7 Things You Should Look For in Antivirus Software

By Sabeer M

I often see people choosing wrong or outdated antivirus softwares and worse, spending a good amount of money on them. You don't need to settle for ineffective antivirus programs, because you can easily buy effective antivirus softwares for the same price. In this article I will tell you about 7 things that you should look for when purchasing an anti virus software.

1. Does your anti virus software provide you with two levels of protection? Most antivirus softwares can detect viruses in real time as well as clean viruses from your PC when you run the scanner. See if the antivirus software you are going to buy offers such dual level of protection or not.

2. How effective is the software in cleaning up the infected files from your computer? Does your antivirus software effectively clean, quarantine or remove the infected files as well as the virus from your PC? This is an important consideration you should make while buying an antivirus program.

3. How easy it is to use the antivirus software? Let's face it, not all of us are IT graduates. Most of the PC users around the world are completely novice and barely know how to operate computers. If an antivirus program is complicated to use, it would not be much effective. I would recommend that you buy an antivirus program which is very easy to use and understand.

4. Do you get free updates with your purchase? Most antivirus programs provide you with at least one year of free upgrade with your purchase. Also, most good antivirus programs release frequent updates. Do not buy an antivirus program that doesn't offer you such facilities.

5. What type of support is provided to the end user by the software developer? Ideally you should buy antivirus software from a company which offers you fast and responsive software support. They should have at least a phone number, email address as well as a snail mail address through which you can contact them easily.

6. Does a help documentation comes with your anti virus program? Are they easy to understand? See, if you cannot understand the help instructions, you won't be able to make much use of the software. That is why it is imperative that the help documentation should be one which is easy to understand and free from technical jargon.

7. Check the system requirements that the antivirus program needs in order to run. Some antivirus programs require you to download and install additional softwares. Ideally you should choose one antivirus program which is easy to use and has minimal system requirements.