Antivirus software are one of guarantees of long and complete operation of the computer and the operating system. Therefore they need to be installed first of all.
Protection against malicious applications
During an era of globalization and universal distribution of the Internet the computer is under continuous threat of impact on the system of different malicious applications which main goal is not only damage of the computer and a system, but also possession of different confidential data (passwords, logins, numbers of payment cards, etc.). All this forces PC users to look for reliable ways of protection of the computer against damages, and an antivirus - the very first defender.
Recovery of the PC
Many antivirus software, in addition to protection against malicious applications, possess the built-in tools on data backup from the hard drive of the computer and also means for their recovery. By means of the antivirus software the creation of recovery points and also creation of virtual "sandbox" which main goal is the separation of activity of the potential and dangerous program from activity of the operating system is possible. Therefore it is difficult to overestimate an antivirus role in daily operation of the PC.
The price of antiviruses fluctuates from several dollars to one hundred. At the same time they can differ not especially from each other in the functionality.
Control of security of a system
Any antivirus software has own base of anti-virus signatures. It is necessary in order that the antivirus possessed always the latest data on types of the malicious software. This base needs to be updated constantly therefore effective activity of antivirus software requires permanent connection to the Internet. It is necessary to check a system for presence of viruses and files which at start can damage the computer and a system regularly. For more effective protection against them many similar programs include the system of monitors which protect a system either in operating time, or during attempt of start of programs.
Often anti-virus packages included firewalls - the programs serving to defenders from hacker network attacks.
Choice of an antivirus
To install a question of what antivirus on the computer, always is ambiguous. On the one hand, it should not slow down activity of a system, and with another - should protect from all potential threats reliably. There is a big set of both paid, and free programs of such level. Among paid software products from Kaspersky Lab and also software with the name Dr.Web are the most known. Such programs are spoken well by continued technical support of users, participation in actions and testing of new software, etc. But there are also free analogs, such as Avast!, Comodo Internet Security, Avira, etc. which quality does not concede to paid fellows.