A good deal of our work involves helping people whose computers have been infected with malware, i.e. viruses and other malicious programs. These things can make a computer unusable, meaning that the owner has a choice between a complete reinstallation and reconfiguration of Windows and all the other programs, or buying a new PC. Malware can also delete your personal documents and pictures, steal personal information that can be used for identity theft, or allow a hacker to remotely control your computer and use it for illegal purposes, such as sending spam emails or hosting illegal/immoral content.

There are a number of things you can do to make your computer secure; one very important step is to get a good antivirus program or Internet security suite to keep malicious programs out of your computer. Over the years, we've come across a wide range of antivirus programs, some good, some not so good. A good program will provide effective protection against threats, be easy to use, reliable, not slow your computer down, and have good technical support available on the phone if you should need help. It should also have a low rate of false alarms (i.e. cases where it wrongly identifies a harmless program as malicious). We regularly consult leading antivirus testing institutes AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org) and AV-Test (www.av-test.org), who conduct tests on different antivirus programs to see how effective they are at stopping malware, and how many false alarms they cause. We also test antivirus programs ourselves, to see how easy they are to use and how much they slow your computer down. Our experience of working with the programs, on both our own computers and those of our clients, tells us how reliable they are, and how good the technical support is if you have to call for help.

There is no such thing as THE best antivirus program. The best program for you will depend on whether you are a beginner or experienced computer user, and whether your PC is new and fast, or old and slow. The programs we have recommended below are suitable for home users and small businesses with no more than 4 computers. Please note that antivirus programs are constantly being developed in an attempt to keep up with the latest threats, and gain a competitive advantage. This means that we might not be recommending the same programs next year. As subscriptions for antivirus software are normally for one year, our advice is to check back here when your subscription is due for renewal, to see if we think another program might have overtaken our previous recommendation. A final word of warning: if you think your computer is already infected with a virus, don't use it to buy an antivirus program online, otherwise your credit card details could be stolen before you have time to install the program you've bought. Use another, safe computer to buy the program, and download the software and licence key onto a USB stick, which you can use to install the program on your own computer.