Does your company have dedicated antivirus software to protect it against the annoying threats on the Internet? Sometimes, a computer virus can weasel its way past your software, but there's no greater frustration than when you realize that the reason you contracted a virus is because an employee disabled your software. Don't let this happen to you!

Why is this Even an Issue?
Isn't it common sense to not disable a software that protects your machine from malicious attacks? Here's usually how it goes down: An employee works on a project, gets frustrated by computer lag, takes the matter into their own hands, and disables a bunch of tasks including antivirus software. We understand how computer lag can be the most obnoxious part of a solid day at work (in fact, we offer PC speed improvement as part of our service repertoire), but this is by no means a justifiable reason for anyone to let their guard down against nasty computer viruses.

Who's At Fault?
For many guilty parties, it's not necessarily intentional. All they want to do is work on their computer without any lag. When they get fed up and check the task manager, they usually kill the applications that use the most resources, and often times, antivirus software fits the bill, as it works tirelessly to safeguard their machine. So, despite the fact that this employee most likely has ten tabs open in their web browser, is running Skype, is keeping Outlook open and attentive, and is running a few personal programs (thus using all processing speed on their own tasks), they feel the need to kill the "unnecessary" programs that are using the most memory. These novice computer users then disable antivirus software as a result, and experience a little boost in their PC performance.

With major threats lately like Cryptolocker and various IE vulnerabilities, protecting your data well has become a critical endeavor for every user of Internet-enabled computers.

Your Antivirus Keeps Working, Even if It Looks Like It Isn't
To the inexperienced computer user, antivirus software appears to not be doing anything while taking up a lot of processing power. However, it's tirelessly working by scanning, updating, and processing new data that gets downloaded in order to detect and deter any threats. In fact, exemplary employees need the antivirus protection the most as they're downloading all of the data for their web browser, email, Skype calls, and more. The bottom line; if antivirus is ever disabled, the machine is at great risk of contracting nasty software.

There's never a good reason to disable your antivirus software. It doesn't matter if you "need" more resources or more speed from your computer. In the long run, you'll render your machine useless as it contracts nasty software that prevents you from getting your work done.

If you are an employer, you'll need to educate your employees of this fact. Your system's antivirus software is one of the most crucial components of your company's network security. For more ideas on how to keep your computers safe from viruses that could rob you of your technology, give Network Synergy a call at (203) 261-2201.