software, installing it, and forgetting about it will simply not do. You need to make sure you keep your software up to date with the latest virus definitions, so that it can track down and destroy even the most modern of virus. So when looking for a good piece of software, you should consider how easy it is to keep this piece of software up to date. Fortunately, most modern commercial solutions have built-in auto-updaters that will keep the software up to date for you, which is a great thing. Unfortunately they charge you for this service, and while most include a 1 year license for free upgrades, after that, you’ll be paying a yearly upgrade cost to keep the software running. Is it worth it? Yeah, I’d definately say it is, at least for 1 years worth of renewals. Then I’d say it’s best to go out and buy the next years release, so you’re in effect re-buying the software every-other-year. Why? Because that insures you’re running a reasonably current version of their software, and with each new version, the resource usage tends to drop, and the engine tends to get more powerful. So your system can maintain at a very low risk of a virus infection.

So that about sums up Anti-Virus software, but what software packages should you be looking at? Here are some recommendations that I’ve found over time to be among the best anti-virus software in the field: