Caution and knowledge alone will not get you here.

No matter how careful you are, just one carelessness can infect your system with ransomware. No matter how carefully you evaluate each file before you download it and each website before you visit it, you could still get infected with a virus from a seemingly trustworthy website. In other words, no matter what measures you take, there is always the possibility of being targeted by malicious software. [At its most basic, it acts as a failsafe against malware and ransomware. At its most basic, it serves as a failsafe against malware and ransomware. At its more complex, it goes beyond that simple functionality, from password management to intelligent network monitoring.

There's just one problem: they're not very good at it.

Anti-virus software is notoriously resource-intensive. On less capable systems, everything can slow down as soon as the antivirus software starts scanning, or even during normal operation. Even on high-end PCs, antivirus software can cause frustratingly noticeable slowdowns.

Such performance problems may be due to several underlying causes:

Regardless of the cause, most would agree that if antivirus software reduces system performance, it is better not to install it!

However, it is also possible that the antivirus software may be a problem.

However, this does not necessarily have to be the case. For example, Bitdefender Total Security 2020 is designed to mitigate malware and other threats without affecting system performance; thanks to BitDefender Photon, this platform can be installed on any computer's hardware and software configuration and can quickly adapt and adjust itself to work as efficiently and effectively as possible.

And it doesn't just work well; OneClick Optimizer is a utility designed to make your PC run more efficiently than ever. With just a click, you get an overview of your PC's potential performance problems and the ability to address them. [This of course adds to the platform's extensive security and privacy tools, including real-time data protection and network threat prevention, ransomware prevention, one-click vulnerability assessment, improved VPN, password manager, and more.

In short, Bitdefender Total Security 2020 delivers everything you want in home security software, and does it all without straining your CPU.

Now, it is important to note that it is not only antivirus software that can negatively impact performance. After all, there are many moving parts on both the hardware and software side. In my next article, I will discuss steps to ensure that these work together as efficiently and effectively as possible.