4 Antivirus Apps Found to Pose Greater Risks Than Malware

Speedy Summary

• McAfee

– Frequently enough preinstalled on dell and HP computers, McAfee starts consuming system resources instantly upon setup.
– Known for aggressive upselling via pop-ups that disrupt productivity.
– collects personal data, including demographic info and purchase details, as per it’s privacy policy.- Removal of McAfee may require the company’s proprietary removal tool to eliminate leftover files.

• Norton

– Historically criticized as a resource-heavy antivirus causing slow performance on PCs.
– Over-reliance on upselling with excessive pop-ups even in paid versions.
– Included a crypto-mining feature with a 15% cut for itself; users reported challenges disabling it once activated.
– privacy concerns over collection of sensitive personal data like ID numbers, audio recordings, and bank details.

• Avast/AVG

– Frequently bundled with hardware; criticized for harvesting user browsing data and selling it to third parties like Omnicom.- FTC action imposed fines for its misuse of user data (February 2024).
– Constant notifications promoting upgrades add to its negative reputation.

• Kaspersky

– Praised for malware removal capabilities but deeply tied to allegations from the U.S. government about being used as Russian spyware.
– Trust issues arise due to its potential misuse by governments despite strong performance in cybersecurity tasks.

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Indian Opinion Analysis

Antivirus tools are widely used worldwide and hold critical importance toward ensuring digital security.However, their reported inefficiencies-such as high resource consumption-or questionable practices raise valid concerns globally. For India specifically,dependency on foreign antivirus software can pose dual implications: technical hurdles like PC slowdown may harm organizational productivity while privacy-sensitive approaches (e.g., harvesting user browsing or monetary/payment information) could potentially jeopardize national security and consumer rights under India’s evolving cybersecurity frameworks.India must carefully evaluate software both technically and geopolitically, especially products sourced internationally amidst increasing focus Enforcement Directions protecting Data+Cyber resiliences