Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software for Agencies

Every small business owner should prioritize usingeffective software to prevent virus infection. Whenever someone begins their search for online security, they ultimatelydiscover there are two major types of protection: antivirus and anti-malware.Which leads them to the inevitable query: What’s the difference between antivirus andanti-malware?

Definition

To best understand, let’s quickly define viruses andmalware;

• A virusis a piece of code that is capable of copying itself in order to do damage toyour computer, including corrupting your system or destroying data.
• Malware,on the other hand, is an umbrella term that stands for a variety of malicioussoftware, including Trojans, spyware, worms, adware, ransomware – and yes-viruses.

So logically, all viruses aremalware, but not all malware are viruses.

Differences inprotection

Antivirus usually deals with the older, more establishedthreats, such as Trojans, viruses, and worms.

Anti-malware, by contrast, typically focuses on newerstuff, such as polymorphic malware (allowing subroutines to use variables ofdifferent types at different times), and malware delivered by zero-dayexploits.

No one tool can catch everything, which is why securityexperts recommend a ‘layered’ approach.

The most complete strategy is to use an antivirus programto catch the classic threats, and an anti-malware program for the newer,more advanced dangers. Note that some providers are now packaging anti-virus and anti-malware together in one product.

From a performance perspective, there’s no negativeimpact of running two real-time scanners at the same time on your machines; mostanti-malware software is lightweight, easy-to-run, and designed to workalongside antivirus.

Top Antivirussoftware:

Solid Antivirus programs come at a price, however arereasonably priced. Top names are McAfee,Norton, Webroot, and Bitdefender along with other providers.

For a side-by-side comparison, refer to these links from PC Magazine and ConsumerReports.

TopAnti-malware software:

Anti-malware programs can be either free or at-cost,usually based on seat licenses. The bestofferings can be combined with Antivirus programs as well. Top names in antimalware are Malwarebytes,Webroot, McAfee, Norton, Avast, TrendMicro, and Bitdefender. As with anti-virus, there are also otheranti-malware providers.

For a side-by-side comparison, refer to these links from PCMagazine and ComputerFixperts.

Summary

Each small business owner should have a robust preventionprogram as part of an overallcybersecurity strategy. One key tonote is to set your antivirus and anti-malware to detect and install updatesautomatically.

ACT will update this advisory as new threats andprevention software becomes available.