What Are The Best Antivirus Software Products On The Market?

By John Clifton

Let me go over the best-known antivirus software products on the market and we'll work from there. There are a lot of security software products on the market, so my apologies to the antivirus software products on the market that I'm not familiar with.

Best Eight Antivirus Software Products

As it is, here's the top eight antivirus software products you can buy. While a few of these anti-virus packages may slow down your computer or even crash it, keep in mind that each one of these software products does the job of protecting your computers from computer viruses, spyware and malware.

  1. Bit Defender Antivirus 2009 - "BitDefender Antivirus 2009" consistently gets high marks for its performance. Bit Defender is cheap (around $25), easy-to-use and outperforms its competition. There's really not a whole lot more you can ask. On the downside, when BitDefender Antivirus 2009 scans for viruses, the scan runs slow. But BitDefender is easy to use, effective against viruses, has great help and support and is easy to install. One disadvantage is that this software doesn't cover Windows 2000 or Mac OS X, but then again, how many Mac users do you know that bother with virus protection?
  2. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 - Kaspersky is an antivirus software product you might not have heard about, but this security software consistently has gotten rave reviews from software critics since its inception in 1997. In fact, Kaspersky Lab Antivirus 2009 has the fastest response time when new malware and spyware attacks your computer. Once again, Kaspersky gets points off for a higher price ($40), but Kaspersky gets high ratings for ease of use, ease of installation, tech support, effectiveness against malware and quick updates. If you still are using Windows 2000 on your PC, then Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 is the best product for you.
  3. Webroot Antivirus - Webroot Antivirus 2009 is expensive at $40, but Webroot Antivirus protection offers most of the protections you're ever going to need. Webroot Antivirus comes in at #3 because it lacks a couple of the features you might want, such as script blocking and virus protection for Windows XP 64-bit PCs and Windows 2000. Once again, Mac OS X isn't protected with Webroot Antivirus, but then none of the major antivirus protection products do that. With Apple computers, virus protections simply are not a factor.
  4. Best Antivirus Software ProductsG Data Antivirus - G Data is another of those you might not have heard about, but it's getting big reviews. G-Data Antivirus gets points off for their support staff, but the software itself is top rate. At $30, GData is cheaper than Kaspersky Antivirus and Webroot Antivirus. You'll miss out on live chat functions, a user forum and tutorials, but those are relatively small quibbles, because most people would never use those, anyway. If you do, you might want to avoid G-Data Antivirus. Otherwise, you might save $10 and grab this antivirus protection instead.
  5. ESET Nod32 3 - "ESET Nod32 Version 3" is another security software product you haven't heard about, but this software from "Eset" is another top performer in the market. ESET Nod32 is fast, it's thorough and it doesn't take up much space on your computer. Advanced computer users will be able to reconfigure the software to their users, but novice owners will have trouble doing so. While ESET Nod32 gets points off for being a little harder-to-use for certain computer users, the default setting is perfectly good for most people and it is easy to install. On the positive side, "ESET NOD32 3" is actually compatible with systems all they way back to Windows 98 and even Windows 95. If you still use DOS, it's compatible with ESET NOD32 3.
  6. Trend Micro Antivirus with Antispyware 2009 - "Trend Micro Antivirus with Antispyware 2009" costs $11 and is focuses mainly on spyware and virus sweeps. Trend Mico AntiVirus is thorough in its sweep, but it gets points off because it slows down your computer. The customer support for Trend Micro Antivirus is top of the industry. Really, the biggest drawback is the slow down times. I have Trend Micro AntiVirus (installed at the Best Buy, if I remember correctly) on one of my laptops and I can assure you it's a big drawback that your internet browser stops responding for (literally) a minute or two before updates happen, and always without warning. I don't know how many times I've thought my browser was crashing before I realized what was happening and said to myself, "Oh! Trend Micro," in simultaneous relief and frustration.
  7. McAfee VirusScan 2009 - McAFee is cheap at $10 per year and it does most of what you want in virus protection. If you do a lot of instant messaging or share a lot of P2P files, though, McAfee Antivirus 2009 is not the product for you. Upgrade to the McAfee Antivirus 2009 Gold version and you'll get what you're looking for, though.
  8. Norton AntiVirus 2009 - Norton AntiVirus 2009 is about as famous as any computer protection software on the market today, and Norton Antivirus offers about as complete an anti-virus protection and antispyware assortment as any product on the market. Unfortunately, Norton Antivirus 2009 is a little too intrusive in the software functions of your computer. You'll have to deal with your computer freezing occasionally when you use Norton Antivirus 2009, which is incredibly frustrating. Otherwise, Norton Antivirus 2009 is going to protect your computer thoroughly. Norton Antivirus retails beginning at $40.