Do You Need Antivirus Software Anymore?

Ask the question “Do I need to run antivirus software?” and you’re likely to get a lot of strong worded responses one way or the other.

If you’re the one asking this question, the answer is probably “yes.” The full answer is a bit more complicated as antivirus software is but one ingredient in the recipe for security. Home and small business users will want to take note of this, because you are the people who tend to be on the lax end of PC security: Threats come from multiple sources, so you have to maintain multiple forms of protection. Multiple forms of protection does not mean running multiple copies of antivirus software. I see this from time to time on family and friends’ computers, with the proud claim “Nothin’ gets by me! Look at all the stuff it catches on a daily basis!” I’ll look at the logs and see a bunch of warnings about Norton Antivirus detecting suspicious activity from McAfee Antivirus, McAfee blocking Norton due to suspicious Internet traffic, or both of them failing because they’re trying to scan a file at the same time. Run only one antivirus package at a time. You’ll be better off and enjoy a much faster computer.

Multiple forms of protection DOES mean “keep a well rounded approach to all of your computer’s systems.” Here’s some things to consider when thinking about Internet Security: Read more of this post