Viruses have become increasingly prevalent on our computers in recent years, and not having anti-virus software can cause serious damage. They can steal your personal data for use and sale, or worse still, delete it completely from your computer. Imagine all your data (family photos, documents) encrypted with no way of recovering it. This was the experience of 330,000 SMEs worldwide in 2023.
The 3 best antivirus programs on the market
Choosing the right antivirus software can be tricky, as there are so many out there with so many different features. Here are just a few of the antivirus products I recommend.
1. ESET Home Security Premium
ESET Home Security offers some of the most effective real-time protection on the market. The optimization of the security suite is also a huge advantage. It works in the background, with an almost imperceptible impact on the system. This is a solution that has the advantage of appealing to both novices and experienced technophiles, who can access countless options for customizing settings. On the other hand, we regret that prices are still higher than average.
ESET remains in the hearts of power users, and we’ll continue to recommend it to those looking for a suite focused on the essentials. ESET Home Security Premium adds a new layer of protection: LiveGuard. This consists of running emerging threats in a sandbox in the cloud, and its impact seems to be quite noticeable.
In terms of its impact on Windows performance, ESET Home Security remains at an excellent level, confirming its appeal for users looking for a lightweight, non-intrusive security suite.
2. Bitdefender Total Security
There’s no change to the suite’s protection layers, which still combine the cloud with behavioral analysis thanks to Advanced Threat Defense protection. Viruses, Trojans, Rootkits, as well as ransomware and fraudulent websites, are all effectively detected.
In the more specific case of ransomware, which has been in the news several times in recent years, Bitdefender offers a module dedicated to blocking and remediating ransomware. The suite also offers solid protection against network attacks with its Network Threat Prevention. Around these modules, protection against system, web and online payment vulnerabilities is just as robust and functional.
Functionality is not lacking: beyond simple threat protection, there’s a digital safe, a firewall, a password manager and a VPN, in neat, well-integrated modules.
3. Kaspersky Premium
Kaspersky still protects its users just as well, and does so with a revised interface and features as rich as ever.
With Premium, Kaspersky bids farewell to its aging interface for a brand-new facade that arranges each module by category and transforms the home page into a dashboard with all relevant information.
Once again, there’s not much to say about Kaspersky, since nothing has fundamentally changed in the robust protection it offers, and this tried-and-tested formula still delivers excellent results.
Windows Defender: protection provided by Windows
Windows has a built-in antivirus program that protects you fairly well from malware, is completely free and is constantly updated to protect your computer. If you have simple computer use, don’t make online payments and your data is backed up on an external hard drive or cloud, you don’t need state-of-the-art protection.
Even though it’s free, the service regularly tops the rankings of the best-performing antivirus products, according to AV-Test and AV-Comparatives, the benchmark testing laboratories. As a result, Microsoft Defender ranks among the best free antivirus products on the market in 2024.
