|
Which anti-virus software you use often comes down to
a question of familiarity - it is human nature to go with what
you trust and with so much marketing around these days the
choice isn't easy.
Here at Groby Computers Ltd we take the choice of anti-virus
software very seriously. A number of professional labs conduct
independant comparisons and performance testing of anti-virus
software and by examining their published results it is possible
to make informed choices.
There are a number of important things we look for when reviewing
this research and the choice of which is best will depend on
individual circumstances as well as the quality of the software
itself.
|
Firstly, antivirus software should be good at stopping viruses from
infecting computers. It seems obvious but even this simple perspective
is more complicated than it might first appear. Virus can infect computers
in different ways, from web pages, emails, infected memory sticks to
name but a few and these different methods need to be adequately
catered for before any antivirus product can claim success.
Bear in mind that the professional labs will test products against
around 2 million different viruses, trojans, downloaders, root kits and
other forms of
nastiness and it puts into perpective the challange faced
by the deveoplers of antivirus software.
Secondly, the antivirus software should not place too great a burden
on the computer it is trying to protect. From our point of view, what that
means for the average home PC is that it will probably need to be what
is known as a "single-engine" system. Some of the very top performers
gain an extra advantage by having 3 or even 5 "engines" but at the cost
of increased load on the computer and extra complexity.
|
