Using antivirus software to protect your personal or business computer is a must. With the proliferation of technology comes more significant security risks and vulnerabilities that only high-end antivirus and anti-malware software can protect.
Instead of choosing different antivirus products for different functions, you can choose a comprehensive system like TotalAV with all essential security features. The type of antivirus software you opt for should help you protect your system from all security loopholes, including firewall, browsing, malware, identity protection, and virus intrusion.
Here are the must-have features to look for in any antivirus solution before implementing it across your system:
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Real-time Protection
It’s critical to have a dynamic protection engine in your antivirus solution so that it can assess potential threats and block them before it infiltrates your system. While some ineffective products require you to run a manual scan to detect any risks, the best forms of software like TotalAV have real-time scanning features that work continuously.
The full system and real-time scans should always run in the background to assess your PC’s overall health. Besides, it should also display any issues it has caught clearly and concisely with an option to fix them or take immediate action.
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Compatibility with Multiple Apps
Threats can exist across various apps and services that you depend on to complete your everyday tasks. From email clients, iOS/Android devices to messaging platforms and internet browsers, harmful agents can sneak in through multiple entry points.
Therefore, you should choose an antivirus program that offers a full range of protection across multiple apps.
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Speed and Optimization Services
It can be frustrating when your computer system has a slow performance and simple tasks take forever. While some users think installing antivirus software can further slowdown performance since it takes up additional resources, the best solutions come with options to tune up your system.
Antivirus programs help boost your device speed and performance with optimization tools that can come in handy to protect without sacrificing performance.
- Speed system startup time
- Remove elements that hamper speed and productivity.
- Optimize boot volume
- Options to view programs that consume resources and slow you down
- Improve performance when you stream videos
- Stop interruptions when using your favorite apps.
- Cleaning browser data to enhance speed and security
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Protection Against all Types of Malware and Intrusions
Several malicious agents can harm your computer, including Trojans, bots, spyware, adware, phishing, malware, virus, etc. Sometimes antivirus programs are designed only to fight a specific type of malware or malicious entity. It’s recommended to opt for a program like TotalAV that has all-around protection against all forms of vulnerabilities.
- Anti-malware – Fight against numerous variants of malware and infections.
- Anti-ransomware – Save you from malicious attacks that demand ransom payments to decrypt user files.
- Anti-spyware – Protect your personal and confidential information against entities that can use it
- Anti-adware – Often downloaded without your knowledge, the adware can intrude on your browsing experience generating pop-ups and aggressive ads.
- Firewall – Block or unblock connection requests in your browser and have a safe browsing experience
- Download Protection – Choose a program that offers scanning and protection when you download files
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Automatic Updates
Technology is evolving each day, and so are viruses and malicious elements that are getting tougher with new strains. According to statistics, 12 new malware strains are discovered every minute. Hence, your antivirus software should also keep up with it and have a system of automatic updates to detect and contain new threats. If you need to check and install new updates manually, you may miss out on vital protection capabilities and expose your system to vulnerabilities.
Ensure that your antivirus solution is automatically updated with application and definition updates that include bug fixes, improvements, and detection of the latest threats. While application updates can provide you reminders and links to update your app, definition updates should occur daily in the background without any intervention.
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Quick Scan Options
A program that offers quick scan options is a great feature to have if you want to run quick security checks. Apart from a thorough system scan, it can enable you to perform fast scans in key folders of desktop, startup, browser, folders, cookies, and cache to give you peace of mind.
All in all, the above are some features that are essential in the antivirus solution. To experience the features for yourself, you may want to consider choosing an antivirus program like TotalAV with a free or trial version.
This way, you can assess how it works before opting for a premium or paid version with further security enhancements. Also, consider looking up reviews for antivirus solutions to know what you can expect and whether it matches your requirements.
