Choosing the right Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Solution

March 2007

There’s many debate on which solution serves as the BEST solution on whether your defense mechanisms such as AVG Anti-virus, Symantec Norton Anti-Virus, F-Secure, BitDefender, ETrust CA Anti-Virus etc. However, let’s first look at what Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protection really means.

Anti-Virus / Anti-Spyware details in general:
-Cost
-Easy of Use
-Effectiveness
-Updates
-Feature Set
-Ease of Installation
-Help and Support

As described above you can identify that there are a lot of details to look out for in determining which solution best fits your needs. These details will either make or break you, simply said. For example, I used to be a firm believer in Norton Anti-Virus for the longest time until they started to incorporate too many features (even while configured to disabled) slows the computer to a halt. Today I use AVG Anti-virus with the Spyware protection, although it’s the freeware edition it does the job without all those extra features.

“Does the job” - you maybe asking yourself does doing the job really matter? Yes and No, it is possible that any one anti-virus / spyware program may find something that another program may not. And on the same token it is also true that no matter which program will result in NOT a 100% guarantee of virus removal. So, now your left with what’s the point? The point is any anti-virus or spyware removal program in general is better than no protection at all.

Choosing the right anti-virus and spyware defense mechanism will mainly depend on your purpose, budget, personal preference, or another detail described above.

Further Reading:
TopTenREVIEWS - 2007 Anti-Virus Software Report
PC Magazine – Reviews and Price Comparsions
Wikipedia List of Antivirus Sofware
Wikipedia Antivirus Sofware