Is Antivirus Software Needed in 2020?

The perceived wisdom is that you should have antivirus software installed on your PC and some app on your mobile. Or it certainly has been historically - if you don't, the argument has always been that you are at major risk.

However, given the advancements in operating systems and security in general, is this still the case in 2020? Should you definitely be using antivirus software today? Or are there some good reasons why you might not want to?

Arguments Against Antivirus

The short answer to the main question is: Yes, you should still be using some kind of antivirus software in 2020. It may even seem obvious to you that every PC user should run an antivirus on Windows 10, but there are arguments against this. In some cases, they are not particularly valid, at least in our opinion, but they exist nonetheless.

A main pillar of the "antivirus mindset", so to speak, is that if you are careful enough and careful about what you do online, only visit legitimate websites, official software stores, and watch for links. that you click with an appropriate degree of vigilance, you probably won't encounter any malware anyway.

And so the argument is that you don't need to pay for an antivirus, and even if you install a free third-party antivirus application, it's still another program on your system that might slow it down somewhat (some antivirus software can have more impact on system performance, and of course, free software can also display ads, etc.).

Another more pressing concern expressed in recent times is that some antivirus software has a number of vulnerabilities, and these could be a potential avenue of exploitation for an attacker. In other words, the potential irony is that your antivirus software could be a way to compromise your machine.

This is a legitimate concern, as we have seen in recent times, for example in March 2020, Avast disabled much of its antivirus software which suffered from a dangerous vulnerability reported by a respected security researcher.

So, as you can see, there are gray areas when it comes to answering the question of whether you should run an antivirus. However, there are much stronger reasons why you should use an antivirus, which we'll explore next.

Antivirus for Safety

Obviously, the most concerning issue raised in the section above is the last point, so it's worth clarifying that the chances of your antivirus being used as a route of attack in some way are pretty slim. The truth is, there are far more important targets for malicious actors than any given security application.

We are talking about gaping holes in operating systems and much more widely used software like web browsers, which will be much juicier propositions for hackers and other criminals to exploit.

The point is, it's these big targets that are the real nastiness of malware authors, and antivirus can defend you against these far more dangerous threats. So really, the good that these apps do in this regard far outweighs any bad potential in terms of possible loopholes in the security of the antivirus itself. It's that simple - but also keep in mind that to minimize any risk using one of the best apps which is software that benefits from tight and secure coding.

Moving on to a review of the potential slowdown that could be visited on your PC by installing antivirus, the trick here is to check out our antivirus reviews to find out which lean apps have little impact on system performance - there are some very streamlined products (like Norton and Kaspersky, for example).

As for the argument that being careful what you download and click is enough to protect you, well, that's true to a large extent, but here's the catch: Even if you're informed and super safe, there is always has a slight chance that you can come a cropper if you are online without any protection.

Even legitimate big-name websites can unintentionally become malicious vehicles via the ads they serve if the ad networks they have partnered with are compromised (which has happened to some high profile sites in the past). So it's a pretty dangerous assumption to make sure you need good browsing habits and other good practices.

Also, less tech-savvy users may not be confident about how to stay safe online anyway, so it would be highly inadvisable to go without virus protection.

And for those who don't particularly want to put in the effort of researching and trying to find the best antivirus available, at least on Windows 10 PCs, you're already protected by default through Windows Defender. And these days Windows Defender offers a perfectly acceptable level of protection to get by.

The last major reason you should be using an antivirus app is the dangerous nature of the threats that exist these days, with, for example, nasty strains of ransomware threatening to lock down your entire digital life, or stealthy crypto-malware. extraction slowing down your PC when you might not even notice it.

Conclusion

In truth, there is no compelling reason to do without antivirus protection today, although there are valid concerns about the security of some antivirus applications themselves. Just make sure you choose a good antivirus solution like total security software, taking into account the factors we have discussed above because you will need it - especially in 2020, with the threat landscape has become such a perilous place.