


Make sure the company has disclosed data breaches and handled them appropriately. Hackers have become quite good at disguising their code, but behavior can’t be completely hidden. Good antivirus should use both signature and behavior-based virus detection. You will be less likely to use the software correctly, or even at all. Pay attention if reviews say antivirus software is confusing or the menus aren't clear. But if your usage is less demanding, then system impact may not matter to you. If you’re a heavy computer user, and the antivirus places a heavy load on system resources, you might find it hard to do your work. It also needs to support all of the devices you own (many antivirus programs have a limit of five or 10). Subscribe to antivirus software that supports the operating systems that all of your devices use.

There are lots of antivirus and antimalware software options for Windows, but fewer for Macs and mobile platforms. All of the antivirus and antimalware software in our ratings, including Kaspersky, ESET, and Webroot, will detect and eliminate a high percentage of these threats.
