There are a considerable number of companies that provide application solutions to virus, Trojan, & net worm assaults. It can be confusing when you compare four different application packages from four different companies looking for the one that is best for you. With that in mind, there’s several very important things that you require to think about when choosing antivirus application:
1) How often/fast are the virus definitions updated. You require the answer to be “As soon as a brand spanking new threat is found”.
2) Are the virus definitions updated automatically by the application? You require the answer to be “YES”.
3) Are you able to configure the application to check for updates every time you go online? You require the answer to be “YES”.
4) Is the application “smart” so that it can find viruses it doesn’t even know about yet? You require the answer to be “YES”.
5) Can it scan incoming & outgoing electronic mail automatically? You require the answer to be “YES”.
6) Are you able to configure it once to perform automatic scans of your whole computer on a regular schedule? You require the answer to be “YES”.
7) Does it provide a way to ‘clean out’ any viruses etc. that are found? You require the answer to be “YES”.
8) Are upgrades to the application package performed automatically, regularly, & at no cost? You require the answer to be “YES”.


There’s a few major players in the field that you ought to know about in order to make an informed decision about which antivirus application solution to buy & use. There’s Norton Antivirus, Trend Micro’s PC-cillin, & McAfee Antivirus. Sophos & Grisoft’s AVG are also very god choices. All of the top antivirus solutions will provide each of the seven points above (& more).
There’s a few smaller players on the market as well. In lots of cases they are nice. However, most of the smaller players in this market don’t have the resources (yet) to keep up with constantly changing virus threats. For now I would recommend staying away from them. Not because they are poor products, but because they are not able to consistently provide each of the seven requirements above.
The first few days after a brand spanking new virus appears are often when it can do the most destroy. The earlier you get an update the better. The sizable 3 will provide automatic updates to new threats usually within days of a brand spanking new virus being found. Sophos & AVG are similar. Smaller players may take several days to provide updates, which are often not automatic.
This ought to be basic information to help you on your way to choosing a nice antivirus application.