As of 13 August 2026, AI can choose antivirus software for your business.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a blank document and record your device count, operating systems, servers, remote-working arrangements, existing Microsoft or Google security tools, support capacity and budget.
   2. Open the official UK or regional pages for the antivirus products you are considering and copy their relevant feature, platform, support, privacy and contract wording into the document with each source link.
   3. Ask the chatbot using the prompt, pasting your business details and the vendor evidence after the prompt.
   4. Compare the recommendation's claims about platform coverage, administration, response features, data handling and contract terms against the linked vendor pages, and mark unsupported claims as unverified.
   5. Send the shortlist, unresolved risks and pilot checklist to the person who manages your IT or security, asking them to check compatibility, deployment, exclusions, logging and incident response.
   6. Run the recommended product's trial or pilot on representative devices, then record whether policies deploy, alerts reach the right person, users can work normally and removal or recovery works as expected.
   7. Ask the vendor to answer the remaining questions in writing, compare those answers with the pilot results, and approve the purchase only after your IT reviewer accepts the unresolved risks.

   Prompt

   Act as a UK business software researcher, not as a salesperson. Recommend antivirus or endpoint-security software for this business using only the requirements and vendor evidence I provide, plus current publicly available vendor documentation that you cite with links.
   
   Business details:
   - Business type: [business type]
   - Number of users and devices: [numbers and device types]
   - Operating systems: [Windows, macOS, mobile or other]
   - Servers or cloud workloads: [details]
   - Remote and hybrid working: [details]
   - Need for central management: [details]
   - Need for mobile-device management: [details]
   - Existing Microsoft, Google or other security tools: [details]
   - Compliance, cyber-insurance or customer requirements: [details]
   - Budget and contract preference: [details]
   - Technical support available: [details]
   
   Compare these candidates and any additional candidates only if you can support the inclusion with reliable UK-relevant evidence:
   [vendor names and links]
   
   For each candidate, check platform coverage, central administration, detection and response features, ransomware protection, web and email protection, update controls, reporting, support, data handling, contract terms, cancellation terms and any important exclusions. Separate confirmed facts from vendor claims, unknowns and your own inferences. Do not invent prices, test results, compliance status or protection guarantees.
   
   Return:
   1. The business requirements that matter most.
   2. A comparison table with a source link for every material claim.
   3. A shortlist of up to three suitable options.
   4. One recommended option, with the exact requirements it meets and the unresolved risks.
   5. A lower-cost or simpler fallback if supported by the evidence.
   6. Questions I must ask each vendor before buying.
   7. A practical pilot and acceptance checklist.
   8. The points an IT or cyber-security professional must verify before purchase.
   
   Do not describe any option as universally best. If the evidence is insufficient to recommend one product, say so and explain exactly what is missing.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.