Introduction
In the 21st century, it is almost impossible to imagine life without a personal computer. It made life so much easier – you can have all your personal information stored in one place at arm’s length. But together with this, arises the problem of malicious software aimed at stealing data or making your computer work worse.
Importance of Using Antivirus Programs
Even if you are a careful and smart user, installing an antivirus program on your computer is important for some reasons:
- It can prevent you from infecting your PC with a virus. You should keep in mind that you can get infected by simply going online and visiting a compromised website; you do not download a malware program for a purpose (Hoffman, 2013, para. 6). One more way to protect you from being infected is by blocking suspicious websites or at least warning you that the website may contain scumware.
- It is a good way to reduce the amount of spam.
- It can protect you from identity theft and spyware. Some viruses can steal your data including not only passwords or personal information but also financial data such as credit card or bank account numbers (Drew, 2013, para. 6-7). It also blocks phishing websites while you are browsing the Internet.
Main Features of Avast Free Antivirus
To guarantee a high level of protection of your data and computer, you do not necessarily have to spend much money. Today, there are a lot of free antivirus programs that are not worse than paid software. One of such programs is, for example, Avast Free Antivirus. Once you launch it, you are surprised with a nice interface – “clean, clear and configurable” (Williams, 2015, para. 14). What is also nice about Avast is that it scans your computer not only for malware programs but also system for unnecessary files and applications, network settings to identify security problems and analyzes the general performance of your computer (Rubenking, 2014, para. 5). This software is also really good at blocking malicious websites thus it provides reliable protection from downloading malware, but it is not as good at detecting and blocking phishing URLs.
Main Features of Panda Free Antivirus
One more good example of free antivirus software is Panda Free Antivirus. First of all, it is an app with a simple and intuitive interface that can be of great importance to first-time users. Panda, in the same way as Avast, is good at blocking malicious websites but has some troubles with detecting phishing URLs. What is nice about this antivirus is that it scans every flash drive you plugin and uses what is called “USB Vaccination” (Rubenking, 2015, para. 21) preventing malware detected on a flash drive from automatic launching. One more great feature is that it shows all active processes and defines whether they are dangerous or not and blocks the most malicious of them. Both Avast and Panda are very good in detecting and deleting malware.
Conclusion
So, you should always remember that it is of great importance to keep your computer and personal data safe by installing an antivirus program. Even free software can be useful and not worse than the paid ones.
References
About Avast. (2015). Web.
Drew, J. (2011). The Benefits of Having Anti-Virus Protection. Web.
Hoffman, C. (2013). HTG Explains: Why You Need an Antivirus on Windows, No Matter How Careful You Are. Web.
Panda: Company Profile. (2015). Web.
Rubenking, N. J. (2014). Avast Free Antivirus 2015. Web.
Rubenking, N. J. (2015). Panda Free Antivirus 2016. Web.
Williams, M. (2014). Best Free Antivirus Software 2015. Web.