If you thought that you don’t need Antivirus software and you are safe because you don’t visit dodgy websites, think again. I used to think that I knew quite a lot about computers & security and knew what not to click and what not to download from the internet, to keep myself safe from viruses and hackers.

But I was wrong; my computer got a nasty virus 2 years ago, even though I was a cautious browser.

Security update: On Friday, May 12, 2017, the world was alarmed to discover that cybercrime had achieved a new record. In a widespread ransomware attack that hit organizations in more than 100 countries within the span of 48 hours

What Is WannaCry?

WannaCry, WanaCrypt or Wcry for short, is ransomware that works like other malware of its type, with a few intricacies that highlight the sophistication of its operators.

Wanna Cry Ransomware Guidelines to stay safe :

• Be careful to click on harmful links in your emails.

• Be wary of visiting unsafe or unreliable sites.

• Never click on a link that you do not trust on a web page or access to Facebook or messaging applications such as WatSab and other applications.

• If you receive a message from your friend with a link, ask him before opening the link to confirm, (infected machines send random messages with links).

• Keep your files backed up regularly and periodically.

• Be aware of fraudulent e-mail messages that use names similar to popular services such as PayePal instead of PayPal or use popular service names without commas or excessive characters.

• Use anti virus and Always make have the last update.

• Make sure your windows have the last update close the gap.

I found out later that I had visited a reputed website that had got hacked, and they were distributing a virus to all their website visitors unknown to them. So I had caught a nasty virus on my computer while visiting this website and this virus would not go away.

My computer got infected by me just visiting this website and it took quite a few days to nail it down and clean it entirely from my computer by myself. I had to use three different tools and a whole week trialling out different software to get the job done. Luckily I didn’t have to re-install windows or something like that and lose any files in the process.

I decided right after this to get myself a decent antivirus and computer security product to save myself any future trouble. I have since used 2 trial products and 2 different brand full version antivirus + computer security products on my laptop and Desktop computer so I know how these software’s work and can compare the features they have. If you browse the internet regularly,  you need the best internet and security protection software.

Warning with infections received through EMAILS

Getting infected by opening emails from people you don’t know and clicking on dodgy links in an email can often get your computer infected. Learn to recognize EMAIL spam when you see it.

Mail services like Gmail do a great job filtering out most of it, but sometimes cleverly disguised ones can still slip through — and very often it’s a phishing message that can lead you to trouble by clicking a link that you shouldn’t be. The moral of the story, of course, is “look before you click.”

Before I got into more detail with different computer security software reviews below, I will tell you that I recommend both Norton Antivirus & AVG antivirus as first choices above others for ease of use and them being light on your computer (doesn’t hog your computer memory and slows it down).

You see your computer memory makes your computer work even faster and if there is some other program hogging your computer memory – then things are going to slow down, so this is important.

If you want to go by a feature to feature comparison then some Security software’s give you some nice features while some others will give you a totally different bonus features so they can even up in value in different ways.

With smartphones and tablets ownership on the rise, it is wise to consider if your security software will also be multi-device cover and cover your phone and tablet for viruses as well with the same purchased license.

In my opinion, this is one very important feature you need to look out for in your computer security product. Memory Hogging. Why would you install a antivirus software that hogs your computer memory and slows down everything on your computer, that too just to keep it safe?

I know Norton antivirus had problems with this long time ago, but hey have refined and improved it so much that it not only keeps your computer secure with ease now but hey have a really remodelled the whole user interface, which it makes it easy for any person to understand and much easier to use. They frequently auto-update your antivirus to keep your software updated to tackle any new virus and to keep your pc safe and secure.

I have put together this feature list and review below from my own personal experience using some of the products as well as reading other reviews from popular websites like CNET , http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/PC Advisor etc to give it an even and fair review.

What I think all basic Computer Security Antivirus software’s should have is listed below.

Antivirus – This feature is necessary. Your antivirus will protect you against not only all kinds of computer viruses, but also nasty stuff you can pick up while browsing websites and documents etc

Security – This is another feature that you will need to protect you from hackers, it involves anti-rootkit scans, Software firewall to stop hackers in their track.

Email & USB scan – Get emails that are dodgy, your software can scan emails for dodgy attachments and scan a USB when inserted into your computer.USB is sometimes infected and can spread computer viruses

Low computer memory usage – Your security product should not hog your computers running power and slow it down, just to keep it secure.

These are some basic features that are included in most computer security products and are present in Norton and AVG and others software’s listed here.

There are many paid anti-virus programs from such well-known names as Bit defender, McAfee, Norton/Symantec and Kaspersky Lab. Paid programs generally offer full-featured additional features, which can be helpful or just overkill, depending on what kind of computer owner you are — cautious or computer nerd owner. But they certainly do the job well due to being a fully paid version and you can choose what you want.

Below my review will list the software’s with price affordability an feature importance mainly and then drill down to the more pricey and multi-device cost options further down the list.

Multi-device security tools are becoming more popular, due to most people now having more than one gadget that needs security like a smartphone and a Laptop/desktop and possibly tablet or phablets. Check if your internet security software provider also caters to IOS specific devices. Today most top software providers cover both IOS and Android devices in addition to desktop computers

I have included well-known names like Norton , Mc Afee (read more on maverick previous OWNER/CEO John Mcafee ) which have been in this industry for years and also some not very well known ones ( IOLO , Kaspersky, Ashampoo) that are still as good or even better and do the job at an more affordable price.

Price comparison  with Deals Discounts for antivirus and computer security software

Norton™ AntiVirusPatented antivirus protection for your PC1 year protection for 1 PCBuy now $59.99

Most Household with children in today’s world will need a multiple device license due to the popularity of gadgets like smartphones &  tablets and so below are some security products with multi device security bundles.

Antivirus Computer Security Deals for multiple Devices

Norton 360™ Multi-Device Exclusive mix of patented protection for PCs, Mac® and mobile devices 1-year protection for up to 3 devices – Buy now $99.99   Norton 360™ Ultimate peace of mind for what you do online 1-year protection for up to 3 PCs – Buy now $129.99   Norton 360™ Multi-Device Exclusive mix of patented protection for PCs, Mac® and mobile devices 1-year protection for up to 5 devices – Buy Now $ 129.99   Norton™ Internet Security Features antivirus + advanced security features. Complete peace of mind for where you go and what you do online 1-year protection for up to 3 PCs Buy Now $ 99.

AVG Zen™ AVG Zen helps you to look after all your PC, Mac, & Android devices for your family. The zen Packages come with protection for unlimited devices and is suitable for larger families or larger groups or people with many gadgets. AVG Protection – Buy Now $82.99 (unlimited Devices edition) AVG Protection covers all your devices—and your family’s too Protect unlimited PC, Mac®, and AndroidTM devices Manage them all from a single screen Remotely scan from any PC or Android Find & lock your lost phone with anti-theft AVG Performance – Buy Now $50.99 Tunes up & clean up all your devices The 5-in-1 package lets you keep unlimited PC, Mac® & Android™ devices running smoothly & manage them all from one place – for FREE(30-day trial feature) AVG Ultimate – Buy Now $120.99 (suitable for bigger families or Groups) One simple subscription covers an unlimited number of PC, Mac® and Android™ devices with antivirus, tuneup and privacy. Unlimited downloads. Unlimited devices. Use as many as you want whenever you want to suit whatever devices you and your family have.

McAfee Total Protection™ ( for upto 3 Computers) Features Award-Winning Anti-Virus Protection Parental Controls and Web Safety Tools Spam and Dangerous Email Filter Normally $89.99 Buy Now $79.99 ($10 Off) McAfee All Access ( For PC, Mac, smartphone, and tablet)   Free yourself to enjoy all of your digital life with unlimited* protection for all the devices you rely on: PC, Mac, smartphone, and tablet. A few clicks in the cloud and your protection is ready. You can surf, search, shop, and socialize with confidence. Buy Now – $99.99

Kaspersky Total Security Multi-Device With just one license, Kaspersky Total Security – Multi-Device delivers our highest protection for your PCs, Mac computers & Android devices. Buy Now -$119.96(3 Device) You will now be able to protect all of your devices from Windows PC, Macs, and Android Tablets/Phones.

F-Secure – Awaiting information from the company for review

Eset – Awaiting information from the company for review

Before we go into further Price comparisons for security software for your smartphones, tablets or Apple smart devices, let us look into more detail of the features some of these software above actually offer. If you click the buy links it will take you to the page where you can get more extensive details of the features of that particular software, so I do recommend you read that before buying.

AVG Online Security + FREE DOWNLOAD Trial version

AVG is an international developer of Internet security and threat protection solutions for consumers, Small Business and small enterprises. They have more than 187 million active users being protected by their software.

AVG stops viruses before they even get to your PC. The files on your pc get checked before you open them, your Facebook links get checked before you click, your email before it gets to you and your websites before you visit them.

You get all these features with AVG:

– AntiVirus, AntiMalware (AVG Resident Shield)

– AVG Anti-Rootkit – AVG Email Scanner

– AVG Protective Cloud Technology

– AVG Community Protection Network

– AVG LinkScanner® Surf-Shield & AVG Social Networking Protection

AVG also offers a free trial version of their software which you can use and hen upgrade to full version if you like the software, which has led to it becoming one of the more popular security software’s today (try before you buy) – Get the free trial here . They also have a nice tune up utility that you can use to tune up your pc to get rid of un-necessary computer junk and make your pc run faster – check it out here

McAfee Anti Virus Security

With McAfee I like the way the give prominence to their money back guarantee and securing your digital life slogan, so I am going to feature that first.

Secure – Your Digital Life

The 2018 line up from McAfee frees you to surf, shop, bank, and socialize online with confidence.

Here is their Money back guarantee statement and below or the software highlights and features

Buy with Confidence

30-Day Money Back Guarantee If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied, just let us know within 30 days of purchase and get a full refund. That’s risk-free protection. Free Support You get free support for the duration of your subscription. Go here to learn more about McAfee’s support tools; including online and phone support.McAfee SECURE site This site is tested and certified daily to pass the “McAfee SECURE” Security Scan. Shopping at certified McAfee SECURE sites helps protect you from identify theft, credit fraud, adware, spam, and online scams.

Highlights & Features of MCAfee

Vulnerability Scanner— Find and seal up holes in Windows and your favourite browsers and applications to frustrate hackers and prevent infections.

Real-time Computer Protection— Block threats like viruses, Trojans, and spyware in your files, email, and web downloads using instant risk assessments

Bonus- PC Tune-up— Remove unused applications, cached browser files, and other junk to speed up your PC.

System shield from IOLO (CJ)

System Shield^™

Shield Your PC from Viruses and Dangerous Spyware^™

Works with Windows® 8, 7, Vista, and XP (Service Pack 3)

Protects against viruses
Finds and removes stubborn and dangerous PC infections, and permanently protects your system from all future attacks.

Won’t weigh down the system
Protects without unnecessary add-ons or background activities—and nearly zero resource consumption

Neutralizes threats quietly
Uses revolutionary technology to ensure real-time threat protection without interruptions.

You can also use – iolo AntiVirus^™ to block viruses, malware, Trojans, rootkits, bots and all other dangerous programs and threats. Iolo also has other great software’s like System Mechanic 14.5 Pro and Search and Recover

What users have to say about this software

“I absolutely love this security software from iolo! I had tried many other programs and was often left confused about how to work them, not so with this one. I love everything about it.”

– Debra C.

If your PC isn’t blazing along at the same pace it did when you first pressed the power button a few weeks, months, or years ago, you should invest in Iolo System Mechanic 14

– PC Magazine

Ashampoo antivirus

Ashampoo Anti-Virus 2018 provides real-time protection and it is heavy on security. It protects you against virus, trojan, spyware and other malware without slowing down your PC. Even zero-day threats are effectively neutralized using advanced behaviour blockers with Ashampoo Anti-Virus 2018.

Ashampoo Highights

– Real-time protection neutralizes attacks as they happen

– Multi-engine scanner with two scan engines for maximum accuracy

Ashampoo 2018 (Limited edition)

The shareware version of Ashampoo Anti-Virus 2018 can be downloaded directly from:
http://www.ashampoo.com/ashampoo_anti-virus_sm.exe

Ashampoo has also many other popular software’s like Win optimizer, Ashampoo Burning Studio, Ashampoo Movie shrink and Burn and much more helpful software’s.

[ Language this software works with] : English, German, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Belorussian, British English, Bulgarian, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian Nynorsk, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Serbian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Spanish (Argentina), Swedish, Turkish ]

AVIRA SOFTWARE for Computer security

Avira security solutions as part of our summer campaign, and offer your users an exceptional 35% discount!. I like the below extra features they have with their $52 version.

– Updates your out-dated drivers with one click

– Helps prevent your PC from freezing and crashing

– Patches your drivers’ security vulnerabilities

Avira Security solutions have three products

• Antivirus Pro – $25.97 $39.95
• Internet Security Suite – $39.62 $60.95
• Ultimate Protection Suite – $52.62 $80.95

Security for your Mac or apple devices :

Most computer security vendors cater to Windows computers as well as MAC or apple computers. With the growing popularity of Smart devices, you have the options to choose between a package with apple and android and windows included in multi devices packages or then just choose a standalone Mac or iphone/ Ipad antivirus

Antivirus & Security Protection for Smartphones and Tablets

There is a growing number of Apple product users from when the iPhone and ipad have been launched, with the numbers rising to a large percentage in recent years and so there are specific custom products also being developed for apple smart gadgets like iphones and Ipads. Below is a list for some security products vendors and prices for these products

Internet Virus Protection for MAC and apple products

What features are often optional – but good features to have ?

Multi Device Security

Most of these products will give you the option of protecting PCs, Macs, and also Android devices with different packages for multi devices.

Antivirus or Software that covers multiple devices, so that you can just buy one software and secure your smartphone, Desktop pc and laptop or ipad at the same time. Nowadays you get multiple device licenses that cover from 2 to 5 or ten devices. If you got 3 to 4 kids, you can end up with 15 to 20 devices in one household including laptops, Ipads, smartphones and computers.

PC tune up

Most computers and laptops slow down after a period of time, due to installing new software, loading new programs, browsing websites, watching videos and this leaves around a lot of junk that is not visible to the naked eye. A pc tune up utility can clean your PC of this junk and make it run smother and faster. If your security product includes a pc tune up utility it’s an added bonus.. if not you can always search for free software on the internet that can do this [click here]

FIREWALL

When you say firewall immediately two programs come to my mind, Zone alarm and Windows Bit defender. Zone alarm comes to my mind because this is one of the best firewalls for your pc if you are looking for exclusive firewall software that focuses mainly on this and has many options to tweak the level of your firewall security. But they also do have a Firewall + antivirus combined product as well.

If you already have the windows bit defender in your windows pc you don’t need to worry about an extra firewall in your security software. But if a firewall is provided with your antivirus it’s just a bonus and you can turn off the default windows bit defender on your pc.

Most of these products will give you the option of protecting PCs, Macs, and also Android devices with different packages for multi-devices.

There is possibly many questions that come to your mind before spending money to buy a computer security product. Few of these are listed below.

· Do You Really Need to Pay for Antivirus Software?

· Do you need an antivirus program for your Windows PC

· Should you pay for internet security software?

· Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

· I still don’t use anti-virus software. Am I still nuts?

The answer is still yes to all of them, just for the two reasons trial and free products will always be limited in feature use(not giving you better protection against the most recent threats). Sometimes they will not get updated more often like full paying products. Why should you get a full paid product when it comes to computer security?

For eg.

IF you run a jewellery store..you will get the best security with cameras and alarms and all so you won’t compromise on security , and so it should be with your pc or phone on which you do your banking and transactions and enter pins.

Insurance companies will also often ask the question- If you had computer security products on your computer if you are the victim of hackers or fraud and make a claim. My computer getting infected with a virus and taking 1 week to sort out that infection proved the point to me , to get a paid product immediately.

Microsoft itself even offers Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows Vista and Windows 7. On Windows 8, it’s rebranded as Windows Defender and built into the system. Either version will scan your system for bad actors and keep a constant vigil on downloaded files.

Protection for your Online and offline Business

It’s not only average home users that are under threat from online computer viruses but to a large proportion also businesses’ who are often targeted by hackers and criminals online. Recently many local businesses have been targeted by a virus also known as ransom ware named “cryptowall. No matter if your business is online or not you can easily get affected by this ransomware, just by opening an email or email attachment/link.

Cryptowall 3.0 uses an exploit kit capable of attacking vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Internet Explorer, Java, and Silverlight. Most computers run at least one of these programs and so they can easily be targeted and information stolen from your computer.

Cryptowall is believed to be attacking Australian businesses. Attacks using Cryptowall 3.0 encrypt your files and the malicious individuals behind the malware demand payment for the key that enables you to decrypt the files. These payments can range from a few hundred dollars to more than $10,000. Stay Smart Online has provided alerts about a number of ransomware attacks in the past, most recently in May 2018. If your computer has been compromised report the incident to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN).

Research by internet security pioneer F-Secure reveals 18% of malware threats identified in Australia have occurred in Melbourne. Meanwhile, amongst the suburbs, South Yarra – located just outside of the Melbourne CBD – ranks first, with 10% of all threats identified. Brisbane ranks second amongst the CBD areas in capital cities (14%), with Perth coming in at third (11%), followed by Sydney (9%).

Your computer security is essential in today’s world, where online theft is becoming more regular and sophisticated. The above comparison gives you a detailed feature list and price comparison to enable you to choose the best software according to your needs and affordability, click the links to be taken to the respective software website and check out the current deals and secure your computer with a good antivirus today.

If you already use any of the above-listed software, I would be glad to hear from you about your experience. If you are going to buy one now, do let me know how you go with your software. It is always good to get more feedback from real users. Good luck and stay SAFE.