Most Internet providers offer virus protection. But is it enough? Chances are your business is not adequately protected. The good news is it doesn’t take thousands of dollars to make sure your data isn’t at risk. It just takes some good, reliable virus and malware protection. Before we get into the details of what makes these brands top of the industry, we’d like to point out one of the most effective things you can do to enhance your business’ security is to backup your data regularly; that way you always have a restore point.
Also please note, more is not better. Don’t download a host of free options thinking the more protection you have the better. Choose one brand and use that one exclusively. Often antivirus software is not compatible with one another and this incompatibility will block effectiveness and could allow viruses access to your system.
The prices quoted below are from the vendor’s site at the time of this post.
Top Antivirus And Malware Software
Avast (Free Or $34.99)
Bitdefender ($54.99)
McAfee Antivirus Plus ($59.99)
Webroot Secure Anywhere ($39.99)
Avast is a top name in software protection and they offer a wide range of products, both free and paid. It recently bought one of its top competitors, AVG. One of the things many users like about Avast Pro Antivirus is how it monitors your subscriptions and updates them when they are out-of-date. This reduces your risk of vulnerability. It scored perfectly on protection tests, finding and blocking 23,000 malware threats.
Con: The malware scan causes your computer to run noticeably slower, still a slower computer is better than a hijacked one.
Bitdefender scored well in independent lab tests in all aspects (including protection, performance, and usability) and compatibility with Windows 10. It boasts effective ransomware protection, a two-way firewall, and comes with extras you don’t see from a lot of its competitors at this price including a password manager, secure browser, and file shredder.
Con: the scan took longer than most of the others tested.
A household name when it comes to antivirus protection, McAfee is a solid performer. It includes a vulnerability scan and secure deletion. One of the most defining benefits of McAfee is that a single license covers all of your electronics — including laptops, phones, tablets on Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android operating systems.
Con: Mac and iOS support are minimal and the firewall is not fully protected.
Webroot is the smallest and fastest antivirus around because it uses very little RAM. It’s ideal for power users and it’s preferred by gamers for this reason. It doesn’t slow your system. The product exists solely in the cloud for optimum and speedy performance.The company also dedicates quite a bit of developer time on recovering ransomware encrypted files. Although independent testing on this has been limited compared to some of the other competitors, it does a decent job at the recovery process in initial discovery.
Prevention is one of the best protections. Don’t increase your business’ vulnerability because you’re too busy to protect it. Contact CIO Tech today to find out how managed IT services can benefit your organization for much less than you think.
