One of the
Questions, So frequently asked from my friends and colleagues, if they should
invest in anti-virus software lets discuss,
Do I need an
Anti-Virus Solution for my PC?
Online Usage: If
you frequently go online or always online then yes, you should have an
Anti-Virus solution installed on your PC.
Do you need to
transfer data using removable devices, if yes you should have Anti-Virus
software installed.
For a standalone
PC, with does not use USB drives, you can consider not using Anti-virus. Such
are generally specialized setups, such as setup for billing, book keeping in a
SO-HO establishment. Lot of photo studios use imaging software and printers to
process images and take printout.
Free Anti-Virus
Vs Paid
This is a
frequent dilemma of users if they can trust free antivirus. Often what I hear
is that they have installed it but it does nothing. Again the choice is more of
the anti-virus then that of whether it is free or not. I will recommend
anti-virus which I have used and have personal experience to.
Microsoft
Security Essentials: Free for Licensed copy of Windows, WGA check required.
This is a good enough anti-virus for home use, on non-critical systems, where
you may not lose business even if some virus get through , recommended use only
for Home system setup.
Avast Anti-Virus
for Home users: Again free for home users decent software recommended use for
Home System Setup
AVG Anti-Virus –
Again free and lives up to its name, A very good Antivirus, recommended use for
Home system setups.
ESET Nod32
Antivirus – This is the best anti-virus solution I have used till date and I am
using it regularly for few years now. Recommended use for all kind of computer
setups. Nod32 is paid software. It does have a trial version.
My system runs
slow after installing anti-virus.
Performance
overheads will be there due to Anti-Virus Software, the question is trade-off
of security vs speed, and up to some extent on how well the anti-virus handles
the system. A Microsoft security essential is fast, so are Avast and AVG, the
working of these softwares in the background somewhat noticeable. But the best
I used till date has to be ESET Nod32. That the reason for recommending ESET
Nod32.
So what to do, I
cannot decide.
Summing up the
discussion above,
1) Depends on your system setup, you have to
decide among tradeoff , security, cost, criticality of the system
2) Once you have decided that, decide if you
will shell out some money for Anti-Virus Subscription.
3) If you want free, go with free else try some
trial versions of paid soft-wares, I will recommend trying Eset, but do try Kaspersky,
Bitdefender and others too.
Where do I get
these Anti-Virus Google them and download their installers and install, simple
as that. For free antivirus software, there is usually some registration
involved, Avast sends you licence key for one year after you register on their website,
Microsoft security essentials appears in optional windows update if you have no
antivirus installed.
For paid once, I
will suggest buying from online retailers. Keep a watch on the anti-virus
software offers on Indian websites such as Flipkart, snapdeal, amazon.in there
are sometimes very good deals with discount up to 80% on anti-virus
subscriptions. You may also buy 3 PC or 5 PC license they are usually cheaper,
the catch is that you have to find others to share the license with, as all
license will begin and end simultaneously , so buying 3 pc license for year is
not equivalent to 1 PC for 3 years.
I am buying and
sharing 3 PC license for Eset with my colleagues for last 3 years, we all have
our single laptops and we usually buy a three PC license from ESET and one of
us activates it and all three get to use this license, and we split the cost
between three of us. It cost usually cost around 300 – 350 which is like less
than rupee one for expense on Anti-virus. We have used Kaspersky and Bitdefender
in past too but ESET has been our choice for last 3 years.
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