In recent months Antivirus software has failed to identify and contain some huge malware attacks. This has caused it to take a beating in the media.

Antivirus Not Necessary on Smartphones?

In fact, it may not be necessary. Many people do a good deal of their computing via smartphone now-a-days. People check their email, social media, and surf the web all on their smartphones. On a normal PC they must rely on antivirus software to protect them against malware when performing these tasks. However, antivirus software is built for PCs not smartphones. If antivirus developers don’t build something truly compatible with smartphones they are passing up on a profitable market.

Smartphones vs. PCs

Smartphones operate differently from PCs. The apps on smartphones operate 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 fundamentally makes antivirus software almost needless.

One other reason antivirus software is not useful for smartphones is that current antivirus software can’t scan these separate systems. That is why present antivirus software does little to combat any malware on smartphones.

Smartphone Antivirus Programs

We have touched on a couple factors why the antivirus software that is currently out there is not very efficient for smartphones. But that doesn’t stop companies from offering it. VirusBarrier is a good example of this. It can be obtained through Apple’s App Store, but it can’t actually scan anything on a smartphone. Users have to send any attachments or documents they need scanned for viruses through VirusBarrier before downloading it using their email client. This is often both frustrating and almost useless for consumers. Until companies start developing more advanced antivirus software that is able to actually scan apps on smartphones, there is little reason to buy antivirus software for your smartphone.

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