Antivirus programs come in handy when helping protect your computer and other gadgets used for internet access from potential cyber threats such as malware, virus, and hacking attacks. Antivirus programs have been developed with special features enabling them to perform their duties with precision to meet your particular needs.
A good professional antivirus program should help you achieve your electronic safety needs. Here are 5 important features that a good antivirus program should have.
Real-time protection
The antivirus should be custom made to enable it to protect your computer and other electronic gadgets in real time. This means you don’t have to always click a button to initiate a computer scan to enforce protection.
The auto scan feature, in this regard, can be set to automatically detect any threat from potential sources such as external storage devices and the internet and thereafter take the appropriate action. The real-time scanning feature comes in handy especially in situations where you may forget to initiate a computer scan to eradicate potential threats.
Auto-updates
Antivirus programs normally rely on an internal database of all potential threats that computers face from time to time. This database needs to be periodically updated as they contain definitions of typical malware and virus programs released into the internet from day-to-day.
A good next gen antivirus program should be able to manage these updates automatically whenever connected into the internet. The updates ensure that your antivirus program can keep up with the rapidly increasing threats of malware and viruses of different kinds.
Whereas the auto-update feature is recommendable, it should be complemented with a manual update feature that can be turned on and off whenever necessary.
Multiple layers of protection
The viral computer threats emanate from different sources. It is therefore impossible for you to keep up with every potential avenue of viral infection into your computer.
To manage this, a good antivirus program should have different layers of protection with the main ones including internet protection where the antivirus program is integrated into web browsers, email protection that protects you from potential harmful emails and spam, and protection from external storage devices often attached into the computer through USB ports.
Different scan feature
With your antivirus program on your computer, you should be able to customize the type of scan that you need from time to time. This feature gives you an opportunity to exclude certain folders, drives, or even files containing certain extensions.
This feature is important especially in cases where you need to protect certain files that the antivirus program may detect as viruses and therefore delete them automatically against your wish.
You can also choose to customize the entire scanning process by requesting a comprehensive scan that may take time and slow your computer down, or choose to have a quick scan that checks into common files and folders while taking the least amount of time.
Wireless network connection protection
This feature is particularly important as it protects your devices connected to a Wi-Fi network against potential hackers and viruses transmitted through wireless connectivity. The protection feature ensures that your gadgets are protected from network intrusion and interferences ranging from severe virus attacks to mild ones such as reduction of your connectivity’s bandwidth.
In conclusion, the features of a good antivirus program give you an opportunity to take charge as far as cyber security is concerned. With new antivirus programs being rolled out and existing ones being equipped with new features, going for the one that meets your specific needs ensures you are protected against cyber attacks.
