By Sophia Chambers | Smart Web User
Malware, short for Malicious Software has been wreaking havoc on computers and networks for decades. Since the first example was found in the 70s, the numbers showing their growth are worryingly impressive: it really took until around 2005 for it to take off, but at that point there were thousands of new examples being found every day on the internet. In 2012, AV-TEST claims malware hit the 100,000,000 mark, which almost doubled in the next year alone. In 2015, the number topped half a billion different cases, with more than 1 million new ones found daily.
Now, the internet is big, but avoiding that many opportunities for malware to infect your computer is tough even if you are clued up on the subject!
The main way people with Windows desktops or laptops protect their computer is with Microsoft’s own “Security Essentials”, a completely free tool and the most popular antivirus in the world. The product’s popularity and success is likely due to it being included as default in every Windows machine post 2010, of which over 200,000,000 are sold every year. The next most popular for Microsoft users is Avast antivirus, with a 20% market share in the antivirus space in 2015.
In the antivirus world, Apple Macintosh computers are often rather neglected. Most people think they don’t need an antivirus for their MacBook or iMac because they “can’t get viruses”. The truth is, Macs are susceptible to malware, they just are less common. After all, if you were a hacker and wanted to control as many people’s computers as possible in the shortest amount of time with the least effort, would you target the 10% (roughly) of the world’s laptop owners? Creating malware for computers running Windows is proven and, unfortunately, yields results!
Not only do Macs need protecting, but mobiles do too! This is specifically true if you own an Android phone, as security specialists F-Secure revealed that 97% of all mobile malware is targeted at Android phones, the most popular smartphone operating system used today. You may have heard about the most recent Android security threat, a fault with Qualcomm processors which is said to affect almost 1,000,000,000 (yes, that is a billion!) users.
If you want to protect your laptop or desktop (Windows or Mac) and even want to safeguard your smartphone too, we suggest using our favorite antivirus PCProtect. We found it to be the most efficient, resource-light and friendly solution on the market. Their native applications are a great way to keep all of your personal details on lock down from any malware.
Thousands of people across the globe are all starting to use ScanGuard free analysis tool to make sure they stay protected. Right now this can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
To keep your computer malware and virus free we highly recommend using PCProtect, which will sit silently on your computer and alert you to any threats it detects.
Even if you have a brand new computer, we would recommend you try ScanGuard to analyze your PC. Simply run a 30 second scan and see for yourself. You’ll be surprised just how many people have malware on their computers collecting their personal information leaving you at risk of fraud or identity theft.
Click here to download ScanGuard. They are offering a free version of the Antivirus software which for a limited amount of time includes free Speed Boost.
