Why do so many antivirus solutions kill system performance?

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Caution and knowledge can only take you so far.

No matter how mindful you are, all it takes is a single slip up for your system to end up infected with ransomware. No matter how carefully you evaluate each file before downloading and each website before visiting, you might still wind up with a virus from a seemingly-reputable website. In other words, no matter what measures you take to prevent it, there is always a chance that you might be targeted by malicious software. 

That's precisely why security software is so important, even on personal devices.At its most basic, it acts as a failsafe against malware and ransomware. More complex offerings go above and beyond that simple function, with features ranging from password management to intelligent network monitoring. 

There's just one problem, and it's a glaring one.

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Antivirus software has a well-known reputation for being a horrendous resource hog. On less powerful systems, this can mean that everything slows to a crawl the instant your antivirus starts a scan — or even during regular operations. Even on higher-end PCs, antivirus software can cause frustrating and noticeable slowdowns.

These performance issues may stem from several root causes: 

Regardless of cause, most people would likely agree that if antivirus software cripples your system's performance, you're probably better off not installing it at all. 

That doesn't always have to be the case, though. Bitdefender Total Security 2020, for instance, is designed to mitigate malware and other threats without causing any impact on system performance. Thanks to BitDefender Photon, the platform can adapt quickly to any computer's hardware and software configuration, tweaking itself to run as efficiently and effectively as possible Better yet, Total Security automatically detects when you're playing a game, working, or watching a movie, adjusting itself to reduce distraction and prevent performance issues.

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It doesn't just run well, either. It includes OneClick Optimizer, a utility designed to make your PC run more efficiently than ever. With just a click, you can get an overview of any potential performance issues on your PC, along with the ability to address them. 

This is, of course, in addition to the platform's extensive security and privacy tools, which include real-time data protection and network threat prevention, ransomware prevention, one-click vulnerability assessment, an improved VPN, a password manager, and much, much more. 

In short, Bitdefender Total Security 2020 offers everything you could possibly want in home security software, and all without putting any strain on your CPU. 

Now, it's important to note that your antivirus software isn't the only thing that can adversely affect your performance. There are, after all, a lot of moving parts on both the hardware and software side. Next time, we'll talk about the steps you can take to ensure they work together as efficiently and effectively as possible.