People spend years testing antivirus and other security products, only to realise at the end of the day that it is preferable to not being infected by malware. It is therefore much more prudent to put in maximum effort into preventing infection instead of identifying and deleting contamination after the fact.
Adding protection in the conventional way
The more traditional way of attempting to accomplish maximum protection to your assets is to use multiple scanners based on anti-root kits, anti-spy ware, anti-trojans and anti-virus software. However, this may not be as effective as you would like it to be and in addition can be very cost prohibitive for the normal user. Furthermore, this multiple security programs set up will surely have a negative impact on the performance of your PC and the possibility of this interfering with each other (or other programs) is also a certainty.
The better anti-virus software will offer a maximum of 70% protection against infection and by adding an anti-spy ware program will boost this to about 85%. If, say an anti-trojan facility was also added, protection can be increased to 90%.
This can be explained by the fact that today's security software will overlap in more than one way than previously. This is because the modern anti-virus program will also identify some spy ware, worms and Trojans and of course visa versa.
So, the while the defense will only increase incrementally with each new security facility added, the processing load on your computer will rise considerably with each security layer added. Thus, this is actually a case of diminishing returns.
However, layering also presents us with another, perhaps bigger problem. Some of the more modern malware are so aggressive, that is may disable all the other layers of security facilities installed on your PC, making it completely useless!
Therefore, the modern approach seems to be that you should not rely on layering, as your PC will not be fully, 100% protected against malware.
And, the question remains; what should you do?
Could the answer be...
Superior and Secure Computing Practices...
In most cases, apart from installing the best antivirus software, the primary aspect in keeping your computer safe from malware and other infections is to expose it to the minimum possible amount of risk. Many people get away without any kind of protection because of the low risk websites they visit. This cannot be recommended and we certainly advise everybody to install some kind of antivirus software.
However, some individuals with the best antivirus software possible installed, still get infected on a regular basis. Why would you ask? It is because of the way they use their computer. Often this is because they continually use very risky processes that the average user would never dream of using. A good example of this is free peer-to-peer software and then sharing these sometimes badly infected files among their friends worldwide.
THE BEST APPROACH TO SAFEGUARD YOUR COMPUTER IS:
1. Install the best antivirus software that you can afford.
2. Make sure you always fully update Windows and MS Office (if you use it) by downloading the latest fixes from the Microsoft Update Service. Even better, use the automatic update settings
3. Ensure that all your software products are updated regularly. Make sure your other software products are also fully updated, mainly those traditional products like Firefox, Opera, Adobe Reader, Sun Java, Flash plugins and media players. The best way to do this is to use the free Secunia Personal Software Inspector.
4. Look for alternative products in place of the more popular ones. These products are much lighter (and mostly free) and less prone to attacks by malware writers. For example, use Google Chrome or Firefox in place of Internet Explorer and Foxit for Adobe Reader which will enhance your security significantly.
5. Be very vigilant where you surf. Especially avoid using sites that offers commercial serial numbers, keygens and such hacked material. Stay away from hostile sites by installing free plugins like WOT ( https://www.mywot.com/ ) and AVG Linkscanner.. These plugins enhance the site security ratings with search engines and sites.
6. Under no circumstances click on untested or unknown e-mail sources or links.
7. Only install programs that you fully trust and are confident that they are clean. Installing programs from removable sources is dangerous, unless they are verified to be safe. Using a scanning service such as lotti or Virus Total is always a good idea before you download these files.
8. If you use Windows, ensure that Windows Firewall is enabled.
9. Disable Autorun by using the free "Panda USB Vaccine"
If you diligently use these measures, which I admit is not always easy, and installed the best antivirus software you can you will protect your computer a great deal better than the average Joe.
BEING SMART CAN ONLY GET YOU SO FAR.
Many people are under the impression that they can only pick up malware when they download dodgy files, run unpacked software or end up on the wrong sites. A lot of people think that they are safe if they have a Java plug-in included in their web browsers and though it may be true, this is in fact how many people end up with malware on their computers. Many years ago I was also one of these, but since I've learned my lesson how to Buy The Best Antivirus Software and you can read about it by clicking on this link. >>> http://bestantivirussoftwarez.com
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