How to Choose the Best Antivirus Program for Your Computer
There are many different types of antivirus software. All come with different features and things they can do. This makes choosing the best antivirus program a daunting task. There are, however, certain steps to make the process a little easier and more streamlined. It takes a lot of research and time, but when the antivirus program of your choosing finally protects your computer, it will all have been worth it.
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Instructions
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How To Choose the Best Antivirus Software for Your Computer
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1
Make a list of the different features you want the antivirus program to have, do or not do. Ask yourself some questions first. For example, what features are you looking for? Do you want it to auto scan the computer? Do you want it to delete viruses automatically? Do you want to look at the files first? Do you want the program to not scan something in particular?
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2
Make a list of different possible antivirus programs to consider. Two good sites--Top10Reviews.com and TechMixer.com--list their opinions of the best antivirus programs. Evaluate your features list against the lists of features of the different security software. Pick a few, usually no less than three, to evaluate.
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3
Read users' reviews of the particular software you have chosen by searching for the name of the antivirus program on Reviews.CNet.com, or Top10Reviews.com. These are reliable and trusted sources of consumer information. Use these reviews to help choose which software to evaluate.
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4
Download the antivirus software you have chosen to evaluate from their respective websites. Click on the "Download" link then click the "Save" button on the dialogue box that appears to save the program to your desktop so you can find it easily when it is time to install it. Do this for each antivirus program you chose to evaluate.
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5
For Windows XP users: Install the antivirus software by going to your desktop, double clicking the software's icon and then clicking the "Run" button when the install Wizard appears. Follow directions for the setup and install the software. When the install Wizard finishes, click the "Finish" button and the software is ready to use. The program will automatically open to change the options on how you want it to run.
For Windows Vista users: After you click the "Run" button, the Administrative options will appear asking if you trust and want to run the program. Click on the option that allows you to do so. Only then will the Install Wizard appear. Then follow the directions. When the install Wizard finishes, click the "Finish" button and the software is installed and ready to use. The program will automatically open to change the options on how you want it to run.
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6
Evaluate the software when it opens by setting the options you prefer and running a full scan. Observe whether it does what you want it to do based on your list. With every stage of the software, evaluate how it performs against your list.
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7
Uninstall the software when you are finished evaluating it. Click on the "Start" button, "Control Panel" and "Add/Remove Programs" to produce a list of all installed software programs on your computer. When you find the name of the antivirus software you evaluated, highlight the entry by clicking on the name and then click the "Change/Remove" button to uninstall the program. A dialogue box will appear asking if you are sure. Click the "Yes" button to continue uninstalling the program.
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8
Repeat Steps 4 to 6 for each antivirus software you have chosen to evaluate.
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9
Choose the antivirus software you want to install based on the results of your evaluations. Compare the lists of evaluation results to the list of features you created in step one. Choose the one you think is best.
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10
Install the antivirus software you chose. Do this by following Step Four again. When it is finished installing, choose your settings.
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Tips & Warnings
Evaluate at least three different antivirus programs as you want to make sure you have all the information you need to make an educated decision. You also might want to have someone else recommend antivirus software. Satisfied software users are the best source of information.
While you can download more than one program to the desktop, only install and evaluate one at a time. Some programs cannot run simultaneously because of incompatibility problems. These problems can cause one program to detect the other as a virus itself, or can cause the computer to freeze up or stop working.
