【+23 Free and Paid Antivirus for Computer and Mobile】List ▷ 2022

The growth of computer systems and technology has been immense and thanks to this, a large number of programs have emerged that simplify the day-to-day development of its users. However, despite the notable efforts made by security agencies and software development companies, the viruses continue to stay in them.

In this way, malicious programs are still a threat to all users, since they can cause damage to their private information, as well as their devices. Taking into account that, there is still no solution with the ability to eradicate the scourge of malware and its fearsome consequences on computers and devices.

However, despite the fact that there is no definitive fix for this, you can make use of other alternatives that allow you to run your tasks with relative safety and browse the Internet freely. Thus, the most effective alternative, are the antivirus available for all devices and then we detail all the information regarding this.

What is an antivirus and how do these computer programs work?

For many years, viruses and malware, like all threats of this type; stalk Internet users and can be contracted in different ways, taking into account that manage to enter your computers or devices in a sophisticated and treacherous way. But, in order to avoid this, the famous .

In this sense, an antivirus can be defined as a set of programs that show the ability to protect your computer, your mobile or tablet; from any damage that may be caused by malicious software, programs or applications. Thus, this name has its origin in the fact that it is about a tool designed to combat, originally.

Now, beyond managing to combat these viruses and eliminate them, antiviruses also They are in charge of maintaining the operating systems. and cover innumerable functions, at present. Taking into account that, today, they are advanced solutions with all the power to detect any malwaresuch as: trojans, worms, keyloggers, adware, spyware, etc.

On the other hand, regarding its operation, antivirus work in the background reviewing each file that is opened on the computer or device where they are installed. Thus, it proceeds to compare these files with a database that contains to find out if there are any of these threats, in a highly efficient way.

In addition to this, antiviruses also deal with scan entire computer hard drive and in this way, they are very useful to repair a computer that is already infected and detect properly, what is the fault.

What are the most important features that an antivirus program should have?

Now, despite the fact that there are countless antivirus solutions on the market, not all of them are so effective. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the most relevant characteristics that an antivirus must exhibit when choosing it, so that it managed to do a good job of detecting and avoiding all the variety of viruses and malware that appear.

Next, the main and most essential features of an antivirus program:

Ability to detect and react to a new virus: An optimal antivirus should not be limited only to the detection of some types of malicious programs, that is to say, it is important that it manages to search for and exterminate any kind of threat that comes your way.
Ensure real-time protection: Given that computers are online all the time, it is valuable that antivirus programs manage to protect you from any threat in real time and not only when you are the one who orders the action to be taken.
systematic update: Although not all have this function, the truth is that there are already many solutions with the ability to update systematically, in order to provide you with complete and optimal assistance.
Must have verification options: Verify that the antivirus you are going to use can be configured to perform deep and quick checks at the same time. Additionally, it should offer you options for scanning locations.
Minimal memory usage: In order for other activities to be executed normally even when the antivirus is running, it is important that the solution in question uses little memory and works in the background without revealing any problems.
Email protection: The best virus and malware protection software should be integrated into the email management programs, in order to prevent users from being contaminated with threats contained in the messages received.

Other features of interest

Minimum detection of false positives or false viruses.
Creation of emergency or rescue disks.
Boot verification and possible changes in the application registry.
Great disinfection capacity.
Alerts about a possible infection through different entry routes, such as: Internet, email, network and/or floppy disks.
Presence of different detection and analysis methods.

Is it really the best and most useful to use an antivirus? Advantages and disadvantages of doing so

On the other hand, much has been questioned about the use of antivirus on computers and for this reason, users do not know if it is really useful to use this computer security tool or not. Given this doubt, it should be noted that it is considered very helpful to use an antivirus, currently; but also depends on the case.

In this sense, if it is a personal computer that is only used by its owner and no other person has access to it, the requirement of an antivirus software is not that important. Well, it will simply be necessary if the owner’s usage habits so request.

That way, it will be more relevant than the person use the equipment responsibly and avoid infecting the system with malware. But, in case you have irresponsible browsing habits and do not take into account certain parameters to stay safe from these threats, installing a virus will be extremely decisive and essential.

For its part, it is worth noting that, if the case is based on a shared computer, the use of an antivirus will be a totally essential rule. Since, not all users will execute the same tasks or have the same knowledge about computer security to prevent virus infection. In such a way that, to avoid any risk, installing an optimal antivirus is more than useful.

Advantage

Among other things, to better understand the usefulness displayed by antivirus software, It is worth specifying what are the advantages that these reveal, mainly.

Next, the ones with the highest value:

ensures virus protection and thus, it will prevent threats such as Trojans, malware and spyware from entering; on your computer or device.
Offers identity theft protectionso it can prevent the illegal use of personal identity to commit crimes.
reveal great comfort, since you will not have to be worrying about the safety of your equipment. Taking into account that, with the appropriate antivirus activated and working, you will simply receive a notification that a virus has been detected and will ask you if you want to remove it.
There are antivirus solutions very cheap and even free. So, they allow you to save money while protecting you.
Many antiviruses provide parental control and thanks to this, you will be able to protect the little ones in the house by monitoring how much time they spend online and limiting the downloads or the sites they can visit, for example.

Disadvantages

However, the use of an antivirus is not always as effective as it seems and for this reason, it is necessary to know What are the main disadvantages or cons of this type of tools?:

Having antivirus software installed with multiple detection methods is not enough. Therefore, these tools they don’t protect you completely.
In many cases, these programs can decrease the performance of your computer or networksince many use a significant amount of memory on the computer and space on the hard drive, which is why they end up slowing down the system.
Some antivirus software cannot use all existing detection methods and because of this, reveal limited detection techniques and, consequently, they will not be able to locate all the threats that access the computer.
Wide variety of these solutions does not have real-time analysisso its operation can be very tedious for users and it will not offer complete coverage in terms of security.
It is probable that several antivirus present errors and flag malicious files when they really aren’t; thus showing poor performance.

Types of antivirus How are these software classified?

Additionally, it is also opportune to identify which are all the types of antivirus that exist and with this, specify how these computer security tools are classified.

Next, we present each of the types of antivirus, according to various aspects, with its main characteristics:

According to your category

One of the classifications of antivirus software is based on the category or condition that it reveals, which is linked to its way of acting and the place where it is installed:

active antivirus: Although this program cannot provide constant protection, it runs and works based on some kind of action continuously.
passive antivirus: Although it is always installed on the computer, it does not show permanent operation or protection.
offline antivirus: It is installed on the computer mainly for its protection and also for the detection of threats and to remove any malicious applications.
online antivirus: Performs the analysis directly from the Internet, since it is not installed on the computer. Thus, it is used only to find out if there is a virus on the computer.

According to its function

Because the various functions with which these programs can comply in their fight to identify any computer threat and suppress it, They are also classified according to their purpose:

detectors: They are responsible for notifying users of the presence of a known virus. But, it is only the user who can fix the problem to get rid of the present infection.
Eliminators-repairers: Its objective is based on eliminating the threats from the affected parts of the system and, in addition to that, they manage to repair the computer to return it to normality.
heuristics: They are a kind of simulator, because they are in charge of pretending the execution of programs in order to be able to see how they behave and from that, they identify suspicious situations.
Immunizers: They have the ability to anticipate the entry or attack of any malicious program. In this way, they are in charge of monitoring the execution of the applications, copying the files and formatting the…