Nowadays, devices like PCs, laptops, and phones come with excellent security features. These inbuilt protection tools are good at detecting threats and removing them. But are these inbuilt tools able to secure your device from all threats? No. New threats appear every day and the inbuilt security tools can’t handle them all. Indeed antivirus software does not provide foolproof security but they reduce the chances of getting malware and online attack. Yes, you need a good antivirus for your device. You must install a good antivirus program on your Windows 10 device to protect your data from online attacks. Malware like viruses, worms, etc can be easily removed. But online threats like hacking, DDos, etc are very dangerous. Your device requires special tools to manage antivirus.
Top things and features to check before purchasing antivirus
Budget
All antivirus programs are not free. If you are looking for antivirus, start with your budget. Antivirus can range from a few dollars a month to hundreds of dollars a year. If you can’t spend money on antivirus then you can look for freeware. Many antivirus programs offer freeware with basic security tools. However, new devices have inbuilt security tools that can work better than freeware. For a premium security program, you have to purchase a subscription. These subscriptions are available on a monthly or yearly basis. After norton activation, you can use the premium security tools on your device.
Resource requirements
You can find a lot of antivirus programs but not all programs are compatible with your device. After setting your budget, you should make a list of antivirus programs under your budget. Now choose programs that are compatible with your device. Go to their website and check for the resource requirements of the plan. Check whether the antivirus is compatible with your device or not. You should also check for system impact. Get an antivirus program that has less system impact on your device.
Behavior-based detection and scans
Today you need a program that has good behavior-based detection. Look for a program that offers an excellent real-time scanning feature. New threats appear every day and your antivirus may not have its details on the database. But some antivirus has behavior-based detection features that detect new malware whether they have its details on the malware list or not. Whenever any file or anything acts suspiciously, antivirus alerts and removes the threat. Many antiviruses offer different types of scanning features like custom scan, quick scan, full system scan, etc.
Virus quarantine and removal
Antivirus must have a quarantine feature. Whenever the antivirus detects a virus or any malware, it immediately removes it. But when a file or any program seems suspicious, the antivirus sends it to quarantine. Your antivirus will warn you and ask you for action. If the file is malicious you can remove it from the device. Meanwhile, sometimes antivirus mistakenly detects a new file as suspicious, you can choose the Do Not Remove option and the antivirus won’t delete the file.
Browser protection
For internet users, browser protection is a very helpful tool. You use the browser for surfing, online shopping, etc. Browser protection tools secure your browser from phishing and malicious sites. When the user searches a query, a lot of result pages appear. The browser protection tool scans all the result pages before loading them. You can check which page is secure to open. If you click on an unsafe page, browser protection tools block it and show a warning message. Using a browser protection tool, you can keep your searches safe.
Firewall
Firewall provides an extra layer of protection to your network. You can get a firewall as software or you can get it with an antivirus. When you enable the firewall, it starts inspecting your network. Firewall checks all incoming traffic on the network. If a malicious data packet appears, the firewall will remove it. Some firewalls check both incoming and outgoing traffic on the network.
Parental control
This is a useful feature if you have kids at home. Today, every kid knows how to use a PC and the internet. Kids can use the internet to learn many things. However, the internet is not a safe place to play. Parental control features help to keep your kids safe on the internet from all irrelevant content.
Sandbox
Sandbox is a special tool to protect your device from various threats. When you are opening a new file and are not secure about its behavior then you can use the sandbox tool. You can open the file on the sandbox and check the behavior. This tool will show how the file will behave on the device. If the file acts malicious, you can directly remove it from the sandbox.
A few other features you should check while installing antivirus are password manager, encrypted cloud storage, system optimization, identity theft protection, VPN, etc. Install a program that can secure your device, data, and network from all malware and other threats that can cause any kind of harm.
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