ComputerWorld: Security suites: Choosing the best one for you

These days, security suites do more than protect you from malware -- they handle phishing, lost mobile devices and a multitude of other tasks.

By Preston Gralla
Jul 20, 2015

The old days of straightforward antivirus software packages are gone -- victim of a changing threat scene in which the dangers are more complex than ever and come from multiple sources.

No longer are viruses and Trojans the only risks. Today you can also be victimized by phishing attacks, spyware, privacy invasions, social media scams and the possibility of losing your mobile device.

To complicate matters even further, most of us commonly use multiple devices, frequently with different operating systems. I'm a perfect case of that: My computing arsenal includes a Windows desktop PC, a MacBook Air, two Windows-based Surface tablets, two iPads, an iPhone and a Google Nexus 7 Android tablet.

What does all that mean for today's security software? It means that yesterday's single security application has expanded to become a full-blown suite protecting against multiple threats on multiple devices. Because of that, it's become more difficult -- and more important -- to choose the right suite. You need to take into account the types of threats you might encounter based on the way you compute, as well as the specific devices you use, so you can match a suite's coverage to your specific needs.

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