Keeping yourself safe while you are browsing the Internet is important, and it has become increasingly more true as time goes on and threats become more complex. One issue a lot of people face is that they have no idea what software is best, and what features they should even care about. To help you figure it out, we will examine common questions people have about picking a good security software.
There are a number of different things that one considers when picking out their ideal security software.
Consider your budget
Budget is often one of the most pressing issues when picking out any software or product. After all, we can only put as much money into them as we can afford. If you are not at all able to budget any money for security software, you do have free options at your disposal.
For example, Windows comes with Windows Defender, an antivirus software that is usually adequate to any needs you may have, so you could probably stick with that. If you want to go one step above, you can look into getting Malwarebytes Cybersecurity. It is a paid software, but they offer a less feature-rich version for free.
What kinds of features are available?
Some security software has more features than others, which will usually depend on how much money (if any) you invested into the software. Usually, when you get security software for cheap or free, there is an understanding that you will only get so much out of the software. Mind you, that doesn’t make cheaper software bad by any means, but it does mean that you won’t have as strong of security as you would with a more expensive piece of software.
Security software can come in a multitude of fashions. Typically, security software is designed to combat viruses and malware, though there are other things that they can do. More recently, security software has begun to focus on virtual private network (VPN) security. You probably have seen advertisements for VPNs from time to time, with only limited knowledge of what they can do for you. A lot of people only know VPNs as things that allow them to watch shows only available on Netflix in other countries.
VPNs do so much more than that for you. Perhaps the biggest feature of it is that, because you are not using your own IP address, you have an increased level of security. This specifically comes into play as it relates to tracking, which has gotten markedly worse. Many still remember how Facebook worked with Cambridge Analytica and provided data that Facebook users were lead to believe was not up for sale. While an unassociated IP would not help you avoid that from happening, it definitely helped people understand just how much at-risk their data is. As such, many closed their Facebook accounts, deleted their profiles, and decided to look into security software like VPNs to keep their data safe from grubby, greedy hands.
Another helpful feature is one that relates to phishing sites. Phishing sites are websites that are designed to resemble a trustworthy website (like Facebook or Twitter). When you open the link, you get a page that is deceptively similar, and you are asked to put in your username and password. The idea is that they hope you will not notice that the website is a fake before you try to sign in. Once you’ve done this, it is quite easy for a bad actor to not only get access to that account, but without secure passwords elsewhere, they may get access to other accounts as well.
A security software may have a feature to alert you when you are opening a phishing site, just to make sure that if you don’t catch it, it will. You may question whether this is even necessary, thinking that they are not going to make that mistake. However, a good lesson to remember: people who think they won’t make a mistake are more at risk of making that mistake as a result.
How trustworthy is certain security software?
When picking out a good piece of security software, you have to be secure in it as well. This can be difficult, especially as more companies are established looking to find ways to rip off potential customers. Free security software programs are undeniably appealing, but you should be cautious about whether you go with that site or not. Before picking even a free security software program, be sure to check reviews from other users.
If the program appears to have a mixed or negative reception, that is good enough reason to steer clear. Even if the reception seems positive, check the content of those reviews. It is not at all uncommon for a sleazy company to flood review sites with fake reviews to inflate their score. Check for whether many reviews have virtually identical texts, or if the users are new accounts.
