Today, everyone knows the consequences of not having an antivirus on your computer. This is especially important because of the risk of losing everything. Damaging files partially is quite high in its absence. Every computer user wonders whether it’s worth spending their money to pay for antivirus.

This question arises from the fact that there’re options to install antivirus for free. Some believe that when it comes to antivirus software, free doesn’t necessarily require you to sacrifice functionality. So it’s hard to give an answer right away, this topic needs to be dealt with in more detail.

Do you need to pay for antivirus software

Antivirus is a means of protecting hardware with software against malicious code, namely viruses. The action of antivirus is aimed at detecting viruses that modify files. The main purpose of which is the maximum spread and disruption of the normal operation of the operating system and apps.

In fact, antivirus is loaded on the device with the operating system as a program or set of software tools. It then detects malicious code interference in the file system from the outside.

Its final goal is to block the modified files or delete them. It’s also possible to fix according to a database of profiles for known threats that is updated over the internet. In addition, you should note that the functionality and capabilities of antivirus depend on its technical perfection. On this basis, the reliability of hardware protection depends largely on the choice of the most effective product.

The relevance of antivirus has become so high these days. This is because failures caused by malware have large-scale consequences. The most common ones are identity theft, phishing, and ransomware, damage to the integrity of the computer. This has contributed to the increasing relevance and sales of antivirus software.

That is why the question is so acute and causes frequent discussions about whether it’s worth paying for paid antivirus. Whether it will be a waste of money and whether paid antivirus really beats the free version.

Why some people are used to paying for antivirus

Many people are used to paying for antivirus because they had no other way before. So the habit repeats itself year after year. Although free antiviruses have always existed, in most cases they were limited versions of commercial programs. They only annoyed the user by encouraging him to buy the full version of the product. When Windows 8.1 was released, Microsoft improved its basic antivirus.

Developed for Windows 7, which is called Microsoft Security Essentials or MSE. MSE was a very bad antivirus, so much so that it always ranked last in the security rankings. That only changed when Windows 10 came out. After that, antivirus became much more effective and capable of blocking all kinds of malware. Preventing damage to your computer or virus tracking. Today, the Windows Protector can detect 99.96% of malware and virus attacks launched against it.

Does it make sense to use paid antiviruses

In fact, there will not be an expert in this field or a group of people who can unanimously answer this question. To this day, some people don’t trust Windows Defender because of MSE’s bad reputation. Also, because of the early versions of Windows Defender in Windows 8.1.

Maybe just because it’s free and unrestricted, many people are convinced that it’s not effective protection. However, the truth is that Windows Defender isn’t really free because Windows 10 isn’t free. When you buy a Windows PC, you are buying a Windows operating system along with its support.

After the Windows Defender was improved, there was a lot of talk and protests from antivirus companies. In order to stand out, they then started selling a whole range of additional services under the antivirus name. Such as secure VPN connections, password manager, parental controls.

Later several scanning options, ad blocking, and many other useful features as additional protection. They aren’t directly related to malware protection. Although they are useful but not critically necessary. They are definitely useful additional features.

Therefore, the conclusion to be drawn in this situation is that there is no categorical answer. In general, it doesn’t make much sense to buy antivirus software from a third-party company. This is more relevant to people who will use the computer for personal purposes. For pleasure or for work, can relax with Windows Defender protection.

If you look at it from the standpoint of people who run a business and need to protect multiple computers centrally. With risk-limiting tools, it’s worth paying for paid or subscription antivirus.

Paid antiviruses can better protect your computer in other ways. By protecting malicious emails, links, and other things that have nothing to do with antimalware protection.