News: Is Your Computer Protected? Antivirus Software

Lets start with a few quick questions about your computer. Don't worry, they'll be simple ones.

1. What antivirus software is installed on your computer?
2. When were the virus definitions last updated?
3. Is it the most current version from the company that wrote it?
4. When does the license expire?
   1. Will the license automatically renew?
   2. Will the company automatically charge your credit card or bank account to renew the license even if you aren't still using the software?
5. How do you know the software is any good?

If you don't know the answer to all of these questions then you need to learn them soon. Current, reliable antivirus software is essential to keeping your computer running smoothly, protecting all of your personal files including the thousands of photographs that you have of friends and family members, keeping your identity safe, and keeping your money in your bank account where it belongs.

Lets talk a little about each of these questions.

1. What antivirus software is installed on your computer? I'll add to it, what does the icon look like and does it change if there are any problems? Why does it matter?

   What happens if you get an email or popup notification telling you that there is an update for your abc antivirus software that you need to download immediately in order for your protection to continue? If you are not using abc antivirus then you know immediately that this is a scam to get you to install something without your knowledge. It won't be a better antivirus program, legitimate companies don't operate that way, but it might be a program to disable your current antivirus.

   Which brings us to what does the icon look like and how does it change if there is a problem? Any decent antivirus software leaves an icon in the system tray next to the clock at the bottom right corner of your screen. If there are any problems with the software it will change to notify you at a glance. Then you need to open the software and figure out why. It could just be that it failed to download a new update correctly. It could be that the software has actually been disabled and is not functioning correctly or at all. You won't know until you check. You also need to be aware if something replaces your current antivirus software with another program — again you need to be familiar with what that icon looks like. There is software out there that will disable your antivirus, remove the icon so you won't be notified and replace it with one that is very similar or at least official looking so you still think your computer is protected.

2. When were the virus definitions last updated? Your antivirus software can only protect you from threats that it knows about. In the past it was acceptable to have your antivirus software check for updates once a week, now there are enough new threats every day that you need new virus definitions at least daily. If something has stopped you from getting updates for the last two days then you need to know it, and you need to find out why because the software's ability to protect your computer becomes seriously degraded with each day that goes by. Is some piece of malicious software interfering with the update process or is the company's website just temporarily down or overloaded? Or maybe there was a bug in the last update that broke the updater and you need to manually download the next update from the company's website in order to fix the problem.

3. Is it the most current version of the software that is available? While virus definition updates happen automatically, updates to the software itself often have to be done manually, and with many companies you may have to pay for the new version. I often work on computers that are running a 4-year-old version of the antivirus software, and the owners don't realize it. Most of the time updated virus definitions were also discontinued because the manufacturer no longer expects anyone to be using the software. The antivirus industry is changing daily and 4-year-old software will not protect you well. Today's antivirus software protects you in a lot of ways that older software didn't. There is an ongoing race between bad software that tries to find ways around your antivirus software and the antivirus companies trying to stop them every time they learn of a new trick.

4. When does the license expire? Especially if this is commercial software that you have to pay for, most of the time it will stop functioning entirely when the license expires.

   1. Will the license automatically renew? Or do you have to download a new version or go online and order a new license key to renew it?
   2. If it happens automatically and they charge your bank account or credit card automatically then what do you have to do to stop those charges if you stop using the software? They don't check to make sure your copy is still in use, they simply setup their billing system to charge you after a given time period. If you do cancel a service watch your bank statements and make sure it was actually cancelled. Some companies are bad about continuing to charge you unless you follow exactly the right steps to cancel.

5. How do you know the software is any good to begin with? Are you just using it because that is what came with your computer? Did you get an email saying that it was really good or see an ad on a website and decide to give it a try? Did your friend tell you it was good? There are many different choices out there and some of them are next to worthless including some of the most well-known choices. There is also software that will do a great job of protecting your computer, but is also very bloated and will slow your computer down to the point that it is almost unuseable. There are also literally hundreds of fake antivirus programs out there that are actually trojans that infect your computer with other viruses. You need to make an informed decision. There are a number of independent sites that track and compare antivirus software so you can make your own decisions:

   • http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
   • http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/main-tests/summary-reports
   • http://www.av-test.org
   • http://www.virusbtn.com

   Or check with a computer professional and see what they recommend. I follow the above sites regularly as well as many other sources of industry news. I also know my personal experiences based on what software I see installed on customer's machines, whether it is working, what infections it missed, and what software I was able to use to find those missed infections and remove them. My current recommendation is Antivir from http://www.avira.com. They offer a basic version that is free for personal use and is great at protecting you from viruses as long as it is teamed with a good firewall and good antispyware software. I recommend using different products for each because I haven't found any one company that is the best at all three. However, if you prefer to have everything all in one place then pay for their premium version which will include features to cover antivirus, firewall, and spyware protection. Other good programs are AVG from http://www.grisoft.com and BitDefender from http://www.bitdefender.com. While they both still offer excellent protection, I have found that recent versions of both programs use a lot more resources and slow your computer down quite a bit for the same level of protection that you get from Avira Antivir. Avast and Nod32 also make excellent products, but I don't recommend them to people because they are much less user friendly. It can be hard to make sure that they are working correctly and updating regularly.

One last thing I need to cover here is the use of pirated or cracked versions of antivirus software. Sometimes people do this intentionally and sometimes they are misled by third party sites or fake advertisements. I've even seen misguided computer professionals install cracked antivirus software. There are a number of reasons that this is a bad idea. Let's start with the obvious, would you trust the meth addict down the road that broke into your house last year to install new locks and an alarm system for you? That is the same thing you are doing if you trust pirated antivirus software. You are trusting a criminal to have only broken the licensing feature, but left everything else intact and working correctly. Since this is what protects your computer from the bad things in the world, it isn't a gamble I'd like to take. Some of the pirated software that I've found on people's computers not only didn't check the license, but in order to do that also didn't actually download updates. Much of it was several versions old and there weren't actually updates available. I've also found computers which had a supposed lifetime subscription to Symantec antivirus that were running a program that did not match anything Symantec has ever offered and, as far as I could tell, did nothing. That brings us to how people are often misled. Usually it is a lifetime subscription if you buy through a certain website or company. If you run across such a deal it is almost definitely too good to be true. I have not found any antivirus manufacturer that offered a lifetime subscription.