Cyber-security has become one of the most essential and significant forms of security in this day and age.  There are literally millions of possible threats that can invade your computers and your networks. Be it in the form of viruses, malware, spyware, phishing, worms, trojans, or hacker intrusions, it is safe to say that it takes a lot of work to keep your information and data secured.  Luckily, there are software developers out there who are concerned about addressing and answering many of these security threats in the form of anti-virus software.  These days, it doesn't matter whether you are using your computer for entertainment, business, or personal use, as one thing remains: you still need to protect your data with a good anti-virus software.  So in this article, we will cover three of the top-rated anti-virus softwares for Windows-based personal computers.

AVG

Ever since AVG came onto the anti-virus software scene in the 1990s, it has been on a steady climb to success.  Today, AVG is one of the most renowned and awarded anti-virus software suites in the market.  The current offerings of AVG come in two packages, first is the freeware version of the software and the second is the premium version that costs $54.99 per year.  This anti-virus software is comprehensive, light on resources, and extremely good at its job of detecting, cleaning, and preventing viruses, hacker invasions, and malware.

ESET NOD32 anti-virus

Another heavy-weight in the world of anti-virus software is ESET NOD32 anti-virus.  ESET has become one of the most popular developers because of their NOD32 software.  Not only is the software extremely light on resources, but it also has fast scan times and features a nifty system called ThreatSense.  ThreatSense is a community-sourced detection system, which allows NOD32 users to automatically share information on new viruses, while continuing to compile data on old viruses to ensure a lower rate of false positives and a higher rate of early detection.  The only downside to ESET NOD32 anti-virus is that there is no freeware version of the software, so you will have to pay $39.99 per year if you want this great anti-virus solution.

Avira

Avira is an anti-virus software that has made a name for itself in a market dominated by long-standing competitors, like AVG, Norton, and McAfee.  Like AVG, the Avira anti-virus software comes in both a freeware version and a premium version.  The freeware version of the software isn't able to offer as many functions and tools as other freeware anti-virus programs, but still offers a good set of tools that can handle virus and malware threats.  The $30-per-year Avira Premium comes with a Linux Live CD, which allows you to recover your data and your system functionality if you are unable to fix the problem from Windows itself.