Antivirus software has taken a beating recently in the news, mostly as it has struggled to identify and contain a few of the bigger malware attacks recently.
Antivirus Not Necessary on Smartphones?
There has also been a realization recently that individuals who do nearly all of their computing via smartphone most likely don’t need Antivirus software. Lots of people check their emails, social media accounts, and surf the web using their smartphones. If the antivirus industry doesn’t build software that is helpful to these folks, they are passing up on an invaluable market.
Smartphones vs. PCs
Smartphones operate differently from PCs. The apps on smartphones run on their own working environment, within their own systems and don’t interact. The apps do not interact. This makes smartphones more secure, as malware can’t attack all of the systems at the same time. This inherently makes antivirus software almost needless.
Secondly, because of the way smartphones work, antivirus software can’t do much to combat any malware smartphone users pick up. That’s because antivirus software can’t scan multiple apps to look for trouble.
Smartphone Antivirus Programs
That hasn’t stopped companies from offering antivirus apps for smartphones. For instance VirusBarrier, which is an antivirus program that smartphone users can purchase in Apple’s App Store. However , the program doesn’t scan anything on a smartphone as it can’t. Consumers, then, who want to scan email attachments have to send it to VirusBarrier from within their mail program. This is not just aggravating, it’s also fairly pointless. Consumers should consider this great news. There really is no reason for them to waste their funds on antivirus software for their smartphones.
