One of the most important anti virus software features is real time protection, as explained in best anti virus software guide.  It is a fact that many viruses download automatically to your computer, without you even clicking on anything and without you even knowing that it installed itself, until it’s too late, some free spyware removal programs also have this protection but it is geared for spyware and not viruses.

That is why the best anti virus software will have real time protection to prevent these types of downloads. What this means is that it will identify and block downloads of viruses while you are surfing the net and on a particular website that may have a virus installed on it, either automatically or by alerting you that the threat exists. The best anti virus software will never allow that virus to transfer to your computer and real time protection is crucial to preventing virus, spyware and adware attacks.

These types of attacks are often referred to as drive-bys and it is crucial to make sure that the anti virus software you are using protects you from them. Getting an anti virus software without real time protection will leave your computer vulnerable to attacks and downloads that by the time they are detected by a virus scan, maybe too late to fix the problems they caused.

The Best Anti Virus Software for Real Time Protection

The best two virus sooftware for real time protection are: Avast and AVG

Avast is the industry leader in virus protection and their real time protection is hard to beat. As soon as it detects a threat while you are surfing the net alarms go off and a pop screen alerts you to the download that allows you to stop the download of the virus. It is highly accurate and efficient at not only detecting, but at stopping these viruses from infecting your computer.

This alert and real time protection system, called On-Access Scanner,  is always active, and you can see that it is on alert because a small ball icon will be in your lower browser task bar, so you always know that you are safe and protected.  On top of that Avast provides accurate scanning, detection and removal of any all viruses and the software database is updated automatically and it is available for MAC and PC. Learn more and download at Avast official website: Avast For PC and Avast for Mac.

AVG Anti Virus Software is another software that provides excellent real time protection, overall the real time protection provided by Avast is better, but AVG offers a good perk in their real time protection. The “anti-drive-by” protection program scans and approves or denies links and websites during browsing and search results with either a safe “green check mark” or if the site is bad then there will be a “red x” to ensure you visit safe sites and prevent visits to bad sites.

Here is a screenshot of what this looks like (click on image to enlarge)

The downside is if you forget to look for the checkmark you can wind up going to that site, as opposed to Avast that sets of alarms and stops actual virus downloads cold.