The virus can do various things, from taking over hard disk space to getting access to your personal data or draining your CPU. There are plenty of anti-virus software available that can help safeguard your devices from the kinds of issues. The most important thing to do is select one that has a minimal impact on performance of your system. Each of our antivirus programs is tested against this. The results below are determined by the amount of time it takes for each program to perform an operation. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, for example had a background effect of only 6% when running a full scan, while ESET had an impact of 12%.
The German-based Avira is a reputable company in our tests and consistently performs above 90% in all three categories – Performance, Protection and Usability (False Positives). Its UI offers a lot of features, including a smart “firewall” as well as a variety of privacy tools. Avira subscriptions are billed monthly instead of for a fixed three-year period. This makes it much easier to cancel the subscription or make adjustments at any time.
Essentware, formerly known as PCKeeper, is a relatively new name in our tests. It runs the Avira Engine underneath the hood. Overall, it did quite well. The interface is easy to use and its performance was satisfactory this month, although a few stability issues – mainly with scan jobs locking up – dented the rating. However, detection was good and a flawless run through the certification sets earned it a VB100 award.
