Antivirus Digest

Warning: Your antivirus software is disabled!

February 19, 2011 | Steven McElwee

 

Your computer may be at serious risk of Trojans, viruses, worms, and other malware. Okay. I do not really know if your antivirus software is turned off, but I am playing the odds. A recent security survey from Avira showed that 25% of respondents had turned off their antivirus software, since they felt it was slowing down their computer. So my warning is right for one out of four of you.

This may explain why so many computers around the world are infected. Antivirus software users are getting annoyed at how this software seems to slow down their computers. Here are a few tips to minimize the drain on your computer when running antivirus software:

  1. Schedule full scans carefully. Most antivirus software allows you to configure when full file system scans are run. Pick a time when you most likely will not be using your computer. Full scans slow down computers. A weekly scan while you are sleeping will have no impact on your user experience.
  2. Reduce the number of files on your computer. Antivirus scans analyze every file. You can reduce the number of files on your computer by backing up old files and removing them from your hard drive. This will make a big difference in your computer’s performance.
  3. Configure on-access scans. If the first two options did not help, consider changing the on-access scanning configuration of your antivirus software. On-access scans can work when a file is read or when it Is written. In some cases, you can turn off on-access scans for file reads and speed up your computer. Be careful, since this will not catch all viruses, such as those that come from a USB drive.
  4. Speed up your computer. A slow computer will only be slower with antivirus software. Make sure your hard drive has plenty of free space and memory, and run Microsoft’s disk clean up utility (cleanmgr from the Run dialog).

Whatever you do, make sure you run antivirus software. You can minimize the inconvenience and help ensure that your computer does not get infected by a virus.

Are you one in four who has disabled your antivirus software? Please let me know what you think.