An antivirus program is critical to keeping your computer safer from cyber threats, including viruses, malware, spyware, and everything else you can run into online. Your computer is probably an important part of your life. Besides using it for entertainment and to stay connected, many also use their computers for business. The bottom line is that you need your computer functioning properly, and you don’t want cybercriminals stealing your information. Before you make your decision on how you’ll protect your computer, you should learn about the disadvantages of a free antivirus program.
Is Free Antivirus Worth it?
While free antivirus is better than nothing, it does not offer the best protection. Most of the time, free antivirus will cover the most known computer viruses. However, it will not protect you against much else. Because computer viruses are constantly evolving, employing only the most basic level of protection may leave you vulnerable to dangerous threats that could steal your sensitive information. So a free antivirus is better than no antivirus, but your goal should be to download the most top-notch software on the market.
What is the Difference Between Free and Paid Antivirus?
The main difference between free antivirus and paid antivirus is their level of protection. While you may get the basic protection from free antivirus that will cover the most common threats, free antivirus will not protect you from more advanced threats.
Additionally, you may only get to have one device covered with free antivirus. While some people only need one device covered, this may not be the best option for larger families or individuals who need to protect multiple devices. With paid antivirus, however, you will likely be able to cover more than one device.
Finally, you do have more control and features with a paid antivirus. With basic protection, you automatically get the few features provided. But with a paid version, you have more control over your private data and sensitive online activities, such as finances and passwords.
Advantages of Paid Antivirus
Virus Protection
The viruses will not only cause damages to your data, it also degrades the overall system performance. All of them can happen without your knowledge. The antivirus software installed on your computer detects and removes these malwares before they cause any harms to your computer.
Spyware Protection
Spyware as the name suggests is a kind of malware that spies on your computer stealing all the confidential information’s. These details also include credit card details, passwords, and other financial data. This ultimately leads to identity theft. The antivirus software has the capability to prevent these kinds of spyware attacks.
Web Protection
While surfing the internet, users can come across various other forms of threats. In an untrustworthy site, cyber attackers can gather your credit card and bank account details. One of the ways to overcome this is by using an antivirus software. Using antivirus program, you can protect your valuable information’s while surfing the web.
Spam Protection
Viruses can also enter your computer through means of spam emails and ads. These emails and ads can show up many times even if you have no interest in it. Once the virus finds the way to sneak into your PC it causes irreversible damages. An Antivirus works by the way of blocking these spam emails and ads.
Firewall Feature
Most antivirus programs include a firewall feature in them. Antivirus program with firewall feature ensures 2-way protection to your PC. This means that whatever the information that is sent or received will be double checked here. Therefore, no hackers can dig any personal information’s from your system.
Cost Effective
Even though there are many premium versions of antivirus programs for a monthly/yearly subscription fee, there are some antivirus programs those are completely free of charge. These kinds of antivirus programs offer almost the same level of protection provided by the subscription based. Even if you choose to afford a premium version, they are relatively inexpensive.
Disadvantage of Free Antivirus
Lack of Complete Virus Protection
Free antivirus isn’t the best choice when you want to protect your computer completely. You should not rely entirely on your free antivirus, especially when you’re visiting unknown or dangerous websites. Downloading unrecognized or unknown programs for your computer also compromise security as free antivirus can only detect common viruses. New trojans, spyware, and worms are being released every single day, and free antiviruses cannot detect specific viruses that are strong enough to bypass regular antivirus security checks. Free antivirus just scans limited and typical viruses, which can cause an inconvenient situation if it were to happen.
Frequent Advertisements
Apart from premium versions of antivirus programs, through some means the free antivirus software’s needs to generate an income. Advertising is one of the ways to achieve them. Many at times these advertisements degrade user experience by showing up every time.
Slower Scanning
Although the quality of the scanning process is usually more or less equal to services, offered by paid tools, the free software limits the speed of the process. To encourage users to purchase a free version, developers implement a slower detection process. However, since most of the scanning is done in the background mode, this disadvantage is not a dealbreaker.
Conclusion
When considering all the pros and cons, there are clear advantages to both free and paid for packages. With free you get a virus protection system that will ensure that your PC or laptop remains clear of virus’s that may damage your system or compromise your private data. It is effective and, of course, free.With the paid option, you will benefit from all the advantages of the free system, plus many additions, such as firewall protection, performance enhancing software and anti-spyware, to name but a few.
It depends on what you want from your virus protection system. However, it is always worth discussing it with an expert who can advise you, based on your computer system and what you feel are the most important features dependent on your internet usage. Contact Us!!!
