Every once in awhile, I will come across someone who insists on not running anti-virus software because “it slows down my PC.”

Although I will agree that anti-virus software does slow down a PC significantly, in my opinion, the benefits to an Internet-connected Windows PC outweigh the performance loss.

To be completely fair though, I do not advocate the use of “everything” security packages. The vast majority of these seem intent on locking down your PC so tight, no one – including you – can use it. These security packages tend to include a lot of software I find redundant and unnecessary, such as:

• Firewall – Both Windows XP and Vista come with perfectly adequate firewalls for the normal home user. In fact, most home users don’t even need a firewall on their PCs, because most are protected by a gateway device using NAT. As for business users, your network administrator should have a hardware-based solution, if not, call me.
• SPAM protection – In order to filter the SPAM form your mail, these packages must download it first. If you have to download it anyway, what’s the point? The idea is to prevent it from ever hitting the inbox. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and hosting providers have server-based tools to allow you to prevent the junk from getting to your box, as well as providing you a way to check the junk folder for anything useful that might have slipped in there. If your hosting provider isn’t filtering or your ISP doesn’t offer filtering, it’s time to find a new one.
• Spyware/Adware protection – these types of programs are usually downloaded on impulse. That new screensaver or weather program looks so neat you just have to install it. A day later, you’re wondering why you have pop-ups for Viagra all of the sudden. Dealing with these problems is an as-occurs situation and precious system resources shouldn’t be expended looking for Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) all the time. Spybot – Search & Destroy is an excellent, free program just for this purpose.
• Identity protection/Antiphishing/Backup/Web Protection – I lump all this together, because I don’t believe any of these products should be coming from your anti-virus vendor. I like the idea of my anti-virus programmer concentrating on how to keep viruses out of my machine, not on how to protect me from my own stupidity. “Do one thing, and do it well,” is part of the Unix philosophy, but it applies to any program. There are plenty of free products out to handle these issues and if you really wan to pay for them that bad, I’m sure someone will sell you a program to do one of the above.

Back to the task at hand. For home users, there are several high-quality, free, anti-virus solutions. Did I mention, they’re free? Yes, AVG is just one (and my preferred) of the many anti-virus companies that has figured out that home users are the number one source of virus infections, and that if they eliminate the home user threat, the likely-hood of a paying business customer becoming infected goes down dramatically. Now you’re not going to get advanced features like scan scheduling and multiple updates, but do you really care? No, you just know you need to be protected. So do it.

If you’re a business user, please do not install any of the free anti-virus products on your business PCs. None of them I’ve looked at make allowances for business use and for good reason. If they give away their best product, how are they going to be in business to provide you with updates? Business class programs come with advanced features you’ll probably want anyway, such as: centralized administration, email notification, custom scan settings, etc. The features are vital for keeping your business PCs in top shape.

One final note, if you’ve ever spent a single day down because of a virus, you probably lost more money that day than you would have spent on anti-virus software for your entire office. If you need a quote, please call. I’ll be happy to get you a quote to fit your needs, free of charge, complete with contact information, so you can buy direct from the vendor.