What is the best antivirus?

If you have already thought about computer security and have chosen an antivirus program, you have probably read user reviews on the Internet.

Any user would like to install on their computer best antivirus, providing 100% protection against viruses and other malicious software. That is, the ideal antivirus is one that installs and forgets about all the dangers forever. The best antivirus should not bother you with various pop-ups, but should simply quietly do its job, protecting your computer 100% from viruses and other evil spirits.

I hasten to disappoint everyone who wants to find the best antivirus. " The best antivirus"does not exist and cannot exist. There is a completely logical explanation for this, but I would not like to go into all the technical aspects. Next, I will tell you only the most important things that every computer user should understand.

Proof that the best antivirus does not exist can be found in the comments of the users themselves, which they leave on various forums on the Internet. In these comments, some praise certain antiviruses, while others at the same time accuse these programs of being unreliable and allowing viruses and Trojans to pass through.

Unfortunately, most of these comments are left by people who have a very vague understanding of antivirus software and draw conclusions about it only by comparing one antivirus with another.

« Well, yes", you say, " if one antivirus missed the Trojan, and the second one detected it, then the second one is more reliable" But this statement is only half true, or even less!

Have you ever wondered how viruses are scanned?

And the search principle is quite simple. The antivirus passes the code of running or downloaded files through itself. Thus, using certain algorithms, the antivirus searches for suspicious sections of code in the file and, if they are detected, they are compared with the information stored in the antivirus database. If the information matches, the antivirus issues a warning that such and such a virus or malicious software has been detected and even indicates its name taken from the database.

But viruses are created every day and in huge quantities. We are not talking about dozens, but about thousands of new computer viruses created every day. Not one anti-virus program simply physically cannot have all existing viruses in its anti-virus database, much less update the database every day to such an extent. However, this problem has been partially solved.

In order to prevent an unknown virus from entering your computer, antivirus developers create special algorithms that allow you to analyze file codes and identify potentially dangerous areas. Every modern antivirus is equipped with a so-called heuristic code analyzer. This module uses certain algorithms to analyze files in search of malicious code.

If such a piece of code is found, the antivirus warns about it, indicating the danger in the message. But few people read these messages, right? If a message appears, then for most users this means that a virus has been found! But is this really so?

Each antivirus software developer's heuristic analyzer works differently. You could say that this is trade secret every developer.

I hope you understand that such an analyzer can just guess that some part of the file code is malicious. He cannot guarantee this 100%. Therefore, claims that some new and as yet unknown antivirus found viruses where everyone knows Kaspersky, Avast or Dr.Web They remained silent, which means that the unknown antivirus is better, it only makes me smile.

It is on the basis of the readings of heuristic analyzers that narrow-minded users conclude that one antivirus is better than another. But let's face it. Unknown antivirus programs are developed by unknown programmers who may have some experience in the field of protection, but it is not at all comparable to such monsters as Kaspersky Lab or ESET NOD32, who have been professionally dealing with protection issues for decades.

Very often, developers of new antiviruses “play it safe,” as a result of which their creations block any files whose code they “didn’t like” for some reason.

Even well-known manufacturers sometimes use algorithms in their heuristic code analyzers that block completely reliable files.

Here is an example from my personal experience. In the early 2000s I used free antivirus Avira. This is an antivirus from a German company, which is one of the oldest antivirus developers and to this day their products are among the best in their class. At that time, another service pack, that is, an update, was released for the operating system Windows 2000 and I downloaded it from the official Microsoft website, but Avira blocked this update, accusing it of being a Trojan...

Of course, there will be people who, based on this case, will conclude that Microsoft is distributing Trojans with the goal of taking over all the computers in the world :) There have always been and will always be fans of the “big conspiracy” theory. But let's face it - this antivirus's heuristic analyzer failed. Neither Kaspersky, neither Dr.Web, neither NOD32 no threat was detected...

Therefore, it is very important to understand that the heuristic analyzer only assumes the presence of a virus that is not listed in anti-virus databases. This assumption is based on special algorithms based on certain characteristics. The antivirus itself “conjectures” that the code being scanned is viral.

Besides the antivirus often only warns you about the presence of a suspicious file, but users rarely understand the messages that the antivirus produces and immediately conclude that the file is infected.

Now let's talk about the reliability of antiviruses.

There are independent laboratories that test antivirus software and provide summary tables of test results.

You can find similar tests on your own on the Internet, for example, on the website of the independent Russian information and analytical center for information security - anti maLware.ru.

After studying the tests, you will understand that Even well-known antivirus systems make mistakes. They miss viruses and Trojans, and cannot cure all infected files. Many well-known antiviruses have passed the virus detection test with a very high rate of 99% or so, but there is always 1% left that was not detected and this is very important to understand!

So how do you choose the best antivirus?

I hope that you already understand that there are simply no better antiviruses!

Remember, the protection that any antivirus program provides is just 10-30% of protection for your entire system!

Therefore, I can only give one piece of advice on choosing anti-virus protection - it should be a product from one of the world's leading anti-virus software developers.

Which one exactly? This question is very individual and I suggest you study the ratings of antivirus programs yourself, for example, on the website of the independent information security center anti maLware.ru or any other, and choose an antivirus from the market leaders.

In conclusion, I’ll just say that I myself have used many of the well-known antiviruses - Kaspersky, Avira, sh, Norton Internet Security, NOD 32, but I’ve been using antivirus protection for three years now Avast, both in free and paid versions.

Don't miss the opportunity to do a good deed: