Softwares Download and Reviews: Antivirus Software: Is it worth buying one?

Antivirus Software: Is it worth buying one?
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Brian on 21/02/2009 04:15:00
 
I think all shall say “Yes” to the question unless you consider yourself a
subject for experimentations. Then are you thinking otherwise for your computer?
It is something that supports your current lifestyle and comparable to your own
teeth; you don’t realize how important they are until you lose them.
So get it straight: Staying unprotected and vulnerable is not something to be
proud of. There are hundreds spy-ware, viruses, worms and Trojans that prowl the
Internet who are looking for an opportunity to suck up every bit of information
about you. Your computer stores every vital statistics about you ranging from
your bank account number to your credit card details and staying unprotected
means you have the consent to make another person rich with your money. Even if
you don’t have them stored, a hacker can use your Internet account or use you
as a medium to spread malware to other computers and what’s more deadly, your
own email account can be hacked to spread pro-terrorism and other malicious
messages without you knowing it till cops ring your doorbell.
But you can’t fight a disease unless you know it and its symptoms. Therefore,
a crash-course on malware is necessary before proceeding any further.
Malware denotes any software that’s made to perform a malicious task. Viruses
and spyware come under it, so does the Trojans and worms. They are developed by
programmers with enough talents to take the cyber-world ahead but are inclined
more towards mischievous activities, which range from rendering all the files in
your computer corrupt and unrecoverable to deleting the master boot record.
However, such stuff doesn’t do anything more than infuriating you; what’s
more dangerous are malware like keyloggers that pick up every stroke you make on
the keyboard. When that happens, your passwords are not personal anymore;
neither is the information related to your identity and bank accounts. And the
worst – well, we spoke about them beforehand.
Therefore, it’s always better to stop such activities right at their onset -
even better, if such hackers can’t reach you. This is why the best anti-virus
programs are designed to keep you well hidden when you surf the net. That
reduces the chances of infection, unless you enter a virus-laden website or
download an infected file accidentally. Thanks to the firewalls; they know which
data to pass. However, if there still occurs an infection, your anti-virus
software shall be able to detect and eliminate/quarantine it automatically, thus
saving you from great misfortunes.
So before you spend your precious dollars for buying an anti-virus, make sure it
qualifies on the following grounds:
i.    It must be user-friendly and effective.
ii.    Must comprise a firewall with program and component control options in
both manual and automatic modes.
iii.    Must be able to identify and clean or quarantine viruses, with automatic
report generation capabilities.
iv.    Must be able to self-configure as per the user requirements.
And of course, there should be frequent updates available from the manufacturer;
you always need the ammo to go with the gun!