All software that runs on your computer will naturally place some load on the computer’s resources. Antivirus software is no exception to this rule. That’s why it’s important to choose an antivirus solution that delivers a suitable level of computer protection — without significantly affecting computer performance.

Ensuring an adequate level of protection against malware

In order to protect your computer, your antivirus program has to perform a wide range of activities, including:

• Opening files
• Reading data from those files
• Unpacking archives
• Scanning the files in order to detect malicious software
• Assessing the safety of websites — if your antivirus solution includes Internet protection features
• Managing and receiving antivirus database updates... and running many other anti-malware functions

To a certain extent, the more thorough your antivirus software is in scanning, detecting and neutralising malware — the more of your computer’s processing power is likely to be used. However, if you only base your selection of an antivirus product on how it affects your computer’s performance — and you don’t consider the level of protection that the product is capable of delivering — your computer could be highly vulnerable to computer viruses, worms and Trojan viruses.

Innovative technologies improve efficiency — without compromising security

Experience clearly shows that the fastest antivirus programs will often provide the weakest protection. Many such programs are much more likely to fail in detecting and preventing malware infections that other antivirus solutions will easily identify and neutralise.

There are also antivirus programs that run slowly, absorb a lot of computing resources and also fail to provide adequate protection.

However, there are antivirus solutions that use innovative technologies that help to minimise the impact on the computer’s resources — to preserve more of the system’s performance, while also delivering rigorous protection against malicious software and Internet threats.