Signature scanners look backwards. We install the one that watches how programs behave — the same engine that protects business networks.
A traditional scanner works from a list. Someone somewhere gets infected, the sample gets analyzed, a signature gets written, and the next update teaches your computer to recognize it. That process protected people well for twenty years, and against a virus that has been in circulation for a while it still works.
The trouble is that a great deal of modern malware has never been in circulation. It is generated fresh, or repacked just enough to look like a file nobody has ever seen. There is no signature to match, because there is nothing to match it against. Ransomware in particular does its damage in minutes: by the time a file is flagged, your documents are already encrypted and there is a note on your desktop.
One infection is not an inconvenience. It can mean a computer you can't use, passwords harvested out of your browser, and files you can't open.
EDR watches behavior rather than filenames. A program that starts encrypting documents in bulk, or quietly copying itself into places programs don't belong, or reaching out to an address associated with attacks, is acting like an attack — and it gets stopped on that basis, whether or not anyone has ever seen that particular file before.
This is enterprise software. It is the class of tool that protects business networks, and it is not something you can pick up at retail. We buy it as a managed service provider, configure it for your machine, and it reports into our console rather than sitting alone on your desktop hoping you notice a pop-up.
For years, the go-to fix for a badly infected computer was Malwarebytes — one of the most recognized and trusted names in the business. In November 2023, Malwarebytes split its business-grade products into their own brand, ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes. Same company, same detection engine, aimed at organizations rather than single home PCs.
This matters when you compare prices. The Malwarebytes you can buy for yourself is the consumer product — a good product, and a different one. ThreatDown is the business line, and it is what we install.
Malwarebytes — the consumer line. Home users, VPN, identity protection. Buyable at retail.
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes — the business line. Sold through managed service providers. This is the one we install on your computer and manage.
| Free / built-in antivirus | ThreatDown EDR | |
|---|---|---|
| Catches known malware | Yes | Yes |
| Catches threats with no signature yet | Limited | Yes — behavior-based |
| Configured for your specific machine | No | Yes |
| Someone other than you sees the alerts | No | Yes |
| Included in a written report | No | Yes |
The honest version: the antivirus built into Windows has improved a great deal and it is not nothing. What it isn't is watched. If it detects something at 2am, it tells the computer. Nobody else finds out unless you go looking.
Antivirus is one of the three parts of Total PC Protection. The other two are software updates — because most break-ins use a hole that was patched months ago — and 24/7 monitoring of the machine itself.
There is no separate antivirus-only price. That's the whole point of the name.
One remote session, at a time you pick. No pressure, no salespeople, no call center.