Why You Need to Know What Antivirus Software is

The simplest way to learn what is antivirus software is to think of it this way: that it is a computer program used to detect, remove and prevent malware from infecting your computer. These programs can get rid of worms, Trojan horses, spyware, rootkits, malicious LSPs, keyloggers and hijackers. They can also remove fraud tools, dialers, backdoors, adware and computer viruses.

Detection and Removal Methods
Different methods are used, including signature based detection. This technique looks for data patterns inside an executable code. But it is possible for a new type of virus with no signature yet to infect your computer. To fight these threats, many antivirus program use heuristics.

One kind of heuristics called genetic signatures can find new malware or variants of it by examining known malicious code or variations of it in your files. There are also virus prevention programs that can sense what a file will do by operating it in a sandbox and check if it is doing anything malicious.

Potential Drawbacks
When studying what is antivirus software, you should also learn about its potential drawback. It can for instance, use up a lot of resources and slow down your computer. Inexperienced users may have trouble comprehending its prompts and the decisions the software will ask of them. If you choose the wrong option, it could lead to security leaks.

The heuristic approach used by these programs often works, but it has to strike a balance between false negatives and false positives.

Signature Method
This is the most common method used to identify malware and viruses. It has a dictionary of virus signatures which it uses to compare a file’s contents. The entire file is searched because malware can be embedded in files.

The heuristic method is the best method for sensing unknown viruses. Another method is file emulation. This method involves running a program in a virtual environment while logging its actions. The software will then assess if it is malicious or safe to run, and take the appropriate actions.

Cloud Antivirus
This technique utilizes s lightweight agent software on your computer, with most of the data offloaded on the infrastructure of the provider for data analysis. The technology is implemented in different ways. One popular method is to scan files utilizing several antivirus engines.

Network Firewalls
Firewalls are used to stop unknown software from accessing your system and performing processes. But these cannot be classified as an antivirus system because they will not attempt to remove or identify the malware. But these can shield your network from outside infection. They will also block outgoing or incoming requests on some TCP/IP ports. A firewall is not a replacement for a virus prevention program, but rather complements it.

Web-based Scanning
There are antivirus programs that provide free scanning online. These are advanced programs capable of scanning files, folders and local disks. It is a good idea to scan periodically to catch threats early.

Now that you know what is antivirus software, it is time to get one.
There are commercially available ones and even free ones you can download on the Internet. The key is to make sure the virus definition is updated so you are always protected. The worst thing that you can do is to wait for a virus to strike before installing the software, because by then it may be too late to save your files.

Van is a free lancer publisher of http://www.askdeb.com/ and he shares his experience on antivirus.