When you think about the number of viruses that you can catch just by walking around in public, you know you may need more than one remedy to cure them all. The same can be said about your computer system and the number of viruses that are streaming to it each and every day. The best way to look at the need for more than one antivirus program for your business is to consider how you handled your business before the computer age.
[Read also: The Essentials of Antivirus Protection]
Is Your Computer Well Protected?
You wouldn’t consider leaving your files lying out on the street and you would never think about storing your files in an open drawer at the local library. However, unless you have adequate online protection of your computer files, that’s exactly what you are doing. It seems that every day, if not several times a day, someone or some program is trying to hack into your files through malware, adware or by injecting your computer with spyware, often inside a Trojan horse. While many antivirus programs do a great job, not all of them can catch everything that gets in.
Even those with firewalls are not immune to virus infection, some of which can not only track your movements and steal information, they can cause physical damage to your computer. Additionally, with the increased use of portable systems linked to your computer, the potential for even more damage increases.
Features
When looking at your antivirus software consider the features it offers. Blended attacks and rootkits seem to be the new rage among hackers and not all software offers protection against these threats. The effectiveness of the software as well as its ability to understand the definition of viruses is another important consideration. Verify your software has the ability to be proactive in identifying a potential threat, being able to recognize the behavior patterns of viruses and stop them before they can attack your machine.
[Read also: 5 Worst Computer Viruses in History]
Another aspect of your software is how well it works on different scales. There is a big difference between virus protection for your home computer and that which is configured to protect a large corporation with several systems connected at once. Especially for those using cloud-based servers, the scale of the protection software is important.
System administrators are more likely to maintain your virus protection if it is based through a simple, central console. Its ease of use and configuration will better ensure it is updated regularly and should offer a no nonsense approach to how it is set up. Additionally, any antivirus software you use should offer full support and technical help if there is ever a problem, and not all software packages include the kind of help you might need.
Ensure Updating of Software
There is no such thing as a set-it-and-forget-it antivirus software program. That would be like going to a doctor that finished their education in the 1980’s and has no knowledge about current medical cures. Antivirus software should offer continued cures for all of the new viruses that are employed every day. One final consideration is that most quality programs are subscription based and you need to ensure the subscription doesn’t expire. If you have more than one antivirus program, ensure they are all updated and subscribed to before they expired.
[Read also: Why You Should Update Your Antivirus Software Frequently]
How many antivirus programs are you using? Do you think there’s a need for more than one antivirus program? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Before, I was using two antivirus at the same time but it occurred to me that the computer started behaving badly and since then, I haven’t tried to use two again. The power of most antivirus these days is not up to what the viruses has. May God help 🙂
No matter you’re using two antivirus software or only using one, just remember to update! That also helps 😛 Thanks for sharing your thoughts Olawale.
Yeah Only 1 antivirus is enough for your computer safety. It may yield in good processing speed but you have to make sure it is being updated regularly.
That’s right! We must make sure to update our antivirus software to keep our computers safe from the latest and newly released viruses. Thanks for the comment Gaurang.
Nice article. I’m using AVG Internet Security 2012 and it do perform well. Any anti virus suggestion I can use as my second option? Thanks
How can you have more than one anti-virus software installed? Don’t they tend to clash? Whenever I’ve tried to install additional antivirus software, I’d get a reminder to either disable or uninstall the current software to prevent an incompatibility.
Becca,
I’m not sure if they’ll clash but I think this article basically is trying to tell us to have a mixture of “security product” such as, antivirus, spyware/malware remover programs and firewall to better defend our systems from all possible security threats and not just about antivirus software alone.
I would back Becca up there, as I know that some anti-viruses can clash. They each think the other is acting suspiciously, and you get conflict!
Yes, having multiple antivirus softwares installed will lead to conflicts. Using an internet security suite offers you much more protection against malwares and spywares, internet intrusion, and phishing. Saves you the time and money of getting multiple softwares.
well, guys i don’t think you really need to use two anti-virus products to be secure!
one of the best things you could do is to switch to an alternate operating system like linux or macintosh.
as far as windows is concerned just use a quality anti-virus like bitdefender,avg,avast or kaspersky.
along with an anti-virus make sure to have a good firewall.some anti-virus products like avg have built-in
firewall protection.make sure to install one or two quality anti-spyware products like,spy-bot search and
destroy,superantispyware or spyware terminator.
and by the way, stay away from free games,torrents,porn,warez,crack software etc. and you will find yourself
pretty much secured!
I have Trend Titanium Security – a two-year cover. I used Microsoft Security Essentials but it wasn’t enough on its own. Although I continued with TTS and dropped MSE I had the niggling doubts one was not enough – then I changed my broadband provider to BT which includes McAfee. McAfee say I should drop one of the other antivirus programmes as it can cause problems… well, the pc’s a bit slower but I feel safe and that’s more important to me.
Thanks for sharing an informative article. Your tips and facts are really helpful to prevent the virus.