Keeping your computer and data safe is more important than ever. With new threats appearing every day, it’s not enough to rely on just one tool. Two common tools people use are antivirus software and EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response).

While they both help protect your systems, they do it in different ways, and using both together can give you better protection.

What Does Antivirus Do?

Antivirus software is a basic tool that checks your computer for known threats like viruses, worms, and spyware. It scans files and blocks anything that matches its list of known bad programs. It’s great at stopping simple or common attacks before they cause harm. Most antivirus tools also update often, so they stay ready for the latest problems.

However, antivirus can miss threats that don’t look like anything it has seen before. Hackers are smart and often change their tricks to slip past these programs.

What Is EDR?

EDR goes beyond traditional antivirus. It watches what’s happening on your system in real time. Instead of just checking for known threats, EDR looks for strange behavior, like a program acting in a way it shouldn’t or trying to change important system files.

If something unusual happens, EDR records it, alerts the user, and can take action like blocking the activity or isolating the device from the rest of the network. This makes it useful for spotting newer or more complex attacks that antivirus might miss.

Why Antivirus Alone Isn’t Enough

While antivirus software is good at catching basic threats, it’s not built to deal with advanced or hidden attacks. These can include targeted hacks, ransomware, or malware that changes its code to avoid being noticed. Without something like EDR watching your system, these threats can stay hidden and cause real damage.

Why EDR Can’t Replace Antivirus

Even though EDR is more advanced, it doesn’t always block threats right away. It focuses more on spotting problems and responding to them. That means if you only use EDR, you might still let simple threats through that antivirus could have blocked easily.

Using Both Together

The smartest approach is to use both antivirus and EDR. Antivirus blocks known threats right away, while EDR catches things that slip through and watches for anything strange. Together, they give you stronger protection and help keep your data, devices, and network safe.