Ransomware has become a widespread threat to individuals and businesses worldwide in the past few years. It is a type of malware that encrypts data on a victim’s computer, demands a ransom to be paid in order to decrypt the data, and threatens to destroy it if the ransom is not paid. Ransomware attacks can have devastating effects on individuals and entire organizations, leading to financial losses, damage to reputation, and loss of sensitive information.
One of the common questions people often ask is whether they can get hit by someone else’s ransomware. The answer is yes, and it’s not a far-fetched concept. Here’s how it can happen.
Ransomware can spread through different methods, including email phishing, unauthorized downloads, and network vulnerabilities. If someone within your network gets infected with ransomware, there’s a good chance it will spread throughout the entire network. This means that if your coworker or someone else within your organization falls victim to ransomware, your computer could also become infected.
Furthermore, ransomware attacks can also occur through remote desktop protocol (RDP) connections. This is a vulnerability that allows cybercriminals to use stolen credentials to access remote machines and deploy ransomware. If someone else within your organization or even external attackers gain unauthorized access to your RDP connection, they can potentially infect your system with ransomware.
Another way that you can get hit by someone else’s ransomware is through malicious websites. These websites are designed to trick users into downloading malware or granting access to sensitive information. If someone within your network visits a malicious website, they could unintentionally download ransomware onto their computer, which could potentially spread to your system as well.
In conclusion, the threat of ransomware is real, and it’s important to take precautions to protect yourself and your organization. One of the best ways to prevent ransomware attacks is to educate employees about the risks and provide them with training on how to identify and avoid phishing attempts. Additionally, using anti-virus software, keeping software up-to-date, and limiting access to sensitive information can also help prevent ransomware attacks. Remember, prevention is key when it comes to ransomware, and being vigilant can save you or your company from a potentially devastating attack.
In a data center, the power chain is the sequence of infrastructure equipment that distributes power from its source all the way to the IT devices.
Most data centers use alternating current (AC) power, though telecommunications companies typically use direct current (DC) power. There are pros and cons to each, and they require different equipment.
Understanding your data center power chain is important because it helps you ensure redundancy and uptime, intelligently perform capacity planning, and simplify troubleshooting.
What is the Difference Between AC and DC Power Data Centers?
The key differences between data centers that utilize AC or DC power are:
Current direction. With AC power, the flow of electrons is constantly changing directions back and forth. The current changes 60 times per second in North America and 50 times per second in Europe. With DC power, the flow is linear in one direction.
Transformers. Voltage can be easily transformed with AC power. The power comes into the facility at 600V or 480V and a transformer steps it down to 208V or 120V. DC power chains do not include transformers.
Power interruption. AC power data centers use UPS units and batteries to provide backup power in the event of a main power failure. The AC power is converted to DC power for storage, and during an outage, it Is converted back to AC and distributed downstream. DC power data centers use power plants with batteries that store energy for emergencies, and no conversion is required.
Standardization. AC power is the current standard. DC power does not have the same standard for voltages and connectors that AC does. There is also less options on the market for DC power equipment such as air conditioning and fire protection systems.
Space. DC power equipment is less complex and takes up less physical space than AC power equipment.
Scalability. DC power systems are more modular and can be easily scaled up by adding more battery strings as the load increases.
Run time. The run time provided by DC battery strings is greater than the run time provided by a UPS for the same load.
Load balancing. AC power may be in three-phases which requires load balancing.
Efficiency. Converting power from AC or DC to the other results in power loss and heat. DC power systems require less conversions, so they are typically more energy-efficient.
What Objects Are in a Typical AC Power Chain?
A typical data center with an AC power distribution system will include the following objects, roughly in this order:
Utility feed. The main source of power during normal data center operations is the feed coming directly from the local power utility company.
Transformers. Transformers reduce the voltage of incoming power to a level that is appropriate for the next piece of equipment in the power chain.
Automatic transfer switch (ATS). Downtime is expensive and must be kept to a minimum. In the event of a power failure, the ATS seamlessly transitions to an emergency power source. Once power is restored, the ATS returns the load back to the utility feed.
Generators and fuel tanks. During a power outage, diesel generators are a common emergency power source that the ATS transfers the load to until the utility feed is restored.
Switchgears. The power from the utility feeds into the switchgear which splits and distributes the power into any number of outgoing circuits that power various critical and non-critical loads of the facility.
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). UPS units store energy that is temporarily deployed during an outage. When there is a power failure, it can take 10 to 15 seconds for the generator to reach full power. During that time, UPS units provide emergency power until the backup power can support the load, and their batteries can typically provide power for up to 30 minutes.
Floor power distribution units (PDUs). Floor-mounted PDUs act as a bridge between the facility’s primary power and the data center. They transform and distribute the incoming power to groups of remote power panels or busways.
Remote power panels (RPPs). RPPs distribute, control, and monitor the power going to groups of racks with IT equipment.
Busways. An alternative to RPPs, busways are located above rows of server racks.
Rack PDUs. Rack PDUs are power strips that are installed in pairs in each individual server rack. To provide redundancy, each IT device is plugged into an outlet on each rack PDU which are part of separate power paths. Rack PDUs can be basic (also known as “dumb”) or intelligent. Depending on the model, intelligent rack PDUs can be monitored, metered (at the inlet or outlet), and or switched.
What Objects Are in a Typical DC Power Chain?
A typical data center with an DC power distribution system will include the following objects, roughly in this order:
Utility feed. As with an AC data center, the power for a DC data center comes from the local utility company as AC power.
Power plants. In the facility, power plants consist of a rack with a rectifier and batteries. The rectifiers convert the incoming AC power into DC power and charge the battery strings that keep the plant running for a period of time during an outage until the utility power is restored.
DC bays. Battery distribution fuse bays (BDFBs) and battery distribution circuit breaker bays (BDCBBs) split the incoming power from the power plant into multiple feeds for downstream equipment. The key difference between them is that BDFBs protect against overloaded circuits while BDCDBBs protect against overloads and short circuits.
Fuse alarm panels. Fuse alarm panels (FAPs) are similar to rack PDUs in an AC power chain. They are mounted in racks and provide power distribution and protection to the IT devices within those racks.
Whether you have an AC or DC power chain in your data center, you need to understand the objects in your power chain and know the health of your system.
With modern DCIM software, you can track all the items in your AC or DC power chain from the power source down to the compute devices and track their electrical characteristics and interconnections. This makes it easy to understand the power capacity and load at any node in the system.
DCIM software also automatically generates dynamic and interactive single-line diagrams that help you visualize your power chain in a single pane of glass. You can track the utility feed, generator and fuel tanks, transformers, load devices, UPS units, AC panels, floor PDUs, DC power plants, and DC bays, track all draw-out breaker and disconnect switches, track breaker status, and see a details panel for each node that includes budgeted and actual values for voltage, current, power rating, highest/lowest phase, and more.
Data centers account for more than 2% of total global energy consumption. If action is not taken, it is estimated that data centers will be responsible for 8% of global energy consumption by 2030.
Data center managers are under increased pressure to comply with corporate sustainability initiatives and dramatically increase their efficiency. To support their efforts, many data center professionals are turning to Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software.
DCIM software helps you improve data center sustainability by enabling you to:
1. Stop wasting energy by overcooling equipment.
One of the biggest roadblocks to data center sustainability is the overcooling of equipment. The average data center has 3.9 times more cooling capacity than the IT load requires. This is a large waste of energy and money.
ASHRAE recommends that temperatures at the server intake should be between 65-80° F, yet many data centers are either at the low end of that range or even below it due to risk-averse data center managers who do not want to risk downtime due to overheated equipment. However, you can save 4-5% in energy costs for every 1° F you increase the temperature and increasing temperatures can be done without introducing the risk of downtime.
DCIM makes it easy to stop wasteful overcooling by monitoring temperature sensor data and transforming it into actionable insights. For example, ASHRAE cooling charts show you which cabinets are operating outside recommended ranges, 3D thermal map time-lapse videos make it easy to identify the formation of hot spots, and threshold alerts automatically notify you when a cabinet is getting too cool or warm.
You simply have to identify where you can raise temperature set points in your DCIM tool and slowly make those adjustments while monitoring the temperatures to ensure they don’t exceed your recommended range.
2. Find and shut down energy-wasting ghost servers.
Ghost servers are servers physically running in your facility but not performing any useful function. In an average data center, up to 30% of all servers could be ghost servers and all they do is waste energy and resources. It is crucial to identify and remove them so you can save energy and free up power, space, cooling, and cabling capacity.
With DCIM software, it’s easy to know which of your servers are ghost servers. DCIM software monitors live measured data from intelligent rack PDUs and modern solutions have a built-in ghost server report.
With this report, you can see which servers are drawing less than 50W over time. Add up their energy consumption to know how much energy and money you can save by removing them. DCIM software provides the exact rack and U position for each server and the change management capabilities allow you to create requests to decommission them. After removing the ghost servers from your data center, you can use your DCIM tool to track your improvements in energy consumption, PUE, and available capacity in real time.
3. Improve the energy efficiency of your private cloud or virtual environment.
Modern organizations have large estates of servers in which some are older and less efficient than others. If you operate your data center like a cloud in a virtualized environment, your virtual instances may differ in efficiency depending on the physical servers they are located on.
Second-generation DCIM software allows you to automate and optimize virtual machine management by integrating with VMware. The integration lets you register for “events” including a new cluster, host, or virtual machine being deployed that will automatically populate into your DCIM. Customers report that the integration is a simple set up with an out-of-the-box connector and only takes 3 to 4 minutes.
You can achieve your sustainability goals faster by moving virtual instances to the most efficient servers. This can also decrease hardware costs, quicken the provisioning of resources, and help identify and decommission non-functioning servers.
4. Track sustainability metrics like PUE
One of the most common ways to measure data center sustainability is through the metric Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). PUE measures the overall efficiency of a data center and indicates how much of the total facility’s total energy consumption is being used by IT equipment in ratio form, with a PUE of 1.0 being 100% efficient. While the Uptime Institute reports that the average PUE is 1.58, your goal should be under 1.4 or 1.5 depending on your facility.
Tracking PUE helps sustainability because you can monitor energy efficiency over time and spot changes at certain points in time like at peak loads or by season. Access to this information can help you make more informed decisions about energy consumption and how to better increase efficiency.
DCIM software provides automatic PUE charts in real-time so you don’t have to waste time collecting energy bills and power meter readings and performing manual calculations. Instead, you can focus that time on projects that will improve your energy efficiency.
While PUE is important, there are many data center sustainability metrics that, together, provide a more holistic view of your sustainability. DCIM software can be used to track how many of your cabinets are compliant with ASHRAE standards, delta-T per cabinet, stranded power capacity per rack, temperature per cabinet, carbon footprint, and more.
5. Drive more efficient behavior with customer bill back reports.
Since internal and external customers might not always comply with energy efficiency best practices, it’s important to drive awareness and accountability by charging them for the energy they actually use. DCIM software can generate bill back reports so you can monitor the cost of energy per customer, business unit, or application with extreme accuracy. When customers see their report, they can be encouraged to become more conscious of their energy consumption and contribute to improving sustainability.
As new cyber threats, such as malware and viruses, develop every day – getting an antivirus protection for your device is crucial. Even something as simple as downloading an application or the file that your acquaintances sent via email can end up with your device getting infected.
Even though the latest operating systems, such as Windows 11 and 10, have in-built security solutions, they’re not comprehensive enough to provide all-around virus protection.
Aside from safeguarding your devices from threats, a high-quality antivirus can do much more. Whether it’s keeping your data anonymous with a VPN service, protecting your login credentials with a password manager, or limiting some websites with parental controls, you can get all that with a single security suite.
In this article, we’re going to help you choose the best antivirus software of 2023. These picks are a combination of recommendations by independent laboratories, including Virus Bulletin, AV-TEST, and AV-Comparatives. Antivirus programs were also tested by our own researchers to provide you with first-hand experience.
Note: We regularly test and research antivirus software to update this list with products that are of the highest quality.
Choosing the best antivirus might seem challenging at first. There are so many options offering a variety of features. So, how to decide which one suits your needs?
Here are a few simple factors that you should consider before choosing an antivirus:
Look for a constantly updating malware database. New cyber threats are being constantly developed to ensure antivirus programs can’t detect them. For such a reason, we only included providers that are known for regular malware database updates.
Check security features. The best antivirus solutions should include more than just malware protection. It should provide you with other features you may need, for example, a VPN, a password manager, or any other protection measures. Unless you already have such tools, you can opt for more feature-rich services.
Seek for all-around antivirus protection. If you’re not the only one using a computer or a mobile device, you should consider getting an antivirus that would provide extra protection. Some providers have solid parental control features while others protect your whole home network and alert about possible dangers.
Consider your budget. Not all antivirus programs offer the same bang-for-the-buck ratio. That’s why spending less (or more) can sometimes get you many more features.
Try the software first. You can always make use of the money-back guarantee that antivirus services offer to try the product out. This way, you’ll test it out yourself and see whether or not it’s worth the money you’re paying.
Top 10 best antivirus software – detailed list:
All of our listed providers have the necessary tools to provide maximum malware protection and bonus features that you may find useful. Without further ado, let’s dive into the detailed descriptions of all 10 best antivirus programs.
1. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus – best overall antivirus protection in 2023
Max simultaneous connections:
5 devices
Free version:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Bitdefender is the best antivirus of 2023 because it offers exceptional malware protection rates and security from all types of malware. Depending on the plan you pick, Bitdefender can become your all-in-one cybersecurity suite with a VPN and a password manager.
During independent lab tests, Bitdefender blocked 100% of both 0-day and 4-week old malware. We tried testing it ourselves, and it blocked all 10 of the zero-day threats we challenged it with. The quick scan took 2 minutes, while the full one – 14 minutes.
You can get Bitdefender on various OS, including Windows and macOS computers, or iOS and Android. Each app is neatly organized and beginner-friendly, ensuring you easily adapt to it fast.
Bitdefender’s full cybersecurity suite includes advanced malware, ransomware, webcam, and microphone protection. You’ll also get a password manager and even a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with a daily data limit of 200 MB for keeping you anonymous online.
Pros
Best malware protection
Excellent core
Feature-rich
Great free version
Excellent value for money
Frequent updates
Exceptional scores in independent tests
Cons
Full VPN access requires paying extra
2. Norton 360 Antivirus – premium antivirus with top security features
Max simultaneous connections:
10 devices
Free version:
No
Platforms:
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Another optimal antivirus pick is Norton 360 antivirus. Its malware detection rates are just as great as Bitdefender’s, while the apps are very simple to get a hang of. Norton 360 is convenient for those who wish for a seamless antivirus experience.
Independent lab test results showed that the antivirus catches 100% of zero-day malware, has minimal impact on the speeds, and detects no false positives. Our own tests showed similar results. The real-time protection feature instantly blocked all threats as soon as we released them. However, the full scan was quite heavy on system resources.
As for features, you get such extra security measures as a smart firewall, secure cloud backup, a VPN, and a password manager. A strong contender to Bitdefender indeed.
We tried all available apps (Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS) – the interface is organized and easy to navigate on all of them. However, some of the extra features open up in different tabs. Inconvenience for some, nothing of importance to others – it’s your call.
Pros
Excellent protection
Plenty of extras
Powerful identity-theft suite
Basic free version
Easy-to-use
Optimization tools
Cons
On the pricier side
3. TotalAV – the essential free antivirus package
Max simultaneous connections:
6 devices
Free version:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux
With excellent malware detection rates, TotalAV earns one of the top spots on our best antivirus list. It successfully blocks 97% of zero-day and 100% of 4-week old malware attacks, guaranteeing exceptional protection against various cyber threats.
When testing in-house, TotalAV found 7 out of 10 malicious files during the full scan. It was quite heavy on resources, but scanned only for around 7 minutes. The quick scan was, well… quick. It took 14 seconds and had virtually no visible effects on resources: that was really impressive to see.
In terms of the apps, the interface of both dedicated mobile (Android and iOS) and desktop (Windows and macOS) apps is well-organized and simple, just like the installation process itself.
The antivirus also has useful security features that come free of charge. Without spending a single dollar, you get a malware scanner and anti-phishing protection.
If you do get a paid subscription, your security coverage expands a great deal with real-time protection and ransomware shields. On top of that, it also includes a Cloud Scanner, a Disk Cleaner, and optimization tools. These will help you free up some space in your hard drive and make your startup more efficient.
TotalAV also offers a VPN with unlimited data, a password manager, and an Ad Blocker to ensure safe online browsing.
Pros
Robust internet security package
Intuitive apps
Fast customer support response times
Real-time and cloud protection
Includes optimisation tools
Cons
Only covers six devices
The browser extension isn’t particularly user friendly
Safe Search doesn’t always work
4. Surfshark Antivirus – great all-around protection with a top VPN
Max simultaneous connections:
5
Free version:
No
Platforms:
Windows, macOS, Android
Surfshark is primarily known as a VPN provider – but its excellent antivirus suite makes it so much more. It’s a great internet security suite of features for all your online safety needs.
Fully certified by independent antivirus testing labs, Surfshark Antivirus can block 100% of threats. In our tests, the full scan was exceptionally fast, covering over 100,000 files in just 90 seconds and finding 7 out of 10 potentially malicious files.
In terms of features, there’s real-time protection that protects your system at all times. There’s also Data Breach Protection which checks for your personal data leaked on various internet databases. There’s even a secure search engine, where everything stays strictly private, and neither search history nor activity logs are collected.
And of course, there’s also a wildcard: Surfshark has one of the best VPNs in the business, keeping your privacy intact when surfing online while offering some of the best speeds in the industry.
The antivirus is available on Windows PC, macOS, and Android devices. All of the apps are very neatly organized and simple to use.
Pros
User-friendly
Top-notch VPN included
Private search engine
Real-time protection
Customizable scans
Cons
No firewall
Scans take longer than usual
ID check isn’t available in all countries
5. NordVPN Threat Protection – top real-time threat protection and an excellent VPN
NordVPN is one of the world’s most popular VPN providers. But in recent years, the company has been steadily moving towards becoming an all-in-one data privacy solution. Now, NordVPN is an excellent security package. It not only hides your IP address but also offers real-time protection against various online threats.
The new NordVPN Threat Protection is an extra layer of defense. This feature ensures your browsing experience isn’t affected by various threats found across the web. This means protecting your devices from malware, tracking, malicious ads, and overall hackers.
The Threat Protection feature identifies malware-affected files you’re downloading, and proactively stops you from landing on infected websites. It also blocks annoying ads and trackers found on many websites.
All of these features don’t require an active VPN connection to work: as long as the NordVPN app is on and Threat Protection is enabled, it will keep working in the background, providing additional protection as you browse.
And of course, we can’t ignore that NordVPN is a VPN: and the best one in its class, letting you access worldwide streaming content and stay protected when connected to unsecured wi-fi networks. With the new protection features, it’s an excellent all-around solution if you’re simply looking to stay safer every time you browse.
Pros
Powerful ad blocker
Real-time download scanner
Top class VPN included
Solid protection from trackers
Simple to use all-in-one package
Cons
No real-time system scans
No advanced scanning features
6. ESET NOD32 – the best lightweight antivirus software
Max simultaneous connections:
10 devices
Free version:
No
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, Android
ESET NOD32 is the leading Slovak cybersecurity product, and offers a very solid and reliable antivirus suite – well worth a place on our best antivirus software list. The independent testing lab scores don’t disappoint – the antivirus is categorized as a Top Product that blocks 100% of attempted attacks.
To make sure of that, we did some testing ourselves. While the scanning options were confusing at first, the custom scan (which appears to be a mixture of quick and full ones) found all threats that we challenged it with. System resources were allocated well, too: other apps that were on, experienced no major performance issues during the scans.
You can get ESET on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. Unfortunately, it’s not available on iOS, but other apps are clean and user-friendly. Considering the Apple ecosystem’s security, this might not be a big problem.
With its core package, you get real-time protection against malware and ransomware. But, if you’re worrying that the NOD32 Essential Protection might not be enough, you can opt for ESET Advanced Protection which includes the Safe Browsing feature to prevent harmful JavaScript injections and a network monitoring tool.
For those who want to go all-in, there’s an option to pick the ESET Ultimate Protection package. It will add a password managerandencryption for personal files.
What’s really exceptional about ESET NOD32 is that it’s cloud-based and offloads most of the heavy processing to their servers. This means much less work for your device and better performance.
7. McAfee Total Protection – great cross-platform support with basic plan
Max simultaneous connections:
10 devices
Free version:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
McAfee falls into the category of our top antivirus software suites since it offers not only protection against the latest cyber threats but also provides additional security features, doing more than just basic malware protection.
Independent testing labs have examined the security capabilities of this antivirus and show that it catches 100% of both 0-day and 4-week old cyber threats. They rated its performance, protection, and usability with 6 out of 6 points.
We tested McAfee ourselves and threw 10 malicious files for it to detect. While the quick scan found none of them, the full scan blocked all threats not even halfway through the scan. This is a rare sight to see even with the best antiviruses. So, although the system resources can take a toll on your device performance, the final results are worth the wait.
What’s also worth mentioning is that McAfee supports Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android operating systems and offers pretty easy-to-use apps.
McAfee’s core package includes a VPN, a password manager, file encryption, and a file shredder, among other features.
Additionally, the antivirus provides identity theft protection and security for your network as well. The Home Network Security allows managing all devices connected to the wifi and alerts you of any intrusion attempts.
Pros
All plans support major platforms
Generous device limits
Basic package is feature-rich
Solid firewall
Home Network Security feature is a godsend
Cons
Some independent test results are poor
Performance could be better
Apple products have fewer features
8. Avira Antivirus – best free plan on the market
Max simultaneous connections:
25 devices
Free version:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Avira Antivirus is one of the best antivirus software packages available in both free and premium segments that also offers outstanding protection. It showed impressive scores from independent test labs, successfully blocking 99.2% of cyber threats.
As for our initiated tests, Avira distinguished itself with a super fast full scan – it took only 3 minutes and 30 seconds. But get this – it also managed to block all 10 malicious files. Although the CPU was high the whole time, it shouldn’t be considered a drawback since it only takes a few minutes.
Avira antivirus is compatible with the most popular operating systems (Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS). However, not all features are available for macOS – email protection and download scans are for Windows users only.
As for features, without opening up your wallet, you can get a VPN, a firewall, and a password generator when most of the time you’ll be paying extra to get some or all of them.
Apart from that, this antivirus has advanced ransomware protection, web protection for safe online shopping, email protection, and a file shredder. There’s also automatic software updating feature, a tool for browser safety, and a password manager along with regular malware protection solutions.
Furthermore, what distinguishes Avira from other antiviruses is its PC optimization tools. For example, you can speed up the booting of your device.
Pros
Feature-rich free version
Compatible with all major platforms
Real-time protection
Features to protect online browsing
Includes VPN services
Cons
Some features are only available on Windows
Browser extension is needed to use all of its features
Delayed response from the customer support
9. Trend Micro – simple and secure antivirus for online threat protection
Max simultaneous connections:
10 devices
Free version:
Yes (Android and iOS)
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS
Trend Micro is another solid antivirus software that can help you protect your devices from cyber threats. During independent lab tests, this antivirus showed the ability to catch 100% of the latest malware during the examination.
Our tests demonstrated that while there were a few spikes, the antivirus wasn’t heavy on system resources in general. The virus scanner managed to delete 8 threats out of 10 in under 9 minutes.
Trend Micro is compatible with all major operating systems (including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS) so that you could use it on both desktop and mobile devices, and it’s ideal for beginners. However, it does take ages to uninstall the app.
In terms of features, this antivirus uses AI technologies to scan for malware. Aside from that, Trend Micro offers PayGuard and Folder Shield for safe shopping and document protection from ransomware. You can also enjoy using Social Media Privacy Protection, Fraud Buster, Dark Web Monitoring features, and a VPN to add an extra layer of security when browsing online.
But these features are not all. Trend Micro also gives the possibility to use system optimization tools and a password manager to boost your device’s performance and keep all of your credentials safe.
Pros
Strong protection against online threats
Real-time protection
30-day free trial
Great desktop app
Up to 10 devices with Premium plans
Cons
No webcam protection for Windows computer
Limited licensing options
No built-in firewall
10. Malwarebytes – simple and intuitive antivirus platform
Max simultaneous connections:
5 devices
Free version:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, Android, macOS, ChromeOS, iOS
Malwarebytes is another solid anti-malware program that does the job really well. Itperforms admirably in independent lab testing, especially when it comes to detecting malware. Let it be a zero-day old recent threat or one that’s been around for more than 4 weeks, it stops 100% of them.
Malwarebytes had quite an impact on system resources during our in-house test. So we wouldn’t recommend launching any apps during full scans. Additionally, it found 7 out of 10 threats during the 6 minute scan.
You can install Malwarebytes on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android platforms. They’re very simple and allow you to set different scans, including daily threat scans.
Malwarebytes uses real-time malware protection to monitor your device activity and stop any potential cyber threats before they enter the system. Additionally, there’s a ransomware prevention feature to help you avoid file-encrypting viruses from attacking your device.
What’s also worth mentioning is that Malwarebytes includes exploit protection which is useful when stopping malware from both infecting the device and spreading further.
When it comes to extra features, Malwarebytes offers a VPN to help you encrypt your Internet traffic and protect private information when browsing online. Not only will your devices be protected from viruses, but also incoming and outgoing internet traffic and other data.
Pros
Good virus protection rates
Great user interface
Minimal CPU usage
Browser security extension
Plan with a VPN available
Cons
No live chat support
Adding extra devices costs more
Lacks certain premium features
How we tested the best antivirus software
esting the best antivirus solutions isn’t as difficult as ranking them afterwards. Our first step was to weed out all of the software that doesn’t meet our security standards. This includes programs with low malware detection rates (which is their primary job) and apps that are simply too buggy. Here’s how our testing process looked like:
Providers tested:
25
Operating systems used:
Windows, macOS, Android
Minimum virus detection rate:
>97%
Features tested:
Real-time protection, spam filters, firewall, parental controls, bonus features
Then, we ranked the providers with careful consideration of various factors. The most important aspects to consider were malware protection rates and extra features. However, that’s not all there is to it. Here are the main criteria we used to determine the best antivirus programs in 2023:
Independent antivirus testing. Such labs as AV-Test Institute, SE Labs, AV-Comparatives continuously put different antiviruses to a test. This way, we evaluate how well they detect malware and other threats.
In-house antivirus testing. Since independent lab tests aren’t performed every week or even month, we also put them to our own tests. We checked how well each antivirus can detect and block 10 zero-day malware files.
False positive record. Malware and other cyber threats are being constantly updated to ensure successful attacks. While even the best antivirus can’t catch it all 100% of the time, it’s important that the program doesn’t overreact too often.
Bonus features. We checked which antiviruses offer some extra benefits, such as firewalls, spam filters, secure browsers, or others, without overpricing it to boost your internet security overall.
Supported devices. Since many top antivirus products allow connecting multiple devices simultaneously, we looked for solutions that support various devices.
Performance. If you don’t have the latest hardware, an antivirus scan can hamper your device’s performance. We looked at providers that have as minimal effect on your resources as possible.
Ease of use. No matter how sophisticated the best antivirus software is, any user regardless of experience should be able to scan their device effortlessly.
Price. Having tested dozens of providers, we made sure the ones we suggest provide you with budget-friendly options and give you your money’s worth.
How does antivirus software work?
The way antivirus programs work is they scan your device, detect known malicious threats, and remove or quarantine them. They also regularly update themselves so they could also detect newly emerged threats. The so-called heuristic scan tries to detect unknown malware software by looking at the way your programs behave.
There are two types of scans that are usually available. The backgroundscan provides real-time protection by actively checking the programs that are currently opened.
In contrast, a full system scanchecks every file on your hard drive. It’s recommended to run one after installing the antivirus and after the real-time scan finds an infection.
Video review: Best antivirus of 2023
Best antivirus based on your OS
Different antivirus programs support different operating systems (OS). Yet, each OS works best with specifically customized antivirus software. So, after various tests, we picked Bitdefender as the best option for the most popular OS. It’s rich in features and offers excellent malware detection rates on top of a free version.
You can find our full lists of the best antivirus services for different OS down below:
Antivirus for Windows. Many providers focus on Windows app development the most, loading them with features. We’ve tested various providers to help you find the top antivirus programs for Windows 10 or Windows 11 for you.
Antivirus for Mac. Many antivirus programs for Mac laptops were ported from Windows PC antivirus protection programs. Naturally, many lack personalized features. So, we’ve tested and picked the best antivirus fully customized for Mac.
Antivirus for Chrome. It is said that Chromebooks are incredibly safe but not completely immune to malware. That’s why we researched the most suitable antivirus programs for Chrome OS.
Antivirus for Android. Even though Android devices have Google’s built-in security software, they’re not as protected as they should be. To secure your mobile even more, you can choose the best antivirus software that works for Android from our list.
Antivirus for iOS. It’s a pity how many antivirus providers skip developing applications for iOS. To help you make a suitable choice, we’ve made a list of the best antivirus options specifically for iOS devices.
Do you really need antivirus software?
No matter what level of IT skills and online browsing habits you have, an antivirus is a necessary addition to your cybersecurity posture.
Here are some of the reasons why you’d benefit from investing in an antivirus:
You often end up on suspicious websites. Unreliable websites are the primary source of various cyber threats that can infect your devices. Premium antivirus tools can block malicious sites and intrusive ads to help you avoid malware.
You shop online regularly. If you’re entering your credit card details nearly every day, it would be wise to use an antivirus that puts your transactions in an encrypted secure browser screen.
Your kids use your device. If you have children, making sure they stay safe is even more important. With the parental control features, such as webcam blocking, you can protect your children even while not at home. Chances are there are more than a few devices connected to your home wifi. A home antivirus can protect all of them at once, saving the hassle of catering to each separately.
You don’t have all-round protection. Whether you’re using a password manager, a VPN service, or a secure email as separate products or not, you can benefit from a quality antivirus suite. Nowadays, they incorporate most of these cybersecurity tools, so it’s significantly easier to use them and ensure all-round security of your device.
As the years go by, it’s less about viruses and malware but about cybersecurity in general. Keep in mind that great antivirus solutions are feature-rich and come cheaper than getting a file encryptor or a VPN separately.
Free vs. paid antivirus: should you pay?
Although free antivirus solutions can offer basic protection against malware and fulfill simple needs, you should pay if you want reliable and all-rounded security.
There’s one thing to remember – antivirus companies need to make money: either from premium plans or from your personal data. This means that an unreliable antivirus company can sell your information to hackers or other third parties.
Not to mention that some free antivirus software can includepop-up ads or even malicious programs that can infiltrate you with malware (the last thing you want from an antivirus).
So, if you still want to get a free service, look at serious and legitimate companies that offer the best and tested free antivirus services, for example, TotalAV. They’re still interested in you eventually paying for premium plans, but at least they won’t do you harm.
However, expect fewer features and serious limitations as you go. Often, free plans will let you run simple system scans. But features like custom scanning, ransomware protection, and advanced firewalls are usually only available when purchasing a premium plan.
Conclusion
Threat actors are lurking in various corners of cyberspace. One wrong move, be it clicking the wrong link or visiting a suspicious site, and you may infect your computer or another device with malware. For such a reason, using an antivirus, especially if it has a real-time protection feature, is crucial.
Only by regular scanning of your device can you protect yourself from personal data theft, including banking details. Our best recommendation is Bitdefender. It guarantees 100% malware protection rates as well as a wide feature array, including real-time protection and a VPN.
Buildings or campus facilities have one or more MDFs which are the demarcation points where public or private telecommunication networks interconnect with the internal network. The MDF then connects to any number of IDFs in the building, and the devices in those IDFs connect to end devices such as workstations.
As data centers become more decentralized, MDF/IDF closets are now elevated to mission-critical status. However, they are often overlooked and mismanaged when compared to more traditional data center sites.
Common challenges of managing remote sites include having no visibility into equipment inventory and configuration, a lack of understanding of rack capacity, inaccurate work orders for technicians performing moves, adds, and changes, the inability to monitor site health and security, and having siloed tools and teams that don’t communicate.
Fortunately, there is a path forward to simplify and centralize the management of your MDF/IDF estate. The key is to have the right tools and processes in place that allow you to monitor and manage all your global sites in a single pane of glass.
Here are the top ten best practices to successfully manage your MDF/IDF closet infrastructure.
1. Accurately document the network
MDF/IDF closets contain a lot of ports, cabling, and connections. When the physical network infrastructure is mismanaged, you can end up with cable spaghetti and spiderwebs that impede troubleshooting, make it difficult to move or install equipment, cause unsafe operating environments, and disrupt airflow. Poor documentation also leads to inefficient capacity utilization, difficulty in planning and providing instructions to technicians, and increased costs for unnecessary cabling and hardware.
For accurate network documentation, the network teams that often manage the MDF/IDF estate should not use outdated tools like Excel and Visio that are manual and error-prone.
Instead, visualize all your connections of both active and passive (i.e., structured cabling and panels) components across all your sites with network diagrams that are automatically generated based on your existing connection and circuit information with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software.
DCIM software enables you to see your entire network in a single pane of glass with a high level of detail and customization such as color-coding, filtering, and tiered views based on your network attributes. You can even track the connections and structured cabling that connect the MDF/IDFs to the rest of the network. With automatic and accurate network diagrams, you can boost productivity by reducing time spent troubleshooting, planning, and maintaining manual diagrams.
2. Remotely visualize racks, devices, and cabling
With MDF/IDF closets, it is important to know what equipment you have, where it is located, how it is connected, and where you have capacity. This can be a challenge when you’re managing hundreds or even thousands of individual remote sites.
A 3D “digital twin” of all your sites dramatically simplifies infrastructure management by enabling you to remotely explore and understand a real-time model of any site including the assets, power, environment, and connectivity. This allows for easier, faster, and smarter management than even being physically there.
With 3D data center visualizations, you can see your rack contents and panel placements (i.e., above the rack) better than if you were standing in front of them. High-fidelity images of each asset in automatic rack elevation diagrams provide a 3D replica down to the port level that’s to scale. You can also visualize the port-to-port physical connectivity of your devices to simplify troubleshooting and capacity planning.
Plus, you can overlay the live measured readings from your power and environmental sensors on your visualizations to instantly understand the health and capacity of any site without leaving your desk.
3. Track the right KPIs and share data
Data visibility and transparency is critical to managing MDF/IDF closets. It is common for the details about them to be maintained in tools that are used by the network team and not shared with other functional teams.
Data should be democratized via modern data center management software with business intelligence dashboards, reports, and visual analytics that enable a centralized view of all the physical infrastructure resources and capacities across your entire enterprise. Then, all teams can understand, at-a-glance, the data that is most important to them such as the real-time status of any site’s health, capacity, inventory, and productivity.
KPIs you should track include the available capacity of key resources (i.e., power, space, power, cooling, and data/power port connections), energy cost, temperature per rack, power redundancy per asset, and data ports usage per connector type, VLAN/grouping, protocol, data rate, and media.
Consider creating and sharing personalized dashboards to drive data-driven collaboration across functional teams. Leverage a solution that can automatically generate and email reports on a recurring basis to keep all stakeholders aware of the latest information.
4. Maintain an accurate inventory of assets, parts, and spares
The number of IT assets, supporting infrastructure assets, parts, and spares in today’s data centers with many remote IDF closets can be staggeringly high. However, everything must be tracked and managed to ensure successful deployments, better manage the lifecycle of equipment, and know the relationships and dependencies of all data center infrastructure.
Legacy management tools like Excel and Visio are time-consuming, inaccurate, and should not be used to manage the complex asset inventories of your data center and remote sites.
DCIM software with complete asset management capabilities is a must-have for real-time views across your entire footprint including equipment in racks like servers, storage, networking equipment, rack PDUs, patch panels, and even applications. Key information like make, model, dimensions, weight, serial number, asset tag, location, RU position, and configuration can be easily tracked. Plus, custom fields allow you to track anything else that it is important to your organization.
You should also track parts and spares like hard drives, cards, memory modules, power supplies, and patch cables. With this information, you can keep track of inventory levels to know if you have enough parts in stock for new deployments or spares on hand to quickly repair equipment.
5. Perform regular asset audits
Over time, undocumented moves, adds, and changes in your MDF/IDF closets may occur. As these add up, your actual environment may be substantially different than what your documentation shows. When this happens, there is a greater likelihood of longer troubleshooting times, underinformed and difficult planning, and delays in rolling out services.
To maintain the accuracy of your asset inventory, you should perform an asset audit of each location at least once a year. This has traditionally been a struggle for many organizations due to the distributed and ever-changing nature of modern data center environments and not having enough people resources to conduct the audits.
However, new functionality in DCIM software dramatically simplifies data center asset audits so you can perform them faster, with fewer people, and more accurately.
One person with a barcode or QR code scanner can scan all the equipment in a rack during the audit. Built-in logic anticipates the next step in the process and a configurable voice response either confirms the item is correct in the database or lets you know if a change is recommended. Upon completing the audit, an exception report can be generated and exported for review. After verifying the changes suggested in the report, you can simply import the file back into the tool to make the updates, ensuring your system always reflects the actual state of your sites.
6. Monitor and alert on power and environmental conditions
One of the biggest challenges of operating many remote sites is that they each have their own power and cooling systems that need to be managed. Without a tool that can centrally monitor the power and environmental conditions of every site, you risk experiencing costly unplanned downtime and inefficient capacity utilization.
First, your sites should be instrumented with metered power distribution infrastructure and environmental sensors for temperature and humidity. Then, deploy data center management software that automatically collects, stores, reports, and alerts on the live measured readings from these meters and sensors so you always know what is happening in any of your MDF/IDF locations.
Modern DCIM software transforms your raw data into actionable insights that help you maintain uptime and increase efficiency. For example, DCIM software with an enterprise health dashboard displays the real-time power and environmental health and events for all your sites in a single pane of glass. Easy-to-understand red-yellow-green color-coding lets you know exactly which sites have a warning or critical events based on the thresholds that you configure. You can then drill down into the details to see what the issue is and proactively resolve it before it becomes a serious problem. Automatic email notifications of the threshold violations ensure you are always the first to know of events anywhere in your global data centers.
Having an advanced warning of issues such as hot spot formation, power capacity limitations, and loss of redundancy allows you to take action to keep services online and customers happy.
7. Safeguard your closets from physical threats
Your MDF/IDF closets contain mission-critical infrastructure that is easily exposed to both malicious and unintentional security threats.
If remote sites are compromised, the damage can be severe. Potential consequences include sensitive information being stolen, increased expenses for equipment replacement and legal fees, a ruined reputation that loses customers, and disrupted business operations that stop revenue until services are back online.
To protect your sites and assets, keep your equipment in a separate and locked room, only allow access for authorized personnel, place cameras in and around each room, and leverage a centralized security management solution.
Your data center security management software should offer reporting, audit logs, and video surveillance feeds that allow you to monitor who has access to various sites and racks, how often they are accessed, and if attempts are successful or not. Local RFID authentication or remote control of all your electronic door locks can also mitigate security risks and help you comply with regulations.
8. Intelligently plan capacity
As with all data center locations, MDF/IDF closets and remote sites are constrained by capacity limitations. Depending on the site, they may be constrained by space, power, cooling, or data/power port connections.
Accurately planning and managing capacity is essential for maintaining uptime and ensuring efficient resource utilization. Failure to do so can be expensive and detrimental to your business. For example, if you don’t enough available capacity, you cannot deploy new equipment or services until you purchase more. If you have too much capacity, then you have an inefficient environment that is wasting money and resources.
DCIM software makes capacity planning easy by allowing you to visualize rack capacity in 3D, report on the most common capacity KPIs with zero-configuration dashboard charts and reports, intelligently find where you have the capacity to deploy new equipment in seconds, and automate server power budgeting to safely deploy more compute devices in your existing rack space.
With a modern data center capacity management tool, you can always know the health and capacity of every site you manage. For example, MDF/IDF closets often run out of port capacity, but with DCIM software, you can know at-a-glance how many available ports each rack has so you can let management know and purchase more resources before you run out. Plus, real-time monitoring of actual rack power and UPS loads let you understand your overall power consumption and battery run time to maximize uptime and availability of IT services.
9. Ensure redundancy
Since each piece of equipment in an MDF/IDF closet is often connected to hundreds or thousands of other devices that are necessary for end users, redundancy is critical to the role these sites have in an IT environment. A single failure in a closet can cause significant downtime that costs your organization productivity and money.
To reduce the chance of downtime, your sites should have backup power, cooling, and network systems that are available in the event one or more of those components fail. It’s also important that you have a fast failover to redundant systems to ensure you maintain uptime.
The failure of an IDF device may disable hundreds of end stations, but an MDF failure may disable thousands. To mitigate the risk of a complete loss of connectivity, many organizations deploy MDFs in pairs. Some place all MDF devices in the same closet and rely on disparate cable routing for redundancy while others prefer to place MDF devices in two separate locations.
In addition to deploying hardware that provides redundancy and resiliency such as UPSs, you should leverage a software solution that helps you ensure redundancy. DCIM software enables you to run a failover simulation report to identify exactly which racks are at risk and what equipment will continue functioning in the event a rack PDU goes down, and health polling of intelligent rack PDUs decreases the likelihood and severity of outages by ensuring systems are online and alerting you of potential issues.
10. Integrate tools and teams
MDF/IDF closets are typically managed by different teams than the data center and facilities teams, and it’s a common issue that these teams use disparate tools and databases. When these tools are not integrated and there is no single version of the truth that spans the entire environment, productivity, and data accuracy are reduced.
To reduce manual effort, drive a culture of data sharing and collaboration, and streamline workflow across functional teams, the most sophisticated organizations in the world leverage “data center automation via integration”.
Automation via integration is achieved by deploying and integrating modern DCIM solutions with out-of-the-box connectors that automatically populate data in the correct systems for a holistic view of all data center resources and their relationships.
DCIM software is commonly integrated with CMDBs such as ServiceNow, Jira, BMC, and Ivanti/Cherwell, ticketing systems such as ServiceNow and Jira, Dev Ops tools such as VMware, Ansible, Chef, Jenkins, and Puppet, and BMS systems such as Siemens, Johnson Controls, and Honeywell. It can also integrate with any other tool you have with the appropriate APIs.
Automation via integration empowers you to enable a single source of truth and automate anything from virtual machine management, provisioning and orchestration, parts management, server power budgeting, scheduled charts and reports for management, and email alerts for power and environmental threshold violations.
Modern data centers are complex environments that often contain many thousands of individual cabling and port components. When the physical connectivity infrastructure is not properly organized, tracked, and managed, you can quickly run into serious problems.
Poor cable management and using the wrong management tools lead to cable spaghetti that prolongs maintenance and troubleshooting, extended downtime due to not being able to quickly identify issues, and inefficiency caused by uninformed planning decisions.
However, data center cable management software can simplify how you document and track your cable infrastructure to greatly improve data center operations.
Why is Data Center Cable Management Important?
Following data center cable management best practices:
Boosts productivity. Pushing cable documentation to the back burner might seem like an inconsequential move, but poor cable management can lead to delays in rolling out new services and troubleshooting connectivity issues. Accurate documentation ensures that technicians have the information they need to quickly perform moves, adds, and changes. Plus, you can easily trace connections via the software rather than having to have someone visit the site to manually trace cables.
Improves uptime. Proper cable management makes identifying and responding to issues easier which reduces downtime. Also, well-organized cables eliminate cable spaghetti that obstructs access to racks and servers, potentially resulting in an outage. With cable management software, you can conduct failover scenarios and impact analysis to know what infrastructure would be affected should a failure occur.
Increases efficiency. Data center cable management software helps you know which cables and ports are available for use, identifies stranded capacity, and helps project when you will run out of capacity. This allows for more informed capacity planning and maximum utilization of your existing resources.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Excel and Visio for Cable Management
It’s common for data center managers to use legacy tools like Excel and Visio for cable management. However, these tools aren’t designed to handle the complexities of modern data center environments.
Tracking assets and connections in Excel and Visio is a time-consuming and manual process, and any time manual effort is involved, there is a risk of human error. Inaccurate data can cause bigger problems like longer troubleshooting times and inefficient use of resources.
Why You Need Data Center Cable Management Software
Ten must-have features of modern data center cable management software include:
1. Visualize all your cabling infrastructure in 3D. See all your port-to-port structured, patch, and power distribution cabling on your 3D floor map so you don’t have to waste time physically visiting the data center. In addition, you can visually document all your servers, edge switching (top of rack/end of row), core routing and switching equipment, patch panels, multiplexing equipment, demarcation points, rack layouts, IDF closets, cable trays, and more.
2. Automatically generate network diagrams. Visualize your entire network in a single pane of glass with complete network diagrams that include both active and passive (i.e., structured cabling and patch panels) equipment. The diagrams are automatically created and updated based on the existing circuit information in your database.
3. Map device relationships and conduct impact analysis. A holistic view of all your assets and their relationships and dependencies makes it easy to conduct impact analysis from any point in a data circuit or power circuit. You can know exactly what devices will be impacted by maintenance or the failure of any other device. This lets you react quicker to unexpected downtime and determine if you need to make changes to ensure redundancy.
4. Accurately measure cable lengths before installation. Stop wasting time walking the data center floor with a tape measure and reduce expenses on unnecessary cabling. Instead, capture the horizontal and vertical distances between items in just a few clicks so you always purchase the exact amount of cabling you need.
5. Track port capacity by port types. Keeping track of the available capacity of all your individual port types can be overwhelming. Cable management software eases that pain point by tracking the ports, port types, and connections for every device and displaying that information in easy-to-understand dashboard charts and reports. Then, you can make more informed capacity planning decisions at a glance.
6. Ensure accurate port count and types for each device you deploy. Data center cable management software with a vast model library provides the correct port count and specifications for tens of thousands of devices. This combined with an intelligent capacity search feature lets you know the optimal cabinet to deploy new equipment in by displaying exactly where you have the available capacity.
7. Track spare cable inventory by location. Tracking spare cable inventory across your global data centers is made easy with the right tool. Then, you will always know on a site-by-site basis whether you need to buy more, have enough for new projects, or need to redirect inventory to fulfill a location’s needs.
8. Create work orders with port-to-port instructions. Clear instructions ensure that remote hands complete the job correctly and quickly. Data center cable management software provides detailed port-level instructions for technicians that eliminates the likelihood of failed installations and spaghetti cabinets.
9. Track power at each breaker connection. Monitoring budgeted and actual power loads at every breaker point in the power path let you know how much power capacity you have for new equipment before you approach thresholds that will trip a breaker and cause you to lose power on either side of your power chain, losing redundancy and causing downtime.
10. Validate that connections are compatible and available. Data center cable management software can automatically validate the compatibility of your planned connections to ensure that they will work in the real world. When looking for space to deploy new equipment, the software will not show any cabinets that don’t have enough available and compatible ports.
Bringing it All Together
Data center cable management software has the potential to save you a lot of money and provide an instant return on your investment. You can reduce operational expenses by automating manual and time-consuming tasks and eliminating the need to send technicians onsite and defer capital expenses by improving capacity planning to get the most out of your existing resources.
Don’t underestimate the importance of cable management and push it to the back burner. Address cable management head-on and implement the best practices and tools to improve uptime, productivity, and efficiency.
When, while lovely valley teems with vapour around meand meridian sun strikes the upper impenetrable . foliage of my trees, and but a thousand unknown plants .are noticed by when I hear the buzz . of the little world among the stalks,and grow familiar indescribable forms of the insects . and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!
O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.
I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.
In today’s world, businesses require IT solutions to operate on a day-to-day basis. With technological advancements, there is a need for businesses to keep up with paying customers and keep important data secure. As a result, many companies are looking to outsource their IT services to a third-party vendor.
Outsourcing IT services can bring several benefits for companies. Firstly, outsourcing allows companies to focus on their core competencies – their main business duties without the additional worry of IT issues. Secondly, outsourcing allows companies to gain access to state-of-the-art technology and advanced resources without any major investment. Finally, outsourcing IT services can help businesses save money and reduce costs and expenses.
However, there are some potential drawbacks to outsourcing IT services. Business owners may have concerns about data security when it is being managed by an external company. Additionally, language barriers, unreliable service, and cultural differences could make communication difficult.
Business owners should evaluate several factors before outsourcing IT services. The first step is to assess your current IT capabilities and whether outsourcing is necessary. The next step is to research vendors and determine the best fit for your company. Business owners should consider the vendor’s expertise, experience, availability, and support capabilities. It is also essential to determine the vendor’s pricing model and ensure that it matches with the company’s budget.
When outsourcing IT services, it is important to communicate all expectations and goals upfront to avoid any misunderstandings. Business owners should also set up a plan for service level agreements and establish a clear understanding of the vendor’s response time expectations, including after-hours support.
In conclusion, outsourcing IT services is a strategic move for businesses looking to streamline their operations, access advanced resources, and save money. However, it is vital to research vendors and services carefully to ensure that the outsourcing process is smooth and effective. A thorough understanding of your business requirements, vendor capabilities, and communication procedures is necessary to reap the full benefits of outsourcing IT services.
When, while lovely valley teems with vapour around meand meridian sun strikes the upper impenetrable . foliage of my trees, and but a thousand unknown plants .are noticed by when I hear the buzz . of the little world among the stalks,and grow familiar indescribable forms of the insects . and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!
O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.
I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.
When, while lovely valley teems with vapour around meand meridian sun strikes the upper impenetrable . foliage of my trees, and but a thousand unknown plants .are noticed by when I hear the buzz . of the little world among the stalks,and grow familiar indescribable forms of the insects . and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!
O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.
I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.
