SECURITY
ISSUE385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020 77
download from theinternet.It
cansavealotofmoney,too.
Forexample,KasperskyTotal
Security costs £23from
Amazonforathree-device
licence; ifyou buythrough
Kaspersky,itcostsyou £35.
Be waryof renewal prices,
astheseareusuallycharged
at full pricethroughthe
securityvendor.However,if
you shoponline,you canfind
thatyoucanbuy abrand-new
licenceat alowercost,which
iswell worth doing.Withthe
licencecodethat you get,
you can either enteritinto
thesoftwaretounlock
another year’suse,oryou
mayfind that you haveto
uninstallandreinstall to
achievethesameeffect.
However,given thesavings
onoffer,goingforthecheaper
and slightlymorecomplicated
optioniswell worth it.We
recommendthat you seta
calendarreminder amonthorso beforeyour
renewalis dueso that youcanbuy thenew
softwareyouneedandhave it readybefore
your oldsoftwareexpires.
FREE RIDE
Thereare plenty of freeanti-virusapplications
available, includingWindowsDefender, which
isbuiltintotheWindows 10 operatingsystem.
Soshould youjustuse oneofthese, orshould
you stump upthecashforamorefeature-
packedpaid-forversion?
Freesecuritysoftwarecan beverygood.
Infact,this year,MicrosoftWindowsDefender
scoredaProtectionScoreof99outof100,
and theotherfreesoftwarewasn’tfar behind.
Forbasic protection, thefreesoftwareis
undoubtedly betterthan nothing.
Thatsaid,thepaid-forsoftwaredelivered
betterresults, andyou getmorefeatures,
particularly withthehigher-pricedpackages.
Forexample,ifyouwanttoprotect your
childrenfrom malwareandbad websites
bothonacomputerand mobilephone,
freesoftwarejustwon’tcut it, butthepaid-for
packageswill giveyou thesefeatures.PHONE HOME
Manysecuritysuitesarealsoavailablefor
smartphones, andyou’ll oftenfindthat if you
buyamulti-licencekeyyou’ll getsupportfor
phonesalongsidedesktopsand laptops.
Smartphonesarebuilttobemoresecure
thandesktops, so aregenerallyless
vulnerable, asit’svirtually impossiblefora
website,forexample,toinstallmalicious
softwareontoaphone.However,that doesn’t
meanthat yourAndroidphoneoriPhoneis
completelysecure,and antivirussoftwarecan
offerthat extra level of protection.
It’stheextrafeaturesthatyougetthat can
make thesoftwareuseful.Forexample,ifyou
wantwebfiltering toextendtomobilephones
in your household,thisistheway to do it.
Security appsalsotendtogive extra features,such ascall filtering,whereyoucan choose
whocanand can’tbecalled,and additional
securityfeatures, suchasremotewipingand
securetracking.
Withphoneapps,it’sworthlookingat the
fullfeaturesetand working outwhatyoudo
and don’tneed,rather than focusingon
securityalone.FULL PROTECTION
There’sagrowingnumberof securitysuites
that arebuilt toinstallon routers,such as
Netgear Armour,which isdesignedforthe
Orbi meshsystemandsomeotherhigh-end
routers.With Netgear Armour,you getan
additional levelof protection, withtheblocking
of fake andmaliciouswebsites, asecurity scan
of your home network todetectvulnerable
devices,device managementwithwarningsfor
unauthoriseddevicestrying toaccessyour
network, andprotection from ransomware.
This canhelp protectIoTdevices,such
asyour smart TV,aswell asotherdevices
whereyoucan’tinstallasecurityclient.
Offerings differ betweenroutermanufacturers,
buttheyearlysubscriptionchargeusually
includessoftwarethat you caninstallon
clients, too.Forexample,for£60ayear,
NetgearArmourgets you BitdefenderTotal
Security forany Windows, macOS,iOS and
Androiddevicesthat you own.
This canwork outtobeverygood value,
butyou needtotakeintoaccountthequality
of thesoftwarethat you get.We don’thave
test results forBitdefenderhere,but
AV-Comparatives ratedBitdefender’s
protectionat amaximumof threestars, withABOVE:Youinvariably get abetter dealbybuying boxedsoftware thesoftwareblocking99.7%of threats.
ABOVE:Manysecuritysuites offer protection for
mobile phones as well as PCs and laptops