Sorting Through the Antivirus and Spyware Mess

As the owner of a local PC repair business, nearly 80% of what I do is removing viruses and spyware. Customers are constantly asking me which antivirus program they should be using and why the one they already had installed wasn’t doing the job. They’re confused by the myriad of choices out there (just do a google search for “antivirus” and you’ll see hundreds of different programs). Viruses are the number one reason for a computer running slower than it should and can even cause complete system crash, so it’s extremely important to have the right programs to protect your computer.

Just Because You Paid Money for it Doesn’t Mean it Will Work

Paying $20-$40 or more for an antivirus program does not guarantee that it will do the job intended. The fact is, some companies are producing antivirus software that doesn’t really do anything. Not only are some of these programs nearly useless, they can be detrimental to your computer as well.

A while back, my father was having a serious virus problem with his desktop computer. He opted to buy antivirus software online and try fixing the problem himself. After a quick Google search, my dad bought a program for around $30 and installed it. What happened next was pure frustration. The virus problem didn’t go away and, in fact, his computer situation got much worse.

After this incident, I decided to run some tests of my own. I searched the internet and used the “free scan” feature that some antivirus companies. Not surprisingly, every free scan I ran came up with dozens of supposed viruses. When I searched the locations of the supposed viruses on my hard drive I found nothing. They were completely making it up.

So Which Antivirus Software is the Best?

There is no single antivirus program that will keep your computer squeaky clean and always running at top speed. The fact is that you should have at least 2 good antivirus programs on your PC to really get rid of all the viruses and spyware. Different programs catch different problems.

Which programs do I use in my computer repair business? Some of the antivirus/spyware software that I use most frequently are Spybot Search & Destroy, Malwarebytes’, and Avast (all of which are free by the way). If you have a question whether an antivirus program is the best for your PC, call a good computer repairman and ask whether they would use it.