Being a gamer can take you to a lot of places. Alien worlds, different timelines, a golf course — and so many more. Gaming is the ultimate form of escapism; the best way of getting away from the real world, even for just a few hours.
But that doesn’t mean the dangers of the real world can’t follow you into the digital sometimes.
For as fun as it can be to boot up a different persona and become someone else online, or to go trawling for lost pieces of video game history, the internet is not always a welcoming place to all visitors. With millions of malware attacks every day and increasingly sophisticated ways of jeopardising your devices and data popping up on a regular basis, online protection is arguably more vital than it ever has been.
There are many stories of games being loaded with malware, even sometimes on reputable storefronts like Steam. These viruses can slow down your computer to affect your in-game performance, or even just outright stop your system from working. Then there are phishing scams, where criminals will try to gain access to your accounts across various platforms and all the personal information they contain, including bank details. Keep logging in to the same game every day? Some malware can monitor your keystrokes to discover your password — especially brutal if you use the same email for multiple accounts.
So, what’s the best, most simple step you can take to protect yourself while gaming online? An antivirus like the robust solution you can get from Surfshark.
Why You Need An Antivirus For Gaming
But first, let’s talk a little more about why an antivirus is essential for gaming.
In the simplest terms, an antivirus is a software that is designed to recognise and destroy viruses, a malicious software (malware). A virus can do all kinds of things to your PC and the information connected to it, including helping hackers and scammers access your personal accounts and the data associated with it. As long as the internet has existed, computer viruses have unfortunately also existed.
A virus can hide itself within the files of your game — or any download — to spread itself throughout your PC. This can result in all kinds of nasty outcomes, from adware that hijacks your browser to force certain advertisements to ransomware that bricks your computer unless you pay a fee to a digital ransomer.
And that’s really just scratching the surface of it — the ingenuity of malware is only matched by the variety.
For more modern games, an antivirus is a useful assurance to have that whatever game you’re downloading doesn’t have any malware lurking within. Most digital storefronts are able to recognise and isolate content on their platform that has been uploaded with malicious intent before it gets to the consumer, but that doesn’t mean it never happens. An antivirus makes things certain.
However, for older, less “officially sourced” games, an antivirus isn’t just a recommendation — it’s a necessity.
With the closure of several video game preservation resources over the last few years, a lot of pretenders have been popping up — and not all of them are what they seem. While re-experiencing a game from your childhood often seems like a couple of nostalgic clicks away, you won’t be looking back fondly on that time you didn’t have an antivirus.
And it’s worth bearing in mind that just because a website appears safe from the outside and has had a lot of good reviews, it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been compromised in some way, or that everything housed within it is clear to download, no questions asked. Even the most reputable of websites can have security vulnerabilities.
So, how can you know that you’re in the right place?
To remove the question marks, take control of your online security with an antivirus from Surfshark, one of the most reputable online security providers in the world.
How To Protect Yourself With Surfshark
Bundled as part of Surfshark ONE, their all-in-one solution and one of the best value propositions for online life, Surfshark Antivirus gives you peace of mind as you game without sacrificing any performance.
Either from their comprehensive app or very useful browser extension (both easy to install with just a couple of clicks), Surfshark’s Web Protection will immediately let you know if a website’s sketchy. Remember: sometimes you don’t even need to download something for malware to crawl its way into your life.
When a site is given the all clear, Surfshark Antivirus will scan any downloads to make sure they’re legitimate, and quarantine them immediately if anything is amiss.
Surfshark Antivirus can also scan your device to make sure there isn’t anything that you might’ve been unaware of — just think of how many different digital places you visit every day. From a simple quick scan to a deep dive into your device’s nooks and crannies you might not even know exist, you can schedule scans to give you peace of mind without ever interrupting your routine.
Surfshark’s virus database is constantly auto-updating to keep it in touch with every new technique that scammers utilise to load you up with malware, so you can be assured that you’re always covered. And that goes doubly thanks to Surfshark’s cloud protect technology, which will scan and open suspicious files in the cloud without any danger to your own device. But you’re not ”just” getting Surfshark Antivirus with Surfshark ONE.
Want to sign up for a newsletter, enter a competition, or even make an account for a new game, but don’t want to give away any of your data? With Alternative ID’s easy email generator, you don’t have to.
Elsewhere, Surfshark Alert will let you know if you ever become the victim of a data breach, and even warn you if a website’s previously been hacked. Throw in Surfshark’s famous VPN to allow you to browse the wider world web, and you have quite the comprehensive security package for an affordable price.
How affordable? Well, if you’re interested in checking out Surfshark ONE and its robust antivirus, you can take advantage of a special offer of $2.69/month with 3 additional months for free.
This article was brought to you in partnership with Surfshark VPN.
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