It's important to have the latest info on anti-virus programs. Here, Jim Hamm discusses what's new.
"The current issue of the 'Ask Bob Rankin' newsletter discusses lab tests of various anti-virus programs by a German company, AV-Test. On the summary page, you can click the three lists of rankings to make them larger and readable. The program I use -- Avast -- comes in about the middle of the rankings.
"It's interesting to note the OS most likely to be attacked by a virus (Windows), Microsoft's own program -- Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) -- comes in last in average protection. Microsoft doesn't agree (naturally) with the findings of AV-Test. Click here for more details.
"I'm running Avast on my Macs and MSE on my Windows 8 PC. Rankin provides a list of free anti-virus programs here. I don't get too excited by the ratings and rankings, because they can change. I do like to read, though, about the various test results and opinions of the various anti-virus programs. I think it's wise to use an anti-virus program -- at least it is for me -- because someday it might just help.
And Jim closes with, "One program not listed or tested -- Malwarebytes -- I've read and heard good reports about. It's not tested because it's more of a malware detection and removal tool instead of virus protection. There is a free and paid version. I've not used this yet, and I think it may only be for PCs and not Macs."