The Best Anti-Virus Software
The Foundation
What Tells?
I believe you would agree with me that there are so many kinds of Anti-Virus Software out there but, how do you tell which among them is the best of them all? Before we go into my personal pick the best anti-virus software, one that I am also personally using on my computers, I believe we should first set the foundation so that, instead of going straight for the anti-virus software, having bought it and use it based on my recommendation, and should you be found that your computer is still being infected by some sort of a virus, it is best to first understand how it all first began… No, we’re not going through a history lesson on Viruses and Anti-Viruses, how they originated that sort, but… more of how your computer became vulnerable in the first place.
But, if you still choose to jump to “The Best Anti-Virus Software”, you can do so from the Table of Contents beside of this article.
Virus What?
Virus, has been used as a general term to represent “all kinds of irregular behavior” on a computer. When the computer opens up multiple tabs on your internet browser – virus; when your workfiles go missing from your computer – virus; when there’s a weird pop-up message on your computer – virus; and the list goes on. But did you know viruses can be categorized, and there is more than just viruses out there? Like… There are worms and malwares too.
However, we are not going in-depth what each one of those mentioned do, we are going to lump them up, and I will draw our focus on how to prevent them, rather than to cure them with an anti-virus software or some kind of a virus removal tool.
The Harm They Do
Virus basically disrupts your work, and there are different degrees to how bad it could be, from just file type renamed, up to the whole computer system being compromised. As for malwares, though the target isn’t entirely focused on your computer, it is primarily targeted at you. Malwares unlike viruses are intended to be “placed” on your computer, so that it can gather information about you, and send this information back to the creator. Yes, this is how identity theft takes place, and how the things you hold dear can be compromised e.g. login information, passwords, facebook account, etc.
The Source
The way I see it, there are four (4) common ways how your computer can be infected by virus(es).
- Thumb Drives
- Emails
- Websites
- People
We will look deeper the four sources in their respective sections below.
1. Thumb Drives
Seriously?
I kid you not, in the many years of my work, thumb drives have been the #1 source of viruses. As much as they are very convenient being used to store and transfer files from one system to another, the unhealthy practice in sharing this medium though, has exposed too many computer systems to viruses.
It is contagious.
Most of the time people are not aware the risk they are exposing themselves to, the moment they plug a thumb drive into their computer system, even though that thumb drive may very well belong to him or her. There are different things to consider how virus spreads through thumb drives.
- The computer system (source).
- The owner of the thumb drive.
- The computer system (end).
1. The computer system (source)
It is quite “normal” to treat a computer to be free from virus… 99% it is not, especially if the computer doesn’t belong to you. We should always assume that any computer that we’re working on might have been infected. Likewise, the source might have been infected.
2. The owner of the thumb drive
I’ve seen how thumb drives get passed around casually to copy, or transfer files from one computer to another. That is not a very healthy practice, knowing that there’s a risk getting the cluster to be infected with virus. Imagine this, when a thumb drive gets passed around casually and if it’s infected with virus, most of the computers that the infected thumb drive is plugged to, has a very high chance to be infected as well. This is one of the most common ways how virus is passed around in a cluster of computer systems.
3. The computer system (end)
If and when someone plugs an infected thumb drive to the computer, that computer has quite a high chance to be infected as well.
So No Thumb Drives?
Well, I didn’t mean it that way. Just, observe the following practices and it will minimize your exposure to viruses and malwares.
1. Do not Share
Don’t share thumb drives. Have ones of your own. They do not cost a lot and a 16GB stick should be more than enough for your basic “document transfers”.
2. Disable Window’s Autoplay
For those of you on Windows, notice whenever you plug in a thumb drive to the computer, or, a new keyboard or mouse, there is this pop-up window asking you what do you want to do with it; should you choose to view it on Windows Explorer, or if you want to open the contents using a particular software, etc.? That is most likely Windows Autoplay at work. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good feature, promotes quality of life, makes the process faster, but…
From what I understand, Windows Autoplay scans through the medium that you’re plugging into the computer, identifies it, and then offers your various options to what and how you want to go about it. When this happens, Windows Autoplay might have unintentionally “awaken” the virus, or malware in the infected medium.
Now, interesting enough, even if you plug in an infected thumb drive to a computer, and you have Windows Autoplay disabled, and view the files using Windows Explorer, that computer shouldn’t get infected.
3. Enable “Show hidden files, folders and drives” (be careful)
Viruses and malwares are normally hidden. That is probably why even though when you have checked the contents of a thumb drive as how you normally do, you will not be able to pick the virus or malware present on the thumb drive with the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” options disabled.
To enable it, go to “Windows Explorer, click on “View”, then “Options”, finally “Change folder and search options”.
If you choose to use to do this, you wouldn’t need to have your Anti-Virus software to “Scan the device” as you would be able to identify any unusual file(s) and folder(s) present and you can manually delete them from the thumb drive without triggering it/them.
Word of caution though, with this option enabled, files and folders which are vital to your computer will be shown as well. So, do this at your own risk (sorry have to put it this way).
Image: Window’s Folder Options
2. Emails
Congratulations!
Don’t fall for it! Well unless you really did participate in a competition, and you recognize where the email came from, and you’re really confident you did win the competition, or perhaps a consolation, then sure… go ahead.
Image: Suspicious emails with malicious intent
I believe you would have received emails that looked or conveyed a similar message tone like those above before. And I really hope that curiosity didn’t get the best of you. Emails that speak of “winning a prize”, “getting an inheritance”, “business prospect”, “FREE money”, most of these even though they do sound great, unfortunately most of them are scams. You can find more safe business handling by checking the paycheck stubs generator software review.
The usual “structure” how these emails work:
- A hook: Something to get you to open the email.
- A plot: Made up story to tickle your ego and emotions.
- A call to action: Something that you need to do to “get it”, or rather to “lose it all”. Normally, a link to another website.
There’s no such thing as FREE money. Even there is, it’s rare.
Very rare.
Recognizing Danger
Some practical ways to recognize such emails would be:
- The title: “Congratulations”, “Inheritance”, those that I’ve mentioned earlier.
- Your name: Such emails will not address you by you formally. Well I mean, if you’re going to get a huge amount of money, they really shouldn’t address you as “Dear Email Owner”.
- Grammar: Generalizing here, usually most of such emails were made by people with a certain “education background”.
- Punctuation: I would personally take “word, word” as normal, and not “word ,word” as normal.
- The Link: Where is it leading you? Is the link leading you to a website that you recognize? Check the spelling of the domain name as well: e.g. “www.google.com” and not “www.googIe.com” (the second one was spelt with a capital “i”).
Be skeptical, be safe.
Image: Gmail warns of malicious email
Reminder
There’s no such thing as FREE money…
Be skeptical, be careful
3. Websites
The Iceberg
Treat websites like an iceberg, what you see is just the tip of it, and there are a lot of things going on under it. One of the common things that many people are not aware of are cookies (not the edible kind), which is a small file that is stored on your computer, gathers a certain amount of information of you, and sends it back to the website owner. Some of the information gathered would be usually your location, the date and time of your visit to the website, etc.
There are also other things that work in the background like scripts. Scripts are a set of instructions which tells a program what to do whenever it is triggered. Such scripts may also trigger the process of downloading files onto your computer when you visit a malicious website without having to specify the type of file being downloaded, nor it’s name. This can be abused, and a keylogger could be downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge.
Image: “The Iceberg”
So How?
One more point, then I’ll share with you exactly how I protect myself from all these malicious attacks.
Reminder
Treat websites like an iceberg…
4. People
Sharing = Caring?
We have heard this many times before, sharing = caring, BUT not when the people around you forward materials via WhatsApp or email without first validating the contents of it — especially forwarded materials that carry hooks like “Check this out”, “Get yours today”, “FREE”, etc. Forwarded messages like that may very well lead you to a website that makes your vulnerable to malicious attacks.
Don’t simply click!
Reminder
Don’t simply click!
How to Protect Yourself?
Doubt
Doubt is your very first line of defense.
File sharing: If a thumb drive is in the equation, then ask yourself this, is the source computer infected with some sort of a virus, or malware? Is the computer protected by an anti-virus software? If it is, what is the name of the anti-virus software and is it up to date? If the computer checks on these, then you can consider copying the file using your own thumb drive and, don’t use Window’s Autoplay.
On the Internet: Ask yourself this, “Does this sound too good to be true?”. If it does, then it is best you stay away from it.
Plugin: NoScript
Add this Plugin to your web browser: NoScript
Links to NoScript are found on the right column. Choose according to the browser you use.
On web browsers, I personally use Google Chrome for entertainment and general browsing, Brave for work (Brave has another layer of protection: Brave Shields).
For me, the best way to protect yourself, is to prevent it before it happens, and NOT finding the solution when it has already happened and caused damage. Just like the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. NoScript does exactly that.
NoScript on default, prevents all kinds of scripts found on any website from loading until you allow them. You can set the permission to temporary (as per browsing session) especially when you’re visiting a new website, or a website that you don’t normally visit or go to, or you can set the permission to permanent if you frequent the website a lot. Adding to that, you can choose what you are granting permission to.
Image: “NoScript” – Choosing what you grant permission to.
The Best Anti-Virus Software
6-Years Personal Experience
Didn’t realize I’ve been using Malwarebytes for my computers for 6 years already. Malwarebytes is the Best Anti-Virus Software out there in my opinion. Not only it protects your computer from threats, it protects you from entering websites which are flagged malicious, it also blocks unauthorized downloads from the websites that you visit.
Another key point that I like about Malwarebytes, it doesn’t lag my computer (the experience may vary depending on your computer’s configuration) even when it is on idle mode. My experience with other Anti-Virus software hasn’t been as pleasant compared to Malwarebytes. Some not only are they bundled with Ads, they are also resource hungry even on idle.
I am subscribed to the Premium version of Malwarebytes. There is a FREE version if you would like to test it out and see if Malwarebytes suits you. I’ve included links to the FREE and the Premium versions of Malwarebytes in the right column.
Wrapping Up
My computers have not been infected by any kind of virus, malware, or worm, any of that sort since I started using the NoScript and Malwarebytes combo.
Try them out today and see how you can work, and surf confidently on the Internet! Let those worries of information and identity theft go away.
Note: It is not advisable to run more than one Anti-Virus Software on your computer especially if your computer has less than 2 GB of RAM.
BE CONNECTED
