Often my friends ask me why I had changed my antivirus so often. Its quite hard to find the antivirus which is right for you.
A good anti virus should meet this criteria:
- Lightweight
- Fast Detection Rate
- Powerful scan
- Multi-tasking
- Flexible
- Reliable
Getting all the features in this criteria is not easy. Most antivirus lack one or more of the things a good antivirus needs.
Some antivirus may work really well, but the problem is that they slow down the computer. That is done by every antivirus. All antivirus slow down the computer. In fact, if you’re using IE5 or IE6 then you’ll notice that your download speed from the internet slows down by 80% after installing an antivirus. That’s one reason why many people said the older versions of IE(internet explorer) were slow. The actual fact was that the browser is not much compatible with the antivirus. That’s what you can expect from an old browser. If you switch to the latest version of IE, you’ll realize that its the same before and after installing the antivirus. It is ever slow 
Why do you need an antivirus ?
This question is often asked. A good antivirus is quite costly. When you know that you don’t surf the net much, and theres a very low chance of you getting a virus, why spend so much on an antivirus ?
The reason is simple. It saves you from a headache in case any virus enters. Its perfectly all right if a virus enters your computer an destroys it The problem starts if the virus spreads to the hardware you use such as CD’s, pendrives, etc. Or worse, it can even be sent to your friends computer by IM file transfer.
Once a virus affects your computer, its not easy to clean it. Its much easier to prevent this virus. Thats why so many people use antivirus nowadays. Everyone has sensitive information which they cant afford to lose.
How to test your antivirus ?
Its really a difficult job downloading a virus and testing your antivirus The problem is, if your antivirus is not good enough, the virus will kill your computer before you can finish testing
To avoid this, Eicar had created a test virus which is perfectly harmless, but at the same time is detected by an antivirus as a deadly high potential virus. This virus will do nothing, but an antivirus which scans this will say that this virus falls under the most harmful category.
Just what we need to test an antivirus. Here’s a video of me making the Eicar Virus File. This file got detected by Microsoft Security Essentials even before I scanned it manually:
The antivirus I’m using presently has everything I need. Its light, fast, powerful and reliable. Though its multi-tasking and flexibility is poor. See the video for yourself to know why I use Microsoft Security Essentials. Best of all, this antivirus comes free.
After Security Essentials, my next favorite is Kaspersky.
How should I choose my antivirus
- Make sure it follows the above criteria.
- Make sure it doesn’t disturb you uselessly
- Make sure it recognizes the software you use
- Make sure it meets all your needs, different people need different kind of antivirus
Should I change my antivirus
Sometimes you may not be satisfied with the antivirus you’re using. If you want to change your antivirus, then check this first:
- Does it have better features
- Does it have better compatibility
- Does the user reviews speak well about the antivirus
Where can I get a good antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials is available free of cost in the Microsoft website:
Microsoft Security Essentials
This antivirus works excellently with Windows 7 and Vista, and quite fairly with Windows XP.
How should I know whether my antivirus is good
Just try the Eicar Virus Test. I had done it saving the file in notepad as a text file. Even before I scanned the virus was detected. That’s the special feature of Microsoft Security Essentials. It is light and at the same time has real time protection. If your antivirus can do this then you can bet yours is as good or even better than Microsoft Security Essentials.
These are just my subjective views, but I think most people will have similar views…..
Siddhanathan Shanmugam (Siddhu) is an amateur blogger presently studying in High School.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article but these days! Microsoft Security essential is doing the job for me, Greatly satisfied with it
“In fact, if you’re using IE5 or IE6 then you’ll notice that your download speed from the internet slows down by 80% after installing an antivirus. That’s one reason why many people said the older versions of IE(internet explorer) were slow. The actual fact was that the browser is not much compatible with the antivirus.”
Oh! I never knew this thing :O. Agree with you that MS secuirty essential is really a great AV. I am using since its launch date and didn’t get any problem yet. BTW Norton 09 is also good, but the thing is you need atleat 2gb ram to run it otherise your PC would be slowed down.
Siddu, its a nice post. me choose free antivirus , avira is a better option.
Microsoft Security Essentials is the best AV I have ever used, use least available resources.
Nice to read the article here
@Mad Geek
Thanks for the information
Great write up. You have covered entire thing .. worth sharing
No doubt MS Security Essential is the best antivirus for MS machines. I use it on my netbook and gives me some nice performance without any hassle.
I use mcafee. Works good for me.
I presently don’t have any anti-virus software installed in my computer…
Ssshhhhhhh don’t tell to anyone :p
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@Chethan
LOL…. bro, I did that mistake once.. my friend gave me his pen drive which had a virus.. its fully infected my hard drive.. its in places which no antivirus was able to detect
thats why I always use an antivirus now… prevention is much better than cure…
.-= Siddhu´s last blog ..Tips to choose your antivirus =-.
I have been using EICAR to test the effectiveness of the antivirus protection of the web server since long time. But it’s not full-proof; not always!
A good antivirus should be light on your computer and HEAVY on the malware and should have an extensive virus database that keeps updated often, IMO.
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@ TechChunks
I think MSE win7 version has all the features you asked for…
.-= Siddhu´s last blog ..Tips to choose your antivirus =-.
Hey buddy have you tried MSE ??
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good post siddhu…I’m happy with McAfee which came as default with my windows 7 laptop
Good points covered! Here are more points for choosing a good anti-virus:
1. high detection rates over various types of malware including adware and spyware
2. low false positive rates
3. fast scanning speed
4. Proactive detection (such as heuristics –detect new malware using rules and pattern-matching)
5. response times to outbreaks(threat detection and its cure availability)
6. low usage of system resource
7. Have new update/s daily or even hourly
Hehe… great post bro! As the amount of malware is increasing… its time to choose the perfect anti virus
I don’t use any Antivirus , but I am using Ubuntu Linux! So, I don’t really need to worry about Virus problems..
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siddhu…waiting for more articles from you…
Im using Deep freeze..so no problem for me..
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This is thesis theme modified by me… Just contact me if you want to get it…
Great write up. You have covered entire thing .. worth sharing
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