Best PC security software for South Africans

3 years ago 1

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South African households can choose from several security software suites to protect their systems from malware and other cyber threats.

In the past few years, the world’s biggest security companies have detected hundreds of millions of possible threats on home and business PCs worldwide.

One of the most common forms of attack is ransomware — which encrypts a target’s valuable data on a system until a ransom is paid.

Most targeted machines run Microsoft Windows or Apple MacOS, both of which feature built-in antivirus software.

Apple’s system is called XProtect and primarily runs deep in the background, which means many users might not even know they have it installed.

Windows Defender has become increasingly capable in recent years and is somewhat more visible to end-users on Windows 10 or Windows 11.

It offers a main dashboard similar to third-party security suites, allowing users to manually schedule and scan their systems by accessing it in the taskbar or through Settings.

Unfortunately, some of the protections offered by Apple and Microsoft’s built-in systems require that you use their products.

For example, Windows Defender’s SmartScreen feature, which identifies and blocks malicious websites and downloads, only works on its Edge browser.

If you use another browser — such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox — you are left relying on those providers’ security systems.

The same applies when you use productivity apps like Google’s Workspace instead of Microsoft 365, or video chat apps like Zoom or Meets instead of Teams.

If you frequently browse the Internet or constantly plug in USB flash drives or memory cards that may often hop between computers, a more fully-fledged cybersecurity suite can provide an additional layer of protection.

Be wary of performance hogs

Many of the best antivirus and cybersecurity programs also have an unfortunate reputation for degrading system performance.

Tom’s Guide regularly tests some of the world’s most popular antivirus suites for home users to see which has the worst impact.

It uses three main metrics — background/passive system slowdown, full-scan slowdown, and quick-scan slowdown — to assess the effect of the programs.

We focused on those products with a background slowdown impact of less than 5%.

Threat scans are also essential and should be done regularly, but they can be carried out according to a schedule or on demand.

Passive or background operation is a component over which users don’t have much control.

One of the best performers in terms of passive system impact was Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, which made the test system marginally faster.

It’s important to note that this product is very limited compared to the rest of the field.

This tends to be a trend with free computer security suites, although Kaspersky’s rivals offer many more features on their free tiers.

The best paid-for antivirus program with minimal impact on performance was ESET’s Smart Security Premium.

Its list of protections and features is extensive and even includes a gamer mode to reduce system impact.

Below are the five best antivirus programs that South African households can consider, which have minimal impact on performance while running in the background.

Kaspersky Security Cloud Free — 0.9% better

Supported operating systems: Windows | Android | iOS
Advertised protections: Viruses, malware, Trojans, and other threats
Other features: None
Price: Free

ESET Smart Security Premium — 2.0% worse

Supported operating systems: Windows | MacOS | Android
Advertised protections: Ransomware, viruses, spyware, malware, Trojans, email phishing, malicious websites, other threats
Other features: Online payments protection, crypto wallet protection, advanced memory scanner, password manager, advanced machine learning, firewall
Price: 1 device — R599 for 12 months

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition — 2.2% worse

Supported operating systems: Windows (MacOS, Android, and iOS only on paid version)
Advertised protections: Ransomware, crypto-jacking, AI-powered spearphishing, zero-day exploits, rootkits, Trojans, malware, malicious websites
Other features: Automatic updates, online support
Price: Free

Trend Micro Maximum Security — 3.9% worse

Supported operating systems: Windows | MacOS | Android | iOS | ChromeOS
Advertised protections: Ransomware trojans, malware, email phishing, malicious websites
Other features: Protection on up to 3 or 5 devices, parental control, Pay Guard payment protection, password manager, performance optimiser, social media security, firewall
Price: 3 devices — R396 (12 months) or R792 (24 months) | 5 devices — R596 (12 months) or R1,192 (24 months)

Avast Antivirus Free — 4.4% worse

Supported operating systems: Windows | MacOS | Android | iOS
Advertised protections: Ransomware, malware, viruses, botnets, malicious websites, malicious email attachments
Other features: Network inspector, firewall, data leak alerts, cloud file analysis, disk scanner
Price: Free