Antivirus Versus Internet Security Suites – What Should You Choose?

Internet Security suites and antivirus programs both work in a way to secure your online activities as well as your Internet-enabled device from malicious programs. However, there lies a significant difference between the two.

Antivirus Tools

Antivirus applications are treated as the oldest of all security tools against malicious programs. At the time of advent, these apps could only scan for any virus signature, which they knew. This means that the apps could not block a virus whose information was absent in their knowledge base. It was only later on that advanced features such as heuristics showed their magic in monitoring the activities of programs to decide whether they were viruses or not. If yes, the apps alert the user and recommend the best action that can be taken. However, this may not be 100% precise but is more secured way to implement as compared to the older tools.

Internet Security Suites

As the name suggests, an Internet security tool is just not a single product; it typically encompasses more than one app to offer total protection. Despite this, it is an antivirus at its crux. Apart from an antivirus program, the suite’s other applications ensure more security from different other threats that took birth with the growth of Internet. For example, an internet security suite contains a firewall that restricts other online visitors from gaining access to your network or computer by denying connection requests or any other request from the outside digital world or from the apps on your own computer. Advanced Internet security suites can even block spyware programs that tend to submit your personal information to outside entities and other malware types.

Internet Security and Antivirus: The Difference

As compared to Internet suites, antivirus offers the most fundamental features. This means the former offers advanced features as compared to the latter. As the name suggests, antivirus only protects against malicious programs such as viruses, worms, and Trojans. On the other hand, Internet security suite comes with more security features such as anti-spam, theft protection, personal firewall, and parental control. It can be seen that a few of these extra features are actually available on your computer. For example, firewall protection is always on offer by default in Windows, while anti-spam is available through email tools such as Microsoft Outlook. Therefore, the decision of choosing a security suite is based on these already-available features.

Generally, an Internet Security suite is more beneficial than isolated security applications because the apps in the former is more integrated due to which it demands fewer system resources. Therefore, if you choose a suite, it will be much like using a comprehensive security tool. Moreover, some Internet security suites come with their own set of distinct features that render them unmatchable.

Choosing between the Two

If you are looking for all-in-one app, then an Internet security suite is the preferable choice over antivirus. Moreover, antivirus alone is incapable of offering you full protection on your computer or over the network. If you even choose an antivirus that is free of cost, you will still have to invest in extra security apps that may or may not be free. Therefore, an ideal technique would be to compare a suite with some programs together with an antivirus for getting a good fit for the former.

Budget and Features

Nevertheless, both the tools can offer you ideal security. However, if you are on a budget, the suite is a better option than the antivirus. More often than not, Internet Security software is a bit costlier but it is worth your money because it combines all that you need into a single pack. In this way, the Internet Security suite is affordable in the long run. However, a few software tools in the suite may prove to be unsatisfactory in terms of performance that may be better achieved from other apps. As a result, more advanced users always give priority to buying each app separately. Moreover, not all people might need everything in the suite itself, as Windows or other common apps would already have a few tools.

In the software market, the suite is usually available at a price of almost $20 more than the antivirus, provided you are looking at the products of the same brand. You can quick look antivirus software’s here. In case you need a suite just because of the desire for a stronger firewall or cleverer anti-spam, it is vital to know that a few antivirus tools already come with such features. Therefore, you can avoid spending those extra dollars.

About Author: Divya writers on variety of tech, web and various software related topics. She contributes to many tech sites and article websites like ezine articles. You can visit her site to read more.