There are a number of antivirus programs available these days and each of them have their unique advantages and features to offer to uses. Sometimes it gets difficult for average computer users to choose the software they should install.

The best antivirus software is one that can combat various kinds of Trojans, malware threats, viruses and other suspicious programs that attempt to enter your computer usually through the internet and in some cases by flash drives or other devices you attach to your computer for data transfer. The antivirus software should detect and protect both the entry and exit points of viruses that can potentially harm your computer. It can also control the viruses from spreading to your network of computers.

Since most viruses enter your computer through the internet, the best antivirus software you choose should have features such as emails scanning to check the files you downloaded from the internet. If there is a threat found, the antivirus software should be able to block or remove those threats instantly. It should also be able to provide protection layer to your computer against hackers and cyber criminals.

Another vital feature that the antivirus software you choose is less installation time. Most of the best antivirus software takes five minutes or less to install and should start to work automatically. There should also be smooth and easy installation process. Preferably the installation process should be done in just few clicks. If the software installs quickly, then it will occupy lesser space in the memory of your computer and it will function faster as well.

The best antivirus software also has the feature of installing automatic updates on your computer. It should get updated on a regular basis and should install updates automatically as well to keep your computer protected against new threats launched every day. It should also be able to scan unknown software in your computer to make sure it can recognize new forms of threats and viruses.

When you find the best antivirus software that has exactly all of these features, then you can ideally use it on your computer.

Antivirus software is a program that detects viruses and destroys them before they can cause harm into your computer. It can prevent viruses from attacking your computer which can possibly modify, delete or copy data stored on the computer. There are hundreds of antivirus software in the market but choosing the best one may appear like a daunting task as they almost have the same promises. There are five things you should be looking for when choosing antivirus software.

The first one is its scope of protection. The best antivirus software is capable of protecting you from wide range of malware threats such as worms, viruses, Trojans, spyware, keyloggers and many others. It can also defend your computer against cyber criminals and hackers.

The second feature the best antivirus software should have is its effectiveness. It should be capable of protecting you from the most harmful threats effectively. Before choosing any software, you have to make sure it has been tested and approved by the leading testers and should show effectiveness in comparison to the others whether it is a resource hog when it comes to updates and scans.

Another feature it should have is ease of installation. Many antivirus programs are very easy to install and with few clicks on the mouse, you can already get it installed and running. But take note that there are some of these programs that come with lengthy installation process with a number of steps. They might even require you to run a full scan before completing the installation process. A good antivirus program will not take more than five minutes to install.

The antivirus software should have all the features that you need but they should be easy to use as well. It should also run itself without having to tweak and constantly change the features.

Finally, the best antivirus software is one that keeps updated with the latest threats. It must be able to update regularly as well as push updates to you. It should not wait until the updates are accumulating and end up being large and slow down your PC in the process. It is capable of updating automatically and protecting your computer always.

Finding the best antivirus software is not really difficult as long as you follow the steps given.

First of all, you should experience between making a purchase. Download a free trial version before buying antivirus software so you can check whether or not it can manage or satisfy your requirements. This is also the best way for you to find out if the software is compatible with your system.

Next is to determine how effective it is. Aside from the protection it can give against viruses, the antivirus software should be capable as well in safeguarding your system against worms, malware, spyware and Trojans. Make sure that you investigate its features best before choosing virus removal software.

The best antivirus software should also be user friendly. Check if the product can provide you with easy to use interface and if there is a user manual or guide that comes with it. Find out also if they can provide you with reports, frequent updates and other supporting services such as live chat, technical support, 24/7 mail service and others. Excellent customer support is very essential if you run into any issue.

It is important that you choose a system that has low system resources consumption. Make sure to get complete information regarding how much system resources are needed for the antivirus software to work both when running full system scan or when running it in the background. There are some antivirus programs that may slow down the speed of your computer. The least resource intensive virus removal software you can get is the cloud antivirus.

Finally, you also have to check for the richness of features. With the development of cyber criminals and identity theft, antivirus programs must be limited only to virus removal. It must be able to provide safe web browsing, regular updates and must warn you when you click on the site that may deliver malicious programs. It should also have firewall, spam blocker, ant-keylogger and parental control.

To ensure if the program is perfect for you needs and to get the best protection, you should look for antivirus software run and consider taking the free trial test run. This will allow you to figure out the most compatible antivirus software for you.

Pros: Good internet security suite which installs and runs behind the scene

Cons: Lacks extra features such as IM attachment scanning, anti-phishing and protection for P2P file sharing.

Review
F-Secure Internet Security is reliable and excellent internet security software for family computers. It provides extensive features such as parental controls and comes with an easy to use interface. This can be installed on your computer and it performs its job quietly. It is also cloud based, which means that most of the computer power is centered online instead of that on the client computer. This enables the program to use little power while running and facilitates fast updating of threat protection and prevents malware from entering your computer.

F-Secure Internet Security features all of the essentials but it does not include extras such as IM attachment scanning, anti-phishing and protection for P2P file sharing. But it can identify Trojans, keyloggers, hijackers and other forms of threats. You will be able to scan the entire computer for spyware in few clicks of a mouse. Its new browsing feature alerts you if you are visiting an unsafe website that could potentially install malware on your computer or download programs that can steal your important data.

F-Secure Internet Security antispyware and antivirus functions are second to none. This allows you to schedule scans as well as configures real time scans. You can select the files you want to scan and what you want to do when a virus is found. You will also be able to decide how emails are scanned and what you should do when a threat is found.

The firewall settings of F-Secure Internet Security are found below the Internet Shield tab and this allows you to configure the protective features such as firewall. Average home users will leave such settings on default. The software can filter spam and detect scams from email automatically.

The other security features included in this internet security suite is the parental control in which there are three options available. The Children setting is the first in which the user can access only the sites you specify without password. The second is Teenage option that enables the users to access the sites except those that contained prohibited content. And the third option is the Children and Teenagers setting which allows the parent to set up these two profiles in one computer. It has a start-up wizard that can walk you through the initial setup and allow you to configure basic settings.

Overall, F-Secure Internet Security is a user friendly internet security suite that can protect your family and computer from spyware and viruses. While it misses some features, it is excellent at delivering comprehensive protection.

Pros:
• Excellent blocking and removal of malware
• Small impact on performance
• Blocks malicious sites through web filter

Cons:
• Less effective phishing protection
• Lacks parental control and spam filter
• Limited firewall protection

VIPRE Home Premium offers high performance benefits of antispyware and antivirus software and an integrated firewall. It does not cause your computer to slow down, unlike other antivirus products. It comes with next generation technology that can protect your computer against malware threats such as spyware, adware, rootkits, worms and many others. It integrates all features of the regular VIPRE software along with the 2-way firewall, malicious web filtering, antiphishing, ad blocking and many others for a total security protection.

For so many years now, a lot of people have been complaining of their frustrations with antivirus programs that have high resource usage. It has been designed from scratch to seamlessly run without getting the performance of the system compromised. Its next generation technology is a combination of antispyware and powerful antivirus.

Its core protection is antivirus and antispyware engine that collaborate the detection of various types of malware in a powerful and highly efficient system. This new technology was exclusivey developed by GFI without building older generation of antivirus engines. It utilizes next generation technologies that make it the future of antivirus software.

Its all new rootkit technology detects and disables malicious hidden threats, services, processes, files or registry keys preparing to intrude your system. Its FirstScan feature can help accomplish this by running the boot time of the system. It bypasses Windows OS to scan certain locations directly of hard drive for malware and infection removal.

Its Active Protection feature is capable of delivering real time protection and monitoring against threats by working within the Windows Kernel, supervising for malware and blocking it before it has the opportunity in executing on your system. VIPRE Premium Antivirus is supporting Outlook Express, Outlook and Windows Mail as well as support for any email program which makes use if POP3. It also offers comprehensive protection from viruses in email attachments.

Overall, VIPRE Home Premium is a combination of good antivirus software and antispyware engine that can provide total protection to your computers against various types of threats. It is also one of the inexpensive antivirus programs in the market today. It can safeguard your computer from malware and other types of threats that could potentially damage your system and files.

Pros:
• Great performance
• Easy to use and lightweight

Cons:
• Not as efficient as other antivirus software in removing malware

Review
Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus 2012 is another great product that is combined with solid protection with straightforward user interface. Improvements have been made with their cloud-based security technology.

It brings a new level of protection to computers from various types of threats such as viruses, spyware and malware. Not only that, it also prevents keyloggers and hackers from intruding your system. The protection provided by this product may not be that extensive as other antivirus software but it is impressive on other aspects. Due to the fact that this brand is not weighed down with product load, it is remarkably easy and light and this makes it one of the best antivirus software of 2012.

Trend Micro Titanium Antivurus 2012 combines the antivirus engine with real time cloud technology that can hammer down on newly released viruses. Various tests have been conducted and its effectiveness is pretty amazing. It has an easy and fast installation process as well and takes less than a minute to complete and the process is assisted with the cloud based technology.

Their line of features is fairly slim since their major focus is on the speed. However, they have neglected advanced settings and left gamers and PC users behind. As a computer user, your primary concern is the antivirus program drowns the speed of their computers. While the features are not abundant in this product it is considered one of the best antivirus software of 2012 due to its superior speed compared to other antivirus programs.

Because there are new and evolving infections created and sent on the internet on a daily basis, it is important that you find software like Titanium Antivirus 2012 committed to updating the software for newer attacks. It seamlessly updates itself and can be done behind the scenes without any interruptions.

Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus 2012 is combined with support scattered all over the internet. It offers several support options that are found in support forums and website. Their support caters to your every day needs of submitting problems via live chat or email. There is Premium support as well but not free.

Overall, the performance is great but the features are not as plenty as other comprehensive antivirus programs. Nonetheless, it comes with newer technology that makes it superb at protecting your devices against viruses.

Pros: The antispyware and antivirus engines were strengthened to include a more comprehensive signature library that is being added to every single day.

Cons: Only provides phone support in removing viruses but will help you avoid further damage into your PC.

Review
With Zone Alarm Extreme Security, you will no longer deal with individual software packages to enhance the protection you get for your computer. This security suite provides more than just protection against spyware and viruses. It is also integrated with email filtering, firewall protection, identity theft protection, virtual private browser, utility tools and parental controls. ZoneAlarm provides excellent protection against viruses and comes with a tough firewall that can resist intrusion of threats.

Like any other security programs, it also provides full system scans both for spyware and viruses. Scans can be schedules monthly, weekly or daily. To keep up with the latest threats on the internet, the software also offers kernel-level virus protection and definition updates.

The software provides improved spyware and antivirus scan engine equipped to withstand a wide range of threats on the internet. The latest ZoneAlarm Extreme Security version uses newer and across the board virus signature library. Although the protection level offered in the past was effective, it has been made even better today.

Zone Alarm Extreme Security provides a firewall for operating system that can monitor changes in your computer to block the latest attacks before they wreak havoc. It even features two-way firewall that is capable of blocking intrusions and can make your computer invisible when it is online. Combining all these together with the multiple layer of comprehensive protection of the program will give you a security suite that is hard to beat when it comes to firewall functionality.

Zone Alarm Extreme Security also delivers protection against keyloggers, phishing scams and trackers. For enhanced security, it comes with a private browser tool that can remove cookies, cache, passwords and history. It also comes with a gaming mode that stops notifications so you won’t be dealing with annoying alerts and decreasing performance of your computer during gameplay.

Zone Alarm also provides a service called PC Tune-up. This provides defragmentation and registry repair services to your computer to ensure that your operating system will not be damaged and that your computer is optimally running. The software also comes with added features including the unique identity protection component that will keep your personal data secured.

The advanced protection against identity theft in the software is one thing you won’t be able to find in any other suites. The software is also notable for being quite easy to use.

Overall, this great internet security software can help keep your data and internet surfing safe and secure.

Pros:
• User friendly interface
• Comes with 10GB online storage
• Browser toolbars to protect user identities from several PCs
• Excellent identity protection settings
• Gamer mode delays scan until game time is over

Cons
• Expensive
• Lacks parental controls

Review
Webroot Internet Security Complete is particularly designed to make your internet surfing experience smooth and safe. It offers one of its most compelling security suites—Webroot Internet Security Complete. Aside from its simple interface, it comes with a generous 10GB storage and a thorough protection against identity theft and easy way to port settings to other computers you are using.

Once the installation is completed, it only requires you to restart once, making it an easy and painless process. The user interface of the program performs a good job in streamlining the home screen while it quarantines a host of advanced settings. Like other internet security programs, it also relies heavily on yellow, green and red color coding to inform the users that their computers are in danger or safe. For instance, if your computer is secure, the home screen appears to be green.

Aside from scanning for malware, the software also includes ratings next to the search results in the web browser and blocks the unsafe sites. Heavy uses will surely appreciate the Gamer mode in which the routine scans are delayed while the playing the game. Users also set time limits on their gaming and like other security suites, Webroot Internet Security Complete caused a web browser to launch in just seconds.

Like the rest of the interface, the computer customization featured known as System Cleaner is easy to use even for novices but offers advanced options as well as a way to satisfy the tech savvy users.

The software also comes with a robust identity protection controls that are located in their website and not in the desktop client. Through these controls, you can add your favorite sites and your passwords. Webroot Internet Security Complete also features generous 10GB online backup and most of its competitors only offer 2GB. This makes setting up online account easy.

The one thing that is missing from this intuitively designed security suite is the parental controls. While for some people, this won’t be a huge deal, but parents who want to monitor and control their children’s web chatting, surfing and social networking would consider this to make a world of difference.

Overall, Webroot Internet Security Complete is good performing and comes with really good features and if only it had parental controls, it could have been the most excellent software in the market.

Pros:
• Simple, straightforward
• Features accurate spam filter
• Online backup and file sync
• File vault, system tuner

Cons:
• Poor antivirus performance
• Lengthy installation process and threat removal
• Poor anti-phishing

Review
The main window of Trend Micro Maximum Security 2012 remained to be simple and clean. It allows you to customize it through their built-in skins or even your own photos. The designers of this program worked hard to eradicate annoying and unnecessary notifications and pop-ups from its previous edition. It provides security summary report once monthly and you can view the report on demand when you want to. Its malware blocking capability is effective.

Trend Micro overhauled this software from last year that encompassed a number of products, internet security, antivirus and all in one suite Maximum Security. The initial installation process is straightforward and fast, but if you are looking to use the supplied SafeSync component, it needs to be separately downloaded and requires reboot. After this is done, you will see a familiar interface that offer simple access to the core components that include parental controls, system security and system tuner.

The main interface layout is effective and provides quick and easy access to different types of scan available and informing users in setting up parental controls as well as tune up on first use. The Tools button is where you can access the rest of the tools but in some cases like SafeSync in which it needs to be downloaded or signed into the TrendSecure website that can be accessed through the interface. The handy security report is available and this summarizes the recent threats together with parental control logs, settings menus and tuneup status.

The SafeSync backup of Trend Micro Maximum Security 2012 is effective, flexible and simple to use. The spam filter is also excellent and does not require any configuration. The expected additional features include the secure eraser and file vault. It also comes with protection for Android phone and Mac.

However, it gained average sore in the malware blocking, removal and phishing tests. This may sound worrisome since malware protection is the core to the security system. Overall, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012 is a top security choice as it is simple, equipped with new features and good backup. It is consistently effective but is even made better and more improved from the previous edition especially with some customization options it offers.

Pros:
• Easy to use software
• Sufficient support and help

Cons:
• No parental controls component included

Reviews
BullGuard Internet Security is a comprehensive internet security suite that can keep your passwords, private documents and confidential files protected and secured against various types of online threats. It includes antispyware, antivirus and firewall technologies. It also comes with effective modes of protection against worms, Trojans and other viruses.

The antispyware component in this internet security suite is excellent at detecting and removing spyware, adware, keyloggers and Trojans. It uses heuristic detection, a special technology that can detect viruses based on their behavior. It is capable of catching new viruses sooner as it quarantines suspicious software long before the virus is determined and entered into the database of viruses of the internet security suite. Its behavioral detection and virus scanner is accurate and fast.

The firewall in this internet security suite is also effective and simple to use. It monitors the incoming and outgoing traffic in our computer and allows you to view their current activity. When installed, the internet security suite will be set to provide maximum protection but was simple to make adjustments so you can customize the firewall according to your needs.

Aside from the antivirus, antispyware and firewall security, BullGuard Internet Security suite offers a variety of features that can enhance the protection of your computer and files against threats. Such features include online backup feature, game mode, safe browsing tool and vulnerability scanner. BullGuard offers 5GB of online backup and files that have been backed up can be accessed and organized easily through the internet. You also won’t have trouble when it comes to restoring files to your computer. Its safe browsing tool allows you to browse the web with peace of mind, allowing you to navigate the web securely.

The BullGuard’s game mode makes profiles for favorite games. This can keep your computer secure completely without any interruptions in your gaming experience. Another important security feature integrated in this suite is the Inspector that checks applications on your computer ensuring that they are updated.

Upon the installation of the software, application asks you to choose a notification level. This allows the suite to make decisions on its own or you can set it to inform you of detected problems and provides you the opportunity to decide on the most suitable solution.

Overall, BullGuard Internet Security Suite is among the elite internet security software as it comes with 24/7 help and support as well as easy to understand user interface.