There is a multitude of security software for your small business… how do you know which one is good?

Not all software is the same….

We at Complete Computers have been using different security software on our systems in live environments for many years. We have tried a lot of different options. The one conclusion we come up with is not all software is the same, no matter what the vendors advertise.
Some of the programs we have tested are:

Symantec EndPoint Protection: Small Business Edition

What we have found, is there is a night and day different between their home product and their Small Business Product. The Small Business product is much more effective and is updated more often than the home version, and as a cloud based management product, a Managed Service Provider such as us, can monitor and configure security policies so you as a small business owner don’t have to worry about it. We have even tried to infect our test machines on purpose and it has been very effective at detecting and preventing infections. If a file is downloaded, it will scan it and if it finds it as a bad file, will delete it and never give you access to the file. It also has a firewall and web browser protection that will keep you from access infected sites. When you do a search in a search engine, it will show you the web sites reputation to the side. It also allows you to control USB storage devices plugged into your systems.
The one downside to this program, is that it is not a small download, takes up a decent amount of disk space and will have an impact on system performance as it runs in the background.

Webroot Secure Anywhere

This is another excellent program. This has several advantages over Symantec. One major advantage is that it is a much smaller program and does not require the resources of Symantec. It pulls it information from the cloud, and not a mix of cloud and signature file. By default, there is no scanning of USB storage devices, that is a separate download that has to be done separately (not happy about it being an add-on, even though it is a free add-on). It also is managed in the cloud by an MSP and like Symantec, licenses can be added and removed as your business requires. Webroot is a much faster scanner and has identity protection built-in. One amazing feature it has is that as it watches unknown software run, it logs everything that the program does, and once it has been determined to be malicious, it will undo any changes the program made, so it is a great protection against Ransomware.

These are the two that we have completed testing on, and we are testing more as we go. The one thing to understand in this world is that you get what you pay for. Do not use any of this free software out there. It is not designed to protect your business. For a home PC, it is better than nothing, but still a paid product will give you much better and a much more complete solution.
Even not all home protection is the same, our recommendation for home based security software (especially if you have a laptop) is ESET Smart Security.
ESET SMARTSECURITY includes the following:
ESET NOD32 antivirus plus online banking protection, personal firewall, parental control, ransomware protection and antispam.
A major feature of this product is the Anti-Theft feature which allows you to track your own stolen laptop and report it to the police as the security software sends you updates to your email with pictures.
We have a client we recommended this to, and she had her laptop stolen and had it recovered in less than 48 hours because of the software.
There are many security software solutions, you do not need the granddaddy of them all, but something is better than nothing in this day and age with all the threats floating around on the web. We want you to be safe anytime your online.
This month is CyberAware Month. Visit this URL to get tips on staying safe:
http://staysafeonline.org/ncsam.

Anthony Regina was born and raised in California and grew up in Benicia. He is constantly learning new technology security solutions to help keep businesses current. If you have a tech topic you’d like for him to cover, email him at a.regina@completecomputers.us.

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