From Norton to Kaspersky, I’m sure you have some form of anti-virus (AV). But how necessary is an AV to the health of your PC? The answer isn’t set in stone, and it’s entirely dependent on you. No matter how safe you think you are on the web I recommend running Malwarebytes, the free version alone is enough.

There are multiple AVs out there that basically all do the same thing. The key features to look out for are how often the AV’s banks update and how often they want to show you pop-ups. Norton is especially notorious for pop-ups. Another problem is pricing. Many AVs charge upwards of $60 a year to “keep your PC protected”. But is there really any need for this protection? Eh. As I said it depends on the user. Common sense is the best anti-virus. Your PC is already pre-installed with the best AV out there – windows defender. It’s updated with the latest threats constantly, and has little to no impact on hardware usage. Are you running any AV right now? Go ahead and open the task manager (CTRL + SHIFT +ESC). Find your AV, it’s probably near the top. Know why? Because for some reason anti-viruses feel the need to absolutely destroy your RAM and CPU usage.

If the user isn’t the “smartest” about security and is actively visiting shady sites an AV might be something to look into, but with common sense, Malwarebytes and Windows defender you’re going to be 100% safe.