Our online presence these days opened new doors of opportunity in front of us but with that emerged unprecedented threats capable of causing damage to our daily lives in unimaginable ways. I bet all of our readers know about antivirus software but I am not so sure whether all of you are familiar with VPN Software or virtual private networks. But today we are not only going to throw light on each of these two software programs but also address the deluge of queries asking for a comparison between antivirus vs VPN.
Coming to the discussion of threats, we all know how dangerous the Internet can be as we come across frequent cyber crimes and embarrassing paparazzi these days. Who said our privacy is in safe hands with our passwords and unique IDs? As the myth is busted we should now work on measures to secure our digital footprint as well as our handheld devices like our cell phones, laptop, and PCs.
Is one of them better than the other?
Our answer to this question would be no, we can’t look at it this way. It is a bit more complicated than a blunt comparison. Both the software do different jobs for our system security. One will defend you upfront when the other one will help you dodge the blow when your enemy strikes. If you ask us, VPNs Antivirus solutions are built to work hand in hand to provide you full throttle protection. Imagine a battlefield where you place your soldiers in a layered format. The first line of defense will face the enemy, try their level best to subdue the opponents. Now if some of the attackers make their way into your territory, the last line of soldiers will put them down and keep them from harming the citizens of your kingdom. That is exactly how it will work if you use both a VPN and an antivirus program.
Final Takeaway:
We are living in the 21st century hence we have seen plenty of inventions and breakthroughs in the digital world. A lot can happen now which were beyond our imagination a decade back. So are the developments of threats we are discovering every day. In our opinion, it would not hurt to accompany a high-quality VPN and a robust antivirus program license along with your backpack. It is better to insure for disasters beforehand than hindsight.
How An Antivirus Software Tackles Threats?
The function of an Antivirus starts right at the time when you introduce a new file or code in your devices or when you open a new website or run any new operation that consumes resources of your devices.
The job of an antivirus is to conduct real-time scanning of your device for any anomalies in terms of any suspicious code or spyware, or we should say a full device scanning, making sure there is no threat in your device. If it appears that there is a trace of such entity, antivirus software quarantines it first and then based on its existing database, mark it for the level of its danger, permanently removes it if it is necessary, prompting the user to restart the device to end all the background activity on his device.
But here is the catch, that is with the advent of new technology every day in this digital era, malware and viruses are getting more advanced, calling for an antivirus solution that keeps up with the pace and also stays one step ahead to eradicate the threat no matter what. That is why it is imperative to update our antivirus software daily to protect our devices from all kinds of modern threats. This is also one of the reasons why you should choose an antivirus connection in this antivirus vs VPN comparison.
Pros and Cons of an Antivirus
Here we have provided the all pros and cons of an Antivirus service that you should read before using it.
Pros of Antivirus
- Antivirus software doesn’t necessarily have to be a dedicated software that you manually install on your system. If you are using a Windows operating system and running the latest version of it, rest assured you are already protected from malware as the latest Windows OS comes with an embedded Microsoft Defender Antivirus system.
- Even besides the Microsoft Defender system, users can install a third party antivirus software for extra protection. Antivirus software doesn’t meddle with your other activities as it runs in the background and keeps track of all the traffic into your system. Antivirus software is built in such a way that it doesn’t place an extra burden on your system as most of them are very light-weight.
- Not just this, most antivirus software out there comes with a Sandbox mode. Sandbox feature is made to run the suspicious files in its secure virtual room. Whatever is happening inside the sandbox room, it doesn’t ooze out into your workstation operating system, thus protecting your PC from the infestation.
Nowadays, with rise in the technology, various Antivirus service providers offering a antivirus with vpn softwares. By which users can take a benefits of both.
Cons of Antivirus
- Listing down the cons is pretty easy as they are very few in number. Antivirus software programmes remain inside the system, collect and check all the data. Hence your PC is always vulnerable if the antivirus software chooses to sell those data. However, we recommend you to go for a paid premium antivirus service from a reputed brand to ensure none of those malpractices occur. If someone is using a free antivirus which is aplenty in the market, chances are high that it is collecting the user data and selling it to a third party advertiser company for monetary gains. Recently popular antivirus brand Avast came to the limelight for its malpractices as it sold users’ precious data as per the investigation. Therefore, we again advise our fellow readers to go for a paid antivirus program.
- Another downside that we faced is some of those antivirus programs are resource-consuming. Before you invest in an antivirus program, make sure to check its user reviews on popular platforms like Amazon, etc. If it looks like most users are complaining about a slow system bootup issue or high RAM consumption, you should be wary.
