The best you can do to determine whether a threat is real is to read the report that your antivirus software gives you, check the Web to find out a bit more, and then apply some common sense to assess whether it’s possible that your computer is indeed affected.

It’s an unfortunate fact that virtually all antivirus programs put out what are called “false positives” – or alerts regarding potential problems that do not, in fact, exist. These false positives are annoying, confusing, and time-zapping.

When you’re investigating antivirus software, it’s therefore a good idea to look for tests that evaluate various packages on the number of false positives that they put out. According to AV Comparative, an independent organisation that rates current antivirus packages on a number of criteria, the programs that report the fewest number of false positives are Microsoft’s OneCare, McAfee’s VirusScan+, Norton AntiVirus, and F-Secure Anti-Virus. 

Tags: Antivirus, threat, Virus Updates