Should you buy an antivirus software in 2020?

With the growth of the internet came a threat to operating systems in form of viruses, malware, and spyware. Back in the days when computers didn't have an app store, popups appeared upon restart and when installing additional software on your computer. Updates, new feature announcements or ads. Everything was happening at ones, no one understood it but at least Internet Explorer and Microsoft Excel opened up.

I wound say that these days where the dark days of the internet era. People with little to none knowledge about properly using a computer had bad experiences because of the unknowingly installed software running in the background sucking power and resources that could have been used for the programs the user actually had an interest in. Some people even had a hard time opening the task manager to force quit the application that caused this slow experience. 

In recent years the quality of viruses has changed dramatically. Many organizations have been affected by data hostages and other forms of data theft. 

Malware can be so unnoticeable that without antivirus software and the occasional fan boost on your PC you wouldn't notice them. Nowadays they farm cryptocurrencies in the background of other people’s PCs. 

So, the need for powerful software is still there. 

What few people know is that most operating systems have antivirus software already onboard. 

Windows has Windows Defender that has been improved significantly over the last few years and can be used as your only antivirus software on your computer. 

Linux users can download additional software for security but Linux systems have very few viruses since they are not often a target in the consumer area. 

macOS users are in the same position. There is additional software to download but the risk is very low of getting a virus or spyware on your Mac. With the latest macOS Catalina operating system, there are more permissions to be given so you can choose if an application should have access to your local folders or not. You can check your current setup in the settings app.

Buying software in 2020 seems to be unmeaningful since the preinstalled software seems to be good enough for the basic user that just surfs the web, checks E-Mails and uses the Office-Suites. 

Everyone should keep in mind that some antivirus software programs have many other features that could be a selling point for others but not for you. 
Some have a VPNs built-in or software to clean up the ram from processes running in the background. It is debatable if every user needs these features, but I am sure that these functions would only target a small niche. 

Here are a few general rules of not getting in trouble when using your computer;

1. Always update your computer to have the latest fixes and best support when using it on the web. This makes the computer invulnerable to older threats surfing through the web. 
2. Don't give unnecessary permissions to software that you don't fully trust. This limits the risk of sharing your location or camera with dangerous applications. 
3. Keep your devices away from unknown WiFi networks since you could accidentally give permission to have access to your local storage devices. This could happen at times when Windows asks you what kind of network the connected one is to you: If you set it as a home network, then there are additional features permissions for other devices connected to the same network. 
4. Don't download software whose source is unknown to you because the developer could use the given permissions to send your keyboard and mouse activities to a server. That could lead to server personal disasters. The recent events with the ToTok app are an example of that. 
5. Try to use the Windows Store or the Mac App Store for your app downloads. The programs on these platforms are getting checked before being published to the public. This also limits the risk of getting modified install packages with malware on them. 
6. Always let Windows Defender check for updates and set it to automatic searching in the background so you don't have to take care of it too often.
7. Not every antivirus software is a good one. This is especially true for software that can be downloaded for free. As always: Nothing is free. The best case you that just pay the developers by watching popup ads. In the worst-case ist that your data is getting farmed. 

I hope that this blog post gave clarified some questions around some antivirus software programs and how even the preinstalled software can be used properly.