The Best Anti Virus Software , what should it really be able to do for you ?

Instant Scans are a must, if you’ve shared files with a computer that has a virus or if you think your computer has a virus for some other reason, it’s good to be able to run an instant scan, just to put your mind at rest.

Be able to Scan Incoming and Outgoing emails

To be fair most Anti-virus programs already do this, but what happens if you Anti-virus software keeps stopping you sending out e-mails ?

I had this exact problem with Norton Anti-virus, in the end I have to disable the outgoing e-mail scan.

So your chosen anti-virus software must be able to scan outgoing emails and tell if a virus is sending to people, without causing you problems sending.

Scheduled scans

Scheduled scans can be run at a time convenient to you, I always set mine to run about 10.30 in the morning, as I know I’ll be away from my desk at this time. I’ve noticed some Antivirus software has a default scan that runs at about 2am.

To me this would not be a lot of good, I always shut my pc down at the end of the evening.

Scan compressed files

Can it scan compressed files ? , when I say compressed files ,

I don’t just mean Zip files, but how about Cabs “which are windows compressed files” and self extracting compressed files, this is important, otherwise you could have a virus just sitting on your computer.

Do its job and leave you alone to get on with your work

Ever had Anti-virus software that keeps asking you things, it can be like a demanding child, first it tells you about a new virus,

then it asks you to update, then it asks you to reboot and haven forbid if you don’t it’s updated itself, now it’s no longer running until you reboot and it’s keeps reminding you.

So really you want to install the Antivirus software, and let it get on with it’s job, this is what you’ve paid it to do after all.

Actually clean a virus rather than just notifying that it’s found one

There’s nothing worse than an Anti-virus package that tells you about a Virus and then cannot clean it, and then it will keep telling you this and not allow you to do anything else,

as soon as you click to get rid of the dialogue box, it pops back up again and again, where do you go from here, ??  

“if this has happened or is happening to you, please read our Computer virus section, where we advise on other ways to remove a virus”

Be user Friendly

User friendliness makes people confident when using their anti-virus software, if it’s too complicated  and you don’t learn how to use it ,

then how do you know it’s doing it’s job or if you want to scan a files or check if there are any updates available how do you do this ?

Can be enabled or disabled by yourself easily

Can it be enabled or disabled easily by yourself ? ,

what happens if you cannot receive an email from a trusted source because your Antivirus software keeps blocking it ?

Be compatible with other software such as firewall and antispyware programs

Sometimes there is a very fine line between spyware and virus’s , and sometimes antispyware software and antivirus software can overlap giving compatibility issues, so make sure your anti-virus , antispyware and firewall software are all compatible.

Notify and make you aware of the latest virus threats

but even notifying you of the same virus too often can be quite annoying though.

Ok so now you know what to look for when you are looking for the best anti virus software, forget about the bells and whistles,

unless it really is something you can see a big benefit in, all you need is a good stable intelligent anti-virus solution, which complies with the points above.

Check out some of our other articles including

what is a computer virus , where we show you online virus scanners and how to get rid of persistent viruses