I used to run a successful IT support business here in the North East of England…and you can be sure we came across every variant of antivirus software on the market.  So, which antivirus is best for protecting your computer?  I still get asked this a lot.

Requisite nasty malware image

Many home users and unbelievably, many businesses, still think that AVG Free Edition will protect them from phishing, viruses and all the other malware on the internet…it won’t of course.  Then there are still the infections that come in via e-mail.  Most malware these days seems to come from infected websites; naturally a decent antivirus program will protect you against this.

I came across the common software packages such as Symantec/Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky and AVG, plus some of the lesser known ones mainly used for business such as Sophos.  I found that most of them had a dramatic effect on the speed of the host computer…for the worse, despite their claims.  The occasional infected website would defeat the protection too…especially with Sophos at one time.

There was one provider, which stood head and shoulders above the rest…in my opinion…and that was Eset.  It had no noticeable effect on performance and seemed to catch everything whether it be internet, e-mail or USB stick in origin.

Eset Smart Security

Eset isn’t free…but what would the cost be to you if you lost all your files?  Often they are precious memories which many people ‘forget’ to back up somewhere else.  The cost of an IT specialist to clean up a nasty malware infection isn’t cheap either.  I’m not on commission from Eset, so click here to find out more and stay safe.

Oh, and their UK based support is fantastic too…although I doubt you’ll ever need it.