You may have heard of viruses that can infect your computer but did you know that there are different types and not all antivirus programs offer protection against them all? Many anti virus programs offer real time protection and they will scan sites you visit blocking any harmful request. They can also check for programs that are trying to download on to your computer and even scan your hard drives and any plug in device such as a USB stick. You can sometimes get them to check incoming and outgoing mail for viruses although this my mean you have to upgrade to get this protection. Malware is something else you need to ensure you are safeguarded from. Malware is software which is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain authorised access to a computer system. It can steal your personal details such as name, addresses and phone numbers along with passwords and card / bank details.
Many anti virus programs do not offer cover against Malware in their standard packages so you will either need to upgrade or find another program that you can run at the same time that does offer this.