Antivirus, Firewall & Internet Security Software
Protect Your PC With A Selection of the Best Antivirus Software Packages
| Provider | Price* | Special Offers | Version | Summary | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AVG | $54.99 | AVG Internet Security 9.0 - 2 years for the price of 1! | 2011 9.0 | AVG Internet Security is tough on threats, easy on the user. 3 types of scanning, advanced customisation options, and improved detection capabilities. Recommended for those who prefer a background internet security solution. |    |
Trend Micro | $99.95 | $60 Off With 2 Year Subscription | 2010 | Trend Micro Internet Security is very easy to use, configures itself with minimal interruptions, and is light on system resources. This suite completely protects your home network and can be installed on multiple PCs. Powerful anti-spyware technology guards your personal information and privacy against rootkits and other online threats. An excellent internet security product. |   |
CA Internet Security | $69.99 | Get 20% OFF Here | 2010 4.0 | CA Internet Security combines four award winning software modules: Antivirus, Antispyware, Personal Firewall and Anti-Spam, and exclusively offers you reimbursement if their software fails (up to $5,000 for identity theft and $1,500 for virus damage!). A very strong internet security suite backed by the CA team. | |
Comodo | $49.00 | 2011 4.0 | Comodo Internet Security is a very user friendly product with support technicians available 24/7 to assist with both Internet Security and Windows operating system help. Also secures your WiFi connection. Impressive. |  |
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Kapersky | $79.95 | 2011 | Kapersky Pure offers additional safeguards to completely protect your home network. Cutting edge threat detection. | |
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Kapersky | $59.95 | 2011 | Kapersky Internet Security provides a very high level of protection and optional parental controls. | |
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ZoneAlarm | $79.95 | Item Is On Sale Now For $40 Off | 2011 | ZoneAlarm Extreme Security claims to be faster than previous versions, and is a robust Internet Security package with firewall, antivirus, antispyware, web browsing protection, PC tune up tools, backup options & antiphishing technology. |  |
Complete Antivirus Protection
The need to protect home and office computers with antivirus software can not be overstated. Anyone that accesses the internet or opens email is vulnerable to viruses, malware, trojan horses and spyware if their computer isn’t running the latest in online security programs. Many people think that they are careful and that it won’t happen to them, but just one wrong click can bring disaster. While an infected computer at home is bad enough, an unusable business machine could result in lost orders and dissatisfied customers. In extreme circumstances, you could lose private information that could lead to identity theft or worse.
Stop Malicious Hackers
A hacker could even store items on your computer’s hard drive that could land you in jail. Tricky pedophiles will often hack into unprotected computers and install a virus that will allow them to store images for later retrieval. This allows them complete access to their illegal child pornography without risk. If the images are detected by law enforcement agents, they will be knocking on YOUR door. Many people have had the surprise of their life when this has happened, and police officials were able to pull up pictures that they had no idea existed on their personal machines. A number of people have spent their life savings trying to prove their innocence in cases like this.
Protect Your Personal and Business Information
The news has mentioned numerous stories in which a business has lost a laptop or storage device that contained the personal information of thousands of its valued customers. Not only is this a public relations nightmare, it’s also a costly mistake to correct. In most cases, the company will offer to help their customers correct any identity theft problems that may have resulted from their negligence in an attempt to maintain customer loyalty. The only good thing is that the business knows that its information was compromised. In the case of a hacker, the problem could go undetected for an extended period of time. While some viruses are simply designed to crash a system and will be discovered almost immediately, others are designed to open a door into critical systems so that the cyber-criminal can steal information indefinitely.
Secure Your Data
Studies show that data thefts are growing every year. Verizon business conducted a study of 90 web breaches that occurred in 2009 and found that 285 million data records were exposed in those 90 cases alone. When the numbers from the previous five years are combined, the total amounts to only 230 million showing a huge growth in information theft. They also found that 90% of the data that was used in a crime was stolen by organized crime. The numbers are not any more encouraging for the private sector. Incidents of identity theft rose 11% from 2008 until 2009 and affected the lives of 11 million Americans. These numbers show that viruses are no longer just an inconvenience.
Spyware
Removing spyware on your own is almost impossible. The best antivirus programs will not only stop hackers, but will also remove spyware that has been installed on your computer without your knowledge. If your machine is running a little slow lately, you may already have some tricky spyware running. This often happens without your knowledge when someone visits a suspicious website. From that point forward, the owner of the spyware is collecting information with each keystroke. Before you know it, they may be using your credit card information or have captured your social security number and bank account numbers. They are well on their way to stealing your identity.
Complete PC Protection
To ensure that your data is secure, make sure that you install a program to provide online security to your entire system today. A small investment will offer an invaluable amount of protection in both your personal and business life. If you have already installed a program, make sure that you take advantage of the latest updates to maintain your protection.
However, no matter how useful antivirus software is, it can sometimes have drawbacks. Antivirus software can degrade computer performance. Inexperienced users may have trouble understanding the prompts and decisions that antivirus software presents them with. An incorrect decision may lead to a security breach. If the antivirus software employs heuristic detection (of any kind), success depends on achieving the right balance between false positives and false negatives. False positives can be as destructive as false negatives. Finally, antivirus software generally runs at the highly trusted kernel level of the operating system, creating a potential avenue of attack.
Heuristics
A variety of strategies are typically employed to protect your PC against malware, adware, and trojans. Signature-based detection involves searching for known malicious patterns in executable code. However, it is possible for a user to be infected with new malware for which no signature exists yet. To counter such so-called zero-day threats, heuristics can be used. One type of heuristic approach, generic signatures, can identify new viruses or variants of existing viruses by looking for known malicious code (or slight variations of such code) in files. Some antivirus software can also predict what a file will do if opened/run by emulating it in a sandbox and analyzing what it does to see if it performs any malicious actions. If it does, this could mean the file is malicious. Selections of the above text are references of Wikipedia.