Adirondack Computer Services

Is it worth paying for virus protection? – Part 2

If you have a business, or if you make purchases on line a complete suite is a better alternative. Technical support will prove essential should a virus bring down your computers. Also features that allow you to block certain types of sites can keep employees and children from getting into trouble. You’ll also get warnings about phishing (pronounced fishing) attempts.

If you do not have children, a business, or make purchase online, or visit fringe web categories perhaps a free version is good enough. Be aware however that you will need to exercise care when selecting sites.

If you download and install a free antivirus application, then you need to be more careful than people who have a complete suite when you're online. You need to be sure not to open links in strange emails or fall for false ads on malicious websites, or even click the first link that comes up in searches. In other words, if you don’t know if it’s a threat don’t click it.

Again, whether you go the free route or not don't just click on the first thing you see, whether it's a pop-up ad or the result of a search. Often malicious programs looking to infect a PC by looking like something you would be interested in.. Stick with a well know application and you should be OK.