The Right Anti-Virus Solution

There is a great deal of confusion amongst individuals, businesses, and other organizations as to which Anti-Virus solution is right for them. On the outset, I would just like to say that no one Anti-Virus is perfect against every kind of a attack. Some AVs are better than others at fighting against Trojan viruses, while others are good at detecting root-kit viruses. Let’s go through various AV solutions for the home and the business/organization markets.

Home Anti-Virus

The home AV market is easier than most people think. A lot of people think they need to pay for an anti-virus solution in order to be protected better. My experience leads me to a different conclusion. I’ve tried a number of paid and free AV solutions, and I can safely suggest that for most people a free anti-virus will be sufficient. One of the most often questions I get asked is “If a free anti-virus works just as good as a paid one, then why do they offer it for free?”. That’s a valid question, and I tell them that most of the free AV programs out there either advertise to you, or they want to you upgrade to their paid version later on – which you don’t have to.

Here’s a list of the top three free anti-virus solutions that I think are very good for home use:

1. AVG Free Anti-Virus – My preferred choice for myself and my clients.
   Download here: http://free.avg.com
2. Avast Free Anti-Virus – A very solid and good choice for home users.
   Download here: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
3. Avira AntiVir Personal – Works great with the boot up CD when your system is inaccessible.
   Download here: http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Business/Organizational

Organizations have a different requirement for implementing AV solutions. As opposed to the home anti-virus solutions being free, I would recommend organizations purchase an AV solution as it would be coming with more support which their business requires. Typically organizations need robust AV solutions that come with multiple licenses and that have a customer support centre for customers to call when in need of help. Robust means that the AV solution should be fully integrated with the software components of the operating system, such that e-mail, downloads, firewall access, and software execution should all be under the control of the anti-virus. This approach may use a lot of system resources, but for businesses and other organizations it is critical to have computer systems as secure as possible. Multiple licenses are something that should be considered when purchasing an AV solution for your business/organization. Multiple licenses provide you the legal right to install the ant-virus software on as many computers as the license allows for. A call centre for the AV vendor should be present in case you need to call them up for any help regarding their software.

I would recommend the following Anti-Virus solutions for businesses and organizations:

1. Kaspersky Anti-Virus – Very robust and comes with multiple licenses.
2. Norton AntiVirus – Very good support system and good detection abilities.
3. ESET Nod32 Antivirus – A very resource friendly AV that has good detection abilities.