Antivirus software can be of paid or free varieties. With a multitude of free and paid antivirus programs available to a user, selecting a good one can be a difficult task – particularly if you are looking for a paid software. Buying poorly-performing software not only looses you money, it also brings you headaches in the form of security lapses.
While there are not many real world cases to test the performance of antivirus software, various websites conduct tests and tabulate their performance. I don’t have to tell you that this is a safer option than testing them yourselves. Here are two websites to look up comparisons and choose an antivirus for your computer: AV-Test.org and Virus.gr
For example, Virus Bulletin and the latest Virus.gr comparisons show me that Avira Antivir, AVG and Avast are among the better free antivirus programs out there.
Going by a single source is dangerous, but when you look at multiple comparison tests, you should get a good idea of which antivirus to choose.
Related reading: Best free security tools (anti-virus, antispyware, firewall and encryption)
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