The reputation of antivirus programs also changes constantly.
A few years ago, Microsoft Security Essentials was discredited when weaknesses were discovered. A few years later Essentials was considered to be one of the safest software and internet security. And with later versions of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft stopped the distribution of Security Essentials and one of the biggest players in the market vanished.
Many antivirus software tools lose their quality from one year to the next. This is due to the fact that the staff of the antivirus and internet security companies sometimes shrink when they experience financial losses. Thus, people who reviewed and adjusted the antivirus software are not working at the company anymore and the software itself becomes less efficient against virus attacks.
At the same time, new manufacturers with a higher cash flow penetrate the market and offer new features - making it more and more difficult for other antivirus cleaners to compete against them. This means, a new antivirus software company can come enter the market from one day to another, surpassing all other competitors and establishing itself as the new market leader.
A computer virus just doesn't automatically infect your computer, it is caused by an installation that has been initiated by a human being.
New Antivirus Software on the Market
There are many antivirus programs, but which one offers the best virus protection?
The examples above show how important it is to be constantly informed. Big enterprises usually leave this task to their IT department. Most of the IT departments constantly try out new antivirus tools and may replace the employees' computers with a completely different antivirus removal tool.
A recent survey revealed that US companies tend to change antivirus manufactures frequently.
European countries, however, remain loyal to the antivirus software they're using.
Lots of companies have been using the same antivirus software for years. However, this can lead to using old, outdated antivirus companies. Whoever wants to use the best antivirus on their PCs should always pay attention to the current market.
How Do You Know Which Antivirus is Good?
To find out which antivirus company provides the best protection, some points have to be considered. We collected the Top 5 cheat sheets to find out how you should evaluate the best virus protection for your PC.
- Read Reviews & Tests
On the web, there are countless tests that provide up-to-date reviews. However, it is of great importance that you also constantly read reviews as they become outdated after a year. Tests from PC magazines or review resources that are older than 12 months are already obsolete in most cases. Therefore, always look at the date of the test or review. If it's from the current year, the source may be very reliable.
- Don't rely on what the manufacturer says
Every manufacturer will of course rate their own software very high and will tell you that it's the best. Especially since the internet doesn't always tell the truth so to speak, I wouldn't pay too much attention to advertising on the antivirus company's website. Therefore, it's important to read user opinions and rely more on independent sources. The manufacturer website's purpose is to sell you the software and not give you an honest opinion about their weaknesses.
- Price is not an indicator
Basically, you can find antivirus protection software in all possible price ranges. Unfortunately, the price does not rule out the best antivirus protection software on the market. Some manufacturers already have a very good reputation, which leads to higher prices. Also, some small manufacturers can deliver excellent results, and cost much less because of an unknown name. Price is therefore not always an indication of quality.
- Free Antivirus Software
Consumers sometimes want the best and cheapest antivirus software free of charge. Unfortunately, free antivirus scanners are not that good. Free Antivirus Software is one of the most popular terms on the internet, and there are lots of free antivirus tools around to download. Obtaining antivirus programs for free is an easy task, but whether they are really good is a completely different story. Almost all virus scanners that are available free of charge are trial versions - usually you have protection for 2-3 months then you have to buy the software.Sure, a free version may be a good method to test the antivirus software first. But why not start with the right one to begin with? There's a saying: Do it right, before you have to do it fast. Eventually, the trial version will stop working. Unfortunately it may be the case that the antivirus software stops working right when you need it and you'll have absolutely no time to read reviews or install a new virus scanner. This is what the antivirus manufacturer are hoping for - it's the best time for them to make a sale: All you have time for is to buy the software immediately.If you don't want to bother reading more - we already reviewed Norton Antivirus in 2024 for you and it's definitely a recommendation.Coming back to free antivirus software programs - From a price standpoint it seems to be a good solution. However, something to consider is that most free antivirus programs are full of advertisements. The model of most of the free antivirus tools is based on constant banner advertising, which appears on the screen - usually at the wrong time when you are concentrating on something. Having an advertisement pop up when you're creating a PowerPoint or watching a movie is not a great user experience.The problem also is, that the business endeavors of purely free virus scanners is not to detect viruses, but to advertise. It's easy: If it doesn't cost anything, especially in the antivirus industry, it is usually not worth much. Lots of antivirus manufacturers have received the worst ratings. Although many of them had a high reputation years ago, they couldn't keep up with the sophisticated hackers and virus programmers. They vanish from the market - or still provide their software with obsolete and inadequate protection to make a sale anyways. Some only survive because of their reputation while their software actually hasn't improved a bit.
- Pre-installed Antivirus Software
Especially when purchasing a new PC, antivirus scanners can be pre-installed. These are from companies that have special partnerships and agreements with the manufacturer. It's one of those test versions that run for 4 weeks for example, and finally you will be prompted to make a payment to get the full version. This kind of virus software that has been pre-installed does not necessarily have to be bad. However, consider that the PC manufacturer is not much interested to provide you the best virus protection, but makes its decision based on financial benefits it gets from the antivirus company. Many PC manufacturers don't even have the ability to investigate or test the pre-installed virus scanner to find out if it's currently the best virus protection or not. It's highly recommended to uninstall pre-installed virus protection and then to find out for yourself which virus protection convinces you the most.
- Read Independent Test Results
We are doing the antivirus test in this series and have tested the biggest antivirus programs thoroughly. Currently, we already have the test results of Norton Security 2024, Avast and MacAfee available.
And of course, as with many things in this world: the best virus remover tool won't help you, if you don't use common sense. Most viruses are find their way successfully to your pc when you are not careful. Therefore, you should always pay attention to what you are installing and on which websites you browse. Even the best virus protection cannot save the user from itself.
Comment Section
(Discussion disabled)
Mavis, March 3, 2018 at 1:29 pm
Whatever you do, just don’t use Norton. Lol. They’re infamous for a reason. Stick with AVG or Avast. AVG even has a free version!
prism peter, May 16, 2018 at 6:56 pm
There are many fake antiviruses which are in the market and they make your system more vulnerable to the virus so be aware of it and use the best antivirus for free. Above mentioned are some good antivirus which you can use and can be downloaded from Asus router support number
5.0 
4.9 
3.0 
