If you’re a home user, skip this post. As long as you have some form of anti-virus on your computer and you keep it current, you should be okay.
If you run a small business with a network (that is, anything more than one computer and your credit card reader), read Mary Brandel’s recent article in CSO Online about the Dos and Don’ts of selecting an anti-virus solution for your enterprise. The short version is that there is a lot more out than just anti-virus these days. Look around for a good package that does more than just virus-checking. That was good enough a few years ago but not any more.
You may also be able to save some money by buying an integrated package and consolidating your security products some.
On point worth mentioning: Brandel is a fan the use of whitelists but I’m not so sure. Whitelists are lists of applications which are allowed to run in your environment. If you have a comprehensive list, then anything not on the list must be malicious and gets blocked. In theory, it’s a great idea. In practice, it requires a great deal of control to build and maintain that list. In a dynamic, small business, you may lose some flexibility.
Her other points (especially the one on page 4 about malware removal) are spot-on.
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