The method for installing a virus protection software is normally dependant on the company behind the product, so we’ll run through how to install 3 of the top antivirus products. Many brands will now offer assisted installation to help take the strain off of the customer, examples of this range from automatic install to custom expert install.
Automatic install takes care of all of the technical work in terms of installation and configuration, all you need to do is create an account when it all finishes. Sit back and watch as the program is built into your computer.
Some companies takes a different approach in that it hands over all the technical install work to a trained expert from the company who will access your computer remotely and get everything set up on your behalf. Unfortunately, this isn’t a free extra, for this luxury you can expect to double the cost of the antivirus! We don’t think this is worth the price as you can opt for an automatic install instead, which is free. It is worth consideration if you have no time and have never used a computer, otherwise I’d stick with the hassle-free automatic installation offered by the majority of the companies in the market today.
The only manual aspect of installing your virus protection software is handling conflicts between it and other software. In rare cases, this is taken care of by the antivirus itself. Potential conflicting software could be other malware removal products, firewalls or other competing PC protection software. Removing other virus protection software can sometimes be a pain, as it is in their interest to stick around on your computer. Some virus protection software providers are infamous for being hard to totally remove from a PC. If you don’t fully and correctly uninstall outdated antivirus software, it will not only conflict with new virus protection software but also become a source of adverts almost everywhere on your PC. Installing an antivirus software gives the company access to access to every section of your computer, which is required to keep it safe, but once you finish your subscription with them a lot of brands will do all they can to get you back on board.
Onece installed it is time to scan your computer to root out the unwanted software that has made its way onto your machine. Depending on your computer scans can range in how long they take to complete the scan, there are also a range of scans to undertake, from full system scans to fast scans if you are confident your computer is uneffected.
As well as installing your virus protection software correctly, it is extremely important to keep your antivirus updated and undertake regular scans. You can also switch on auto-updates, but you may have to do this manually on some of the aged antivirus products. It is important to keep your antivirus stocked up with the latest updates because malware creators are in a constant race to beat the latest recognition algorithms from antivirus companies. Without the latest updates, you leave yourself susceptible to new viruses, worms, rootkits, trojans, the list goes on.