Today’s market is full of various antivirus applications. While some try to find out about different programs as much as possible in order to choose the best one, others neglect the fact that the Internet is full of threats and do not bother to download a security tool at all.
However, an anti-malware application is one of the most important things nowadays. With all the new threats emerging every day, the Internet can be quite a battlefield. Most people are satisfied with a free version of an antivirus program, but there are quite a few reasons to buy the full one. You see, even though free security programs can be great, they usually lack some crucial features that could help you avoid malware.
Let’s find out why it is important to invest in a reputable security program.
1. Protect your personal information
One of the worst things malware can do to you is stealing your personal information. Let’s face it – we keep tons of personal details and files on our computer, adding new ones every single day. Most people have tons of photos, text files, passwords, banking information, business details, screenshots, etc. Leaking such sensitive information can mean a disaster to a lot of people.
A good anti-malware application can prevent the danger associated with losing private data. The tool should protect you from ransomware and other malware that might be interested in your information. Also, the software can offer file backup, which can be a great help if you actually get infected.
What is more, a reputable security tool should protect your PC from spyware, which is created for the purpose of collecting personal details.
2. Blocking malicious websites
Many of the malicious threats come from the Internet. You might have encountered pages that have suspicious advertising like pop-ups or flashy banners that claim how lucky you are to have won a prize. Pressing on such an ad or even visiting such a page can leave your PC swarming with viruses.
If your security tool has the feature of blocking suspicious websites, you are much safer than usual. You will simply get a notification that warns you about the threat, thus helping you avoid the danger by not opening the page at all.
What is more, an antimalware program can help you in dealing with spam and suspicious email attachments. In this way, the danger level is minimized as you do not access the sources of viruses.
3. Complicated threats like trojans and rootkits
There are a lot of different types of malware. For example, worms can spread themselves quite effectively by using security gaps, browser hijackers can replace your browser and redirect you to dangerous pages, and rootkits might allow hackers to access your computer and its files.
A reliable security tool should recognize all these threats (even zero-day malware) and prevent them from breaking into your system.
In this case, Trojans are particularly tricky. They disguise themselves as really good programs and start acting maliciously, for example, granting hackers access to your PC or installing other viruses. A reputable antivirus should remove Trojans and the programs associated with them.
4. Don’t spread the viruses to other computers
When it comes to viruses, it’s not only you that matters. You see, malware is designed to spread across many computers, infecting as many devices as possible. If your device is fully protected, you will not participate in this malicious cycle of infections.
Similarly, viruses can be spread with USB devices. If you do not scan your external devices, you risk infecting the computers of your friends, family, or even the entire workplace or school. Because of this, choose a protection tool that has the ability to scan external devices thus making the community safer.
5. Buying an anti-malware program can save you money
Sometimes spending a small amount of money can save you thousands of dollars. Buying a subscription for an anti-malware tool can be incomparably cheaper than reinstalling Windows, purchasing new software, or even obtaining new hardware parts such as the BIOS chip in some extreme cases.
And let’s not forget the prices of IT services. Aside from losing all the personal data, you will also need to spend a fortune just to have your device functioning again. When looking at everything from this perspective, the cost of an antivirus license doesn’t seem so big anymore.
6. Free protection is not as good as a paid application
While we already discussed the differences between paid and free anti-malware tools, it remains clear that the paid solutions are usually better. Free versions lack a lot of useful features most of the time and can score lower when it comes to detecting zero-day viruses.
It is a good idea to try a few selected security tools for free and then buy the one that you liked the most.
7. Increased speed
All of us want their device to work faster and more efficiently. A security tool can help with that – many types of malware can slow down your computer, so after a thorough scan you should be able to enjoy faster PC performance.
Additionally, the anti-malware program should remove all the adware planted onto your computer. Ads can make your browsing much slower, so wiping everything out is a great choice. Let’s not forget that some tools can also boost the performance by replacing damaged system files with new ones.
How to choose a good tool?
With all the different options you might become a bit confused about choosing the right tool. First of all, you should decide what features you regard as the most important. For example, if you don’t have any children, you definitely don’t need the Parental Control feature and vice versa.
On our website, you can find a list of the best anti-malware tools and a lot of reviews about different security programs. Don’t forget to make sure that your family and friends also possess trustworthy antivirus applications.
Olivia Morelli is a senior media writer on Reviewedbypro.com. Her favorite topic to write about is ransomware attacks and how to deal with them, but she also enjoys covering the topics of other types of malware and VPNs.
