Today’s computer viruses are more sophisticated and aggressive than ever. The good news is that with this latest generation of anti-virus software, you can protect your computer better then ever before.

Antivirus software

The following is a brief description of what the different features are and what you should take into consideration when choosing a product. As a rule the more protective features the software has the less chance your computer will be compromised


Email Scanning

When using email you need to know, before you open a message or attachment, that it doesn't contain a threat to your computer. Even if the sender is someone you know and trust there is always the possibilty that their address book has been hijacked by a third party who's up to no good. The ability to prescreen for risks will give you peace of mind that your email is safe. If it's suspect you will receive a warning and be asked what steps should be taken; should the software attempt to clean it or delete it?

Bidirectional Firewall

A good firewall should have the ability to monitor internet traffic in both directions; incoming and outgoing. If there is some unexplained traffic activity you should receive a warning and the software will block it if it's from a suspect source. This is particularly important if you have a high speed internet connection that is always on. Even if you're not online you can still be vulnerable to an attack.

Wi-Fi Intrusion Detection

This feature alerts you to someone trying to access your wireless network. It may be that they are attempting to invade your computer and gain access to confidential information. If, as noted above, you don't have Wi-Fi this will be a redundant feature. However, if you contemplate installing a wireless network at some future time this would be nice to have available.

On Demand and Scheduled Scanning

This gives you a choice of scanning your pc as you see fit. With the scheduled option you can set the antivirus scan to run at a time and frequency of your choosing. You can select daily, weekly or monthly scans and the time of day to run it. If your antivirus software uses a lot of system resources you may prefer to schedule it to run late at night or in the early a.m. hours so as not to slow down any tasks you are working on. On demand scanning allows you to run it at anytime you desire, just click the appropriate button on the user interface.

Automatic Updates

Automatic updated keep you abreast of the latest online threats without you having to visit the software vendors website to manually stay up to date. You don't have to worry about being protected. It's no exaggeration to say that new viruses can be released on a daily or even hourly basis.

Hacker Blocking

This prevents someone from gaining unauthorized access and control over your computer to steal data such as passwords and confidential information. A hacker may also cause important data to be erased or corrupted.

While not a security component, one other thing to look out for is software that doesn't bog down your system resources. This will allow you to work on other jobs while a scan is in progress without slowing down those tasks.