antivirus software essay

Why is it important to actually use antivirus software?

Cyber crime is becoming a common occurrence in the digital age and is predicted to cause $6 trillion of financial damage by 2021. Whether it's data leaks, ransomware campaigns or DDoS attacks that shut down entire companies, this threat is growing every day and puts everyone at risk.

One of the best ways to protect yourself from cyber crime is by installing one of the best antivirus solutions on your computer, tablet PC or smartphone. A good antivirus programme will look for cyber security threats, alert you of anything that is deemed suspicious and mitigate incoming attacks, meaning you don't have to worry about hackers. Here are some of the reasons why antivirus is important.

Viruses slow down your computer

When a computer falls victim to malware, a virus or any other type of cyber attack, its performance will be hindered significantly. A virus can take up a lot of memory, perform malicious actions in the background, disrupt the way in which your computer operates, make it difficult to access the internet and cause legitimate applications to crash. Overall, you'll find your computer a lot slower and more difficult to use. But an antivirus solution will prevent these things from happening.

Protecting your data

Hackers are increasingly launching devastating attacks on unsuspecting victims. From spying on people's social media accounts to sealing their personal information, cyber crooks are causing mayhem online. And if they manage to hack into your computer because it's insecure, they can do more damage. By downloading one of the best antivirus programs, you'll always be safe from the threat of hacking.

Prevent data loss

It's likely that you store a great deal of important data on your computing device, from family photos to business documents. If you've not backed up your hard drive and a hacker then breaches your computer, you could end up losing everything on it. Worse still, cyber crooks can even tamper with your personal data. A good antivirus application will keep hackers out of your device and ensure the contents of your computer can't be deleted, stolen or changed.

Protecting children

The web can be a dangerous place, particularly for children. Whether it's pornography or gambling websites, a lot of content found on the internet isn't suitable for youngsters. Without antivirus protection, it's possible for young people to come across websites, search engines, forums and other internet services containing inappropriate content and malware. Put simply, antivirus makes the internet safer for children.

Ensure your device is hack proof

With the risk of cyber crime growing, technology companies are increasingly providing their devices and software with built-in security features to protect users from hackers. But unfortunately, perpetrators are constantly developing new methods to sneak past security measures and hack into devices. If you want to make your device more secure and protect your privacy, investing in antivirus software is an excellent idea. When antivirus is combined with built-in security features, your device becomes much stronger and can't be breached by cyber criminals as a result. So much is at stake without antivirus.

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• Data security and privacy

antivirus software (antivirus program)

• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer
• Linda Rosencrance

What is antivirus software (antivirus program)?

Antivirus software (antivirus program) is a security program designed to prevent, detect, search and remove viruses and other types of malware from computers, networks and other devices. Often included as part of a security package, antivirus software can also be purchased as a standalone option.

Typically installed on a computer as a proactive approach to cybersecurity, an antivirus program can help mitigate a variety of cyber threats, including keyloggers , browser hijackers, Trojan horses , worms, rootkits, spyware , adware, botnets, phishing attempts and ransomware attacks.

Due to the constantly evolving nature of cybercrimes and new versions of malware being released daily, including zero-day attacks, no antivirus program can offer detection and protection against all threat vectors.

How antivirus software works

Antivirus software typically runs as a background process, scanning computers, servers or mobile devices to detect and restrict the spread of malware. Many antivirus software programs include real-time threat detection and protection to guard against potential vulnerabilities and perform system scans that monitor device and system files, looking for possible risks.

Antivirus software usually performs the following basic functions:

• Scans directories or specific files against a library of known malicious signatures to detect abnormal patterns indicating the presence of malicious software.
• Enables users to schedule scans so they run automatically.
• Lets users initiate new scans at any time.
• Removes any malicious software it detects either automatically in the background or notifies users of infections and prompts them to clean the files.

To scan systems comprehensively, antivirus software must generally be given privileged access to the entire system. This makes antivirus software itself a common target for attackers, and researchers have discovered remote code execution and other serious vulnerabilities in antivirus software products in recent years.

Benefits of antivirus software

The purpose of antivirus software isn't only to defend a system against security threats and vulnerabilities, but also to provide real-time protection through automated vulnerability scans .

Antivirus software provides the following benefits:

• Virus and malware protection. The main benefit of antivirus software is to protect against malicious viruses, such as malware and spyware. Most cyber threats today present themselves as multipronged threat vectors that can attack system data, steal confidential information, spy on system resources and degrade system performance simultaneously. Therefore, having reliable antivirus software running at all times is imperative.
• Protection against spam and pop-ups. One of the most common ways viruses infiltrate and infect a system is through pop-up advertisements and spam-based webpages. Antivirus software keeps the system secure by automatically blocking pop-ups and spam coming from malicious websites.
• Web protection. Antivirus software helps protect against scam websites threat actors use to gather credit card and bank information from unsuspecting users. By restricting access to harmful websites, a reliable antivirus program can prevent users from accessing unauthorized networks.
• Real-time protection. Antivirus software acts as a real-time shield that scans each inbound file and program. Depending on the settings of the antivirus program, once an infected file or program is detected, it's either automatically deleted or moved to a quarantine folder for further analysis. A quarantined file is prevented from interacting with the rest of the machine and its programs to mitigate damage.
• Boot-scan command. Sophisticated viruses can often duplicate themselves while the system is active. However, an antivirus program can prevent a virus from self-replicating by invoking a boot-scan command. This command shuts down the operating system (OS), restarts the computer and scans the entire hard drive for viruses and malware. During the scan, the virus is detected and doesn't get a chance to self-replicate due to the deactivation of the OS.
• Dark web scanning. Data from most data breaches, such as ransomware attacks, is often leaked on the dark web . Many antivirus tools can help organizations discover if their sensitive data is leaked on the dark web. For example, if they find an associated email address or account number on the dark web, they can notify the user and update the password to a new and more complex one.
• Protection from external devices. Most people regularly plug in external devices, such as hard drives and USB adapters, to their computers. Antivirus software scans all attached devices and peripherals to thwart potential viruses from entering the system through external sources.

Types of antivirus programs

Antivirus software is distributed in several forms, including standalone antivirus scanners, machine learning and cloud-based programs, malware signatures and internet security software suites that offer antivirus protection, along with firewalls, privacy controls and other security protections. Popular providers of both free and commercial antivirus products include AVG Technologies, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Norton and Trend Micro.

Some antivirus software vendors offer basic versions of their products at no charge. These free versions generally offer basic antivirus and spyware protection, but more advanced features and protections are usually available only to paying customers.

While some OSes are targeted more frequently by virus developers, antivirus software is available for most OSes:

• Windows antivirus software. Most antivirus software vendors offer several levels of Windows products at different price points, starting with free versions offering only basic protection. Users must perform scans and updates manually, and typically, free versions of antivirus software won't protect against links to malicious websites or malicious code and attachments in emails. Premium versions of antivirus software often include suites of endpoint security tools that provide secure online storage, ad blockers and file encryption. Since 2004, Microsoft has been offering free antivirus software as part of the Windows OS, generally under the name Windows Defender, though the software was mostly limited to detecting spyware before 2006. Microsoft now offers Microsoft Defender Antivirus as part of its Microsoft 365 Defender portal , which is available for Windows 10, Windows 11 and some versions of Windows Server.
• MacOS antivirus software. Although Apple macOS viruses exist, they're less common than Windows viruses, so antivirus products for Mac-based devices are less standardized than those for Windows. There are several free and paid products available, providing on-demand tools to protect against potential malware threats through full-system malware scans and the ability to sift through specific email threads, attachments and various web activities.
• Android antivirus software. Android is the world's most popular mobile OS and is installed on more mobile devices than any other OS. Because most mobile malware targets Android, experts recommend all Android device users install antivirus software on their devices. Vendors offer a variety of basic free and paid premium versions of their Android antivirus software, including antitheft and remote-locating features. Some run automatic scans and actively try to stop malicious webpages and files from being opened or downloaded. Play Protect is Google's built-in malware protection for Android, which was first released with Android 8.0 Oreo, and now comes with every Android device that has Google Play services version 11 or newer installed on it.

Virus detection techniques

Antivirus software uses a variety of virus detection techniques. The following are six common types:

• Signature-based detection. Antivirus programs typically depend on stored virus signatures -- unique strings of data that are characteristic of known malware to flag malicious software. The antivirus software uses these signatures to identify viruses it encounters that security experts have already identified and analyzed.
• Heuristic-based detection. This type of detection uses an algorithm to compare the signatures of known viruses against potential threats. With heuristic -based detection, antivirus software can detect viruses that haven't been discovered yet, as well as existing viruses that have been disguised or modified and released as new viruses. However, this method can also generate false-positive matches when antivirus software detects a program behaving similarly to a malicious program and incorrectly identifies it as a virus.
• Behavior-based detection. Antivirus software can also use behavior-based detection to analyze an object 's behavior or potential behavior for suspicious activities and infers malicious intent based on those observations. For example, code that attempts to perform unauthorized or abnormal actions would indicate the object is malicious or, at least, suspicious. Some examples of behaviors that potentially signal danger include modifying or deleting large numbers of files, monitoring keystrokes, changing settings of other programs and remotely connecting to computers.
• Cloud analysis. According to Atlas VPN, on average, hackers produced more than 316,000 malware threats daily in 2022. Since it's impossible for any antivirus program to combat the vast number of rapidly appearing malware variants, antivirus companies now provide cloud analysis as part of their antivirus offerings. Cloud analysis is a modern way of performing malware analysis , as it's done on the cloud using the antivirus vendor's servers. This way, if a malicious file or program is detected by the antivirus program, it's sent to the vendor's labs, where it's tested. If it's confirmed to be malicious, a signature is created for it, which blocks it from all the other devices where it's detected.
• Sandbox analysis. This detection technique runs a program or file in a virtual sandbox environment to analyze its behavior before permitting it into the system. Using this technique, antivirus software only permits a file to execute in the real environment if the sandbox analysis confirms it to be safe. This feature is also used for running files that the antivirus program is unable to allowlist or denylist. Since the files are executed in an isolated environment, even if they end up being malicious, no harm is done to the system, as they're only executed in a virtual sandbox container.
• Host intrusion prevention system (HIPS). Security and antivirus software commonly uses this technology to detect potentially malicious activities in a program using signature-based detection. A HIPS continuously monitors each activity and instantly notifies users by presenting them with authorization options, such as Allow and Block.

Challenges facing antivirus software

According to CyberCrime Magazine , 90% of the world's population, ages 6 and older, will be connected to the internet by 2030. This exponential growth in internet connections is also responsible for the significant rise in viruses and cyber attacks.

While antivirus programs were originally developed to combat viruses and cyber threats, they do come with a few limitations.

The following highlights the current and future challenges of antivirus software:

• Antivirus software that uses only signature-based detection can't expose new types of malware, including variants of existing malware. Signature-based detection can only detect new viruses when the definition file is updated with information about the new virus. With the number of new malware signatures increasing rapidly, making antimalware software based solely on signatures is impractical. However, signature-based detection doesn't usually produce false-positive matches.
• Even the best antivirus software can sometimes erroneously identify a secure piece of a program or file as malware, which can lead to a legitimate and important file or program getting quarantined or deleted by the antivirus. Free antivirus options are typically more prone to false positives than paid services, as they don't often provide enterprise-level scanning and detection of attacks and threat vectors.
• Antivirus software can sometimes interfere with system updates by either preventing them from happening or halting them in the middle. In most cases, the user must take the extra step of disabling a firewall before attempting to install system updates or firmware upgrades.
• Antivirus software runs quietly in the background and is barely noticeable, but it can consume a lot of system resources, including memory and disk space, causing a device's performance to slow down. The antivirus scanning feature can also cause noticeable lags within the network.
• Regular antivirus software provides just one layer of virus protection. For comprehensive protection, most organizations must invest in a multilayered approach, such as both hardware- and software-based firewalls or a complete internet security suite that includes antivirus options.

Ever-evolving trends in technology, including metaverse , Web3 , fintech and autonomous vehicles, make it more challenging to get the right antivirus protection. With so many endpoints to secure -- from crypto wallets to virtual reality devices -- there are times that antivirus software could fall short. Most traditional antivirus technologies can't detect modern fileless attacks that use trusted systems, such as PowerShell , to carry out the attacks.

While antivirus software can mitigate certain ransomware attacks, it can't stop or remove ransomware once it's taken control of a system. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to remove ransomware and minimize its effect .

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What Is Antivirus?

Learn what antivirus software is and what it protects you from

• University of Maine

Antivirus is a type of computer program that's designed to seek out and remove computer viruses that have infected your computer. They can also block your system from getting infected with new viruses.

There are antivirus programs available for every operating system, including Windows, Mac OS, Android, iPhone, and even Linux.

The word "antivirus" is a misnomer, considering that most of these applications can also clean any form of malware from your system, not only viruses.

The Threat of Malware

The presence of viruses and other malware on the internet is constant and always changing. Hackers are constantly developing new forms of software for any number of purposes.

• Steal personal information from your computer files
• Steal bank or credit count login information use keyboard logger software
• Turn your computer into a "bot" to perform email spamming and Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks
• Randomly pop up ad windows while you're using your computer
• Pop up ransomware threats to get you to send money

Some of these threats are more serious than others, but in almost every case, a virus consumes CPU, memory, and other system resources that reduce your productivity and put your privacy at risk.

What Does Antivirus Software Do?

If you are using an iPhone or a Mac, antivirus software isn't critical. The operating systems sandbox applications, and if you only run approved software, the odds of infection are almost nonexistant.

However, if you're using a Windows computer or an Android device, using Antivirus software is critical.

When you install and run antivirus software, it'll protect you in many ways.

• It regularly scans on a schedule that you set, scanning all of the directories and files on your system to spot known signatures that identify malware threats. Once identified, the antivirus software will isolate those files from your system and delete them.
• You can run a manual scan any time you suspect that your system may be infected with malware of any kind.
• Some antivirus companies also offer browser extensions that protect you where most virus infections take place, while you're browsing the internet. It'll warn you when you're visiting a dangerous website, and many extensions even alert you to all privacy issues, such as whether the site includes tracking cookies .
• Most antivirus programs also monitor all of your network traffic to and from your computer. It'll recognize when new, suspicious software is communicating over an unauthorized port on your system and will alert you to the activity. On many corporate networks, the IT department needs to add special "exceptions" to allow business software to communicate between computers and servers on specific ports.

All of these features work together to ensure that your computer is safeguarded against malware that may be running on your system, even if you're unaware of it.

Do I Need Antivirus Software?

For the most part, even if you're using an Android or a Windows computer, modern systems are already fairly well protected. For example Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender , which includes a firewall and an antivirus component. However, Windows Defender isn't a perfect solution.

The following actions on your part can still put your computer at risk if you don't install antivirus software:

• Clicking on email phishing links.
• Downloading free software from unknown sources.
• Using peer-to-peer file sharing software.
• Clicking on malicious social media links.

There are two main functions of antivirus software, blocking viruses from infecting your computer from the internet, but also protecting your computer from your own mistakes.

All you need to do is choose from any of the top free antivirus apps available for Windows 10 . If you're using an Android device, there are plenty of great free antivirus apps for Android as well.

These antivirus apps protect you from every source of malware. Everything from Trojan viruses and zero day exploits to computer worms and ransomware. Install one immediately and make sure to schedule a scan regularly.

Lifewire recommends Bitdefender's Antivirus Plus 2020 as the best antivirus software overall. If you're looking for a good free option, try Avast or Windows' built-in virus protection. If you need protection for multiple devices, try Symantec's Norton AntiVirus.

Avast's antivirus software is developed by Avast, a cybersecurity company that also researches and develops machine learning and artificial intelligence. The main headquarters are in Prague, Czech Republic.

Make sure your antivirus software is updated, then perform a full scan on your system. A program like Malwarebytes can also help detect viruses on your computer.

In Windows, open the Control Panel > go to Uninstall a Program and select the antivirus software > Uninstall . On a Mac, go to the Dock, select Finder > Applications . If the antivirus software is in a folder, check for an uninstaller and run it. If it's not in a folder and doesn't have an uninstaller, drag the icon to the trash can.

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7 Essential Benefits Of Antivirus Software

Antivirus is a data security utility to protect against malware (ex., viruses & ransomware) and internet security threats (ex., phishing & spam). An antivirus can also notify of potentially unwanted applications (PUAs), which can be equally damaging.

Though some experts increasingly say that modern operating systems hardly need 3rd-party antivirus–thanks to the in-built security measures, I would still subscribe to one, especially if I don’t keep my device updated all the time. Plus, external protection generally does well against cyber threats such as phishing and spam.

Another fact that convinced me to get a 3rd-party antivirus is the sheer scale of real-time cyberattacks ! If you’re still not up for it, here are the complete set of benefits of having an antivirus.

1. Protection Against Malware

Malware protection is the number one perk of using an antivirus. By malware, I mean viruses, trojans, worms, rootkits, ransomware, spyware, keyloggers, adware, and more. An antivirus regularly scans system files and downloads for such malicious software.

Users get notified after each instance of malware detection, with an option to flag them for false reporting. An antivirus like Malwarebytes can detect and remove malware automatically in the background.

2. Internet Security

Good antivirus software provides internet security by providing extensions for major web browsers. Such extensions scan for webpages, downloads, emails, etc., for malicious files and attachments. It also secures online payments by alerting users of legit-looking but fake payment portals–a common technique used in phishing attacks.

Overall, the purpose of internet security is to ensure browser interactions with the rest of the World Wide Web remain safe.

3. Data Protection

A major advantage of having a potent antivirus is data security. Tool like Acronis True Image offer data protection to ensure data on your device remains safe even in the case of a hack.

Data protection plays a major role against spyware and ransomware. Such malware can leak out information to remotely stationed cybercriminals or block the user completely out of their systems until they pay the ransom. Antivirus software keeps an eye on all the files that are on your system. All those files are put under a scan to check for any peculiarity or maliciousness.

Besides, antivirus software also comes with customizable firewall rules. This is to keep an eye on internal & external connections, in addition to blocking or limiting apps using data extensively. A firewall, in general, monitors incoming and outgoing traffic from your computer network. When coupled with antivirus, firewall protection double checks every file or piece of data that you send or transfer from your computer via the internet to another network.

4. Preventing Identity Theft

Identity theft or identity fraud is an act of impersonating someone based on the “captured” personal information from various techniques, including in-person observation or online phishing. The stolen personal data can include national IDs (ex., SSN), financial or health-related information (such as credit card numbers or medical records), or even credentials from social media accounts.

Antivirus tools help to prevent such unfortunate outcomes by keeping an eye on users’ activities and protecting against real-time threats, including replica websites, malicious attachments, and harmful links.

Most antivirus (ex, Avast One ) also scans the dark web to notify users if their personal information is up for “sale.” Some even go further in helping victims with identity restoration and/or offer identity theft insurance.

5. Safeguarding Confidential Information

Modern antivirus tools aren’t just about malware protection. They offer additional security in the form of password managers (strong password management and autofill), virtual private networks (browsing web & public Wi-Fi anonymously and safely), dark web monitoring (checking for leaked credentials), encrypted cloud storage (everywhere accessible storage), and more.

Consequently, they help users in avoiding separate subscriptions for every tool and offer a one-in-all package.

6. Performance Optimization

Most antivirus tools I have used come with built-in performance tuning tools, such as finding unused system files, duplicates, registry issues, redundant apps, and more. Besides, some antivirus software (such as Kaspersky) offer specific operating modes for situations such as gaming, do not disturb, and low battery.

However, the biggest optimization benefit of antivirus software is that it flags extensive resource consumption or data mining by apps installed with or without user consent (e.g., cryptojacking). This enables a user to terminate malicious scripts as soon as they are discovered by their antivirus.

7. Peace of Mind

Cyber threats evolve as we speak of them. So, it gives an edge, however small, to the user over those relying on standard protection. And as already mentioned, most antivirus tools club additional security software, reducing the overall cost and improving user experience.

How to Choose the Right Antivirus Software?

The market is flooded with security products with similar-sounding features and price points. It makes choosing the perfect antivirus software for any use case complicated. Still, here are a few pointers to keep in mind while shopping for an antivirus.

Ease of Use: An antivirus can have everything, but a sleek user interface ensures those features are put to good use. And thankfully, major antivirus software offers free trials or free versions, allowing trying before buying.

Malware Protection: The best way to judge the malware potency of a specific antivirus is by relying on independent testing labs, such as AV-Comparatives or AV-Test . Users of any expertise can check those results for their operating systems and choose the best antivirus.

False Positives: It’s when an antivirus block a certain application or process, suspecting harm when there isn’t any. Antivirus software with a high number of false positives can be very annoying in blocking legitimate applications and interfering in routine computing.

Unfortunately, there is no sure-shot way to predict this behavior; I suggest checking with independent tests (like in the above👆 image) and user feedback on public forums like Reddit.

Extra Features: This is totally optional, but a package deal (including a password manager, cloud storage, VPN, etc.) will suit most users, barring power users. Additionally, antivirus offering built-in PC cleaning and performance optimization can help someone already using such tools in reducing the total number of installs.

Compatibility: The antivirus should be compatible with the device’s operating system. Better, it should be available for all of your (and family) devices.

Reputation: In addition to expert ratings, ask your peers about which antivirus they are using. Besides, search through Reddit, Quora, G2, Trustpilot, or even social media pages of antivirus companies to get the vibes about customer support and the overall user experience.

What are the Popular Antivirus Software?

There are many premium antivirus software, Avast One, Bitdefender, Malwarebytes and McAfee are top picks. The below comparison table will help you to pick one based on needs and budgets.

Do I Need Antivirus for Mac?

MacOS comes with robust in-built malware protection in the form of Gatekeeper and XProtect. Gatekeeper ensures every download is either from the App store or from a verified 3rd party developer and notarized by Apple. This ensures the installations remain free of malicious attachments. Besides, the Gatekeeper asks for user consent before executing any file for the first time.

XProtect, on the other hand, functions a lot like a traditional malware removal tool. It’s a non-stop, routinely updated safety net to catch unwarranted changes in any application after the Gatekeeper-approved installation. XProtect blocks suspicious software upon detection and notifies users, allowing them to trash or keep them at their own discretion.

With inbuilt Apple security, a user is very well covered for on-device security, and I would not prescribe installing a 3rd-party antivirus. Still, internet security is a different domain altogether. And if someone isn’t vigilant or internet-educated enough, installing macOS security software can be helpful.

Is There Any Free Antivirus Available?

Yeah, there are free antivirus available, such as Avira, Comodo, Total AV, and more. But beware, as “free” might have limitations, including basic features, ads, or worse–data sharing.

Consequently, it’s best to rely on the default, in-built security than going for free antivirus software. All modern OS ship with more than decent native protection covering device security. For more, one should consider subscribing to premium antivirus.

Using Free Antivirus Programs: Pros and Cons Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Importance of using antivirus programs, main features of avast free antivirus, main features of panda free antivirus.

In the 21st century, it is almost impossible to imagine life without a personal computer. It made life so much easier – you can have all your personal information stored in one place at arm’s length. But together with this, arises the problem of malicious software aimed at stealing data or making your computer work worse.

Even if you are a careful and smart user, installing an antivirus program on your computer is important for some reasons:

• It can prevent you from infecting your PC with a virus. You should keep in mind that you can get infected by simply going online and visiting a compromised website; you do not download a malware program for a purpose (Hoffman, 2013, para. 6). One more way to protect you from being infected is by blocking suspicious websites or at least warning you that the website may contain scumware.
• It is a good way to reduce the amount of spam.
• It can protect you from identity theft and spyware. Some viruses can steal your data including not only passwords or personal information but also financial data such as credit card or bank account numbers (Drew, 2013, para. 6-7). It also blocks phishing websites while you are browsing the Internet.

To guarantee a high level of protection of your data and computer, you do not necessarily have to spend much money. Today, there are a lot of free antivirus programs that are not worse than paid software. One of such programs is, for example, Avast Free Antivirus. Once you launch it, you are surprised with a nice interface – “clean, clear and configurable” (Williams, 2015, para. 14). What is also nice about Avast is that it scans your computer not only for malware programs but also system for unnecessary files and applications, network settings to identify security problems and analyzes the general performance of your computer (Rubenking, 2014, para. 5). This software is also really good at blocking malicious websites thus it provides reliable protection from downloading malware, but it is not as good at detecting and blocking phishing URLs.

One more good example of free antivirus software is Panda Free Antivirus. First of all, it is an app with a simple and intuitive interface that can be of great importance to first-time users. Panda, in the same way as Avast, is good at blocking malicious websites but has some troubles with detecting phishing URLs. What is nice about this antivirus is that it scans every flash drive you plugin and uses what is called “USB Vaccination” (Rubenking, 2015, para. 21) preventing malware detected on a flash drive from automatic launching. One more great feature is that it shows all active processes and defines whether they are dangerous or not and blocks the most malicious of them. Both Avast and Panda are very good in detecting and deleting malware.

So, you should always remember that it is of great importance to keep your computer and personal data safe by installing an antivirus program. Even free software can be useful and not worse than the paid ones.

About Avast. (2015). Web.

Drew, J. (2011). The Benefits of Having Anti-Virus Protection. Web.

Hoffman, C. (2013). HTG Explains: Why You Need an Antivirus on Windows, No Matter How Careful You Are. Web.

Panda: Company Profile. (2015). Web.

Rubenking, N. J. (2014). Avast Free Antivirus 2015. Web.

Rubenking, N. J. (2015). Panda Free Antivirus 2016. Web.

Williams, M. (2014). Best Free Antivirus Software 2015. Web.

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• Hacking Prevention: Mobile Phone Anti-Virus
• Information Assurance in the Information and Communications Technology
• Introduction to the Private Security
• Net Neutrality: Freedom of Internet Access
• The Different Sides of Hacking
• Software Infringement Effect on Software Producers and Economic Hardships Facing Software Creators
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

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Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology An International research journal of Computer Science and Technology

Performance Investigation of Antivirus – A Comparative Analysis

Performance investigation of antivirus- a comparative analysis.

Remya Thomas and M. Nachamai *

Department of Computer science, Christ University, Bangalore, India

Corresponding author Email:  [email protected]

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojcst/10.01.27

Antivirus as name implies prevent the devices such as computers, mobiles and pen-drive from viruses. All gadgets which interact with open network are prone to virus. Virus is a malicious software program which replicates by copying its code multiple times or by infecting any computer program (like modifying the existing program) which can affect its process. Virus perform harmful task on affected host computer such as possessing on hard disk, CPU time, accessing private information etc. This paper specifies the performance of (McAFee, Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, Norton) antivirus and its effectiveness on the computer. The performance is tested based on the time acquired by each antivirus to act on a computer. The parameters used to analyze the performance are quick scan, full scan and custom scan with respect to time. Through the analysis Bitdefender performance is better than other selected antivirus.

Introduction

The explosion with World Wide Web is always prone to the interaction of unknown threat which can ruin the computer. Antivirus software plays an active role towards the prevention of hidden threats in web which can affect the computer. The infection can be of different types such as Droppers, Trojans, root-kits, worms, viruses, and so on. Antivirus is security software that focuses on providing better protection. The physical view of an antivirus is shown in fig1. Antivirus software is used to disinfect the infected program or to completely immaculate malicious software from the system. Antivirus software uses different techniques to identify malicious software, which often self-protect and mask deep in an operating system. Advanced virus may use undocumented operating system functionality and hidden techniques in order to prevail and avoid being detected. Because of the huge malware attack these days, Antivirus software is designed to handle all kinds of malignant payloads attacking from both trusted and un-trusted sources.

Antivirus software consists of different types of scan like full scan, quick scan and custom scan.

Full scan [1] is performed to ensure that the computer is free from viruses. It helps to scan files, local drive, folders on the system. Full scan can be performed on external devices like digital camera, USB drivers and many others.

Quick scan is used to scan the most infected area in a computer. A quick scan checks only the common areas for viruses available in a computer. Scanned areas include common areas of the hard drive, including the temporary files, computer memory and the operating system directory. Basically quick scan take less than 20-30 minutes to complete. Full scan checks every folder available, and hence takes longer time to perform the scan. Depending on the hard drive and memory space a computer, it could take 40 minutes to several hours to accomplish a full scan. 

Custom Scan

Custom scan as name implies allows the user to customize which files and folders are to be scanned. This scan is useful when the user likes to perform a scan for a particular folder, or if the user likes to scan an entire drive. Custom scan helps to remove unknown viruses, spyware, tracking cookies, potential threats and stealth programs, which can exploit and alter Windows system files. For the performance study of different antivirus, parameters like full, custom and quick scan are performed on the basis of time.

Literature Review

In research paper” A Comparative Study of Virus Detection Techniques” [2] determines that, to model the behavior of virus the use of “logic formulae” is one of the most recent developments in computer virus research. Logic formulae are an alternative to basic virus detection technique. Behavior based virus detection is used to overcome the issues related with traditional signature based virus identification. Signature based virus detection is explained with pros and cons.

In research paper” Study and Comparison of Virus Detection Techniques “[3] determines that, as the characteristics of different viruses are different, the detection approaches should be different. Viruses of the different types cannot be detected by single method. Viruses are classified as simple virus, Encrypted Viruses, Polymorphic Viruses, Oligomorphic virus, Metamorphic Viruses. The virus detection methods specified are Signature based virus detection, Anomaly Based Detection, Code Emulation. Signature scanning is concluded as the easy and economical method for detecting majority of current available viruses and it causes less impact on existing hardware and codes.

In research paper” Antivirus Software Testing for the New Millenium” [4] determines about the antivirus system of next generation are discussed. The organization testing the antivirus is ICSA Certification, Westcoast Labs Checkmark, University of Hamburg VTC malware tests etc. Network aware viruses like Melissa have proven that virus specified techniques are not sufficient enough to prevent infection by new viruses. The inherent backlog of post-infection generic methods and pre-infection heuristics make virus detection more powerful way to prevent and remove viruses. Antivirus products that consist of hybrid approach are likely to evolve.

The performance study of different antivirus is described in detail for computer in [5]. The classification is based on three groups (ranks) of antivirus i.e. AV Test, VB, AV comparative. According to the survey, no antivirus engine consistently holds the top place in each year across all testing organization.

The performance and protection of antivirus is described in detail in [6,7] where different antivirus are compared based on scanning methods like on-demand and on-access malware scan ,website rating, malicious URL blocking, Phishing protection, Behavior based detection and vulnerability scan.

Methods and Materials

Anti-malware software also known as Antivirus, is computer software that is used to detect, prevent and remove malicious software [8].

To study the performance of the different antivirus in a computer system full scan, custom scan, and quick scan parameters/methods are considered.

Basically four levels of malware products are available in the market:

• Paid antivirus
• Premium suites

Moving from free to premium suits the features gets added such as identity theft protection, parental controls, firewalls and system performance tools. Free antivirus software basically provides a bare low level of protection. It will scan for virus, and often can perform automatic virus scans as well. Few free apps have additional protection tools such as a browser add-on that checks for harmful links and premium suites consist of firewall [9]. Usually these features are limited to paid antivirus software products.

Paid antivirus lies as a middle ground between the basic free and the feature-packed antivirus security suites. Paid antivirus offers overall security tools like parental controls, identity theft protection  and hence more flexibility than a free antivirus package available, usually paid antivirus consist of few additional features than suites, which are designed to be one-stop protections hops. The biggest issue faced while going with free antivirus products is the lack of technical support, free antivirus users usually must assist by themselves.

Anti-viruses selected for the analysis in this research work are:

Norton is one of the well-known antivirus software. One of its key features is that it updates every 10 to 15 minutes to ensure that the system is up to date.

  McAfee Antivirus is software that protects the computer from spyware and viruses, and includes a firewall that helps in preventing hacker attacks to the computer.

Bit defender

Bit Defender give protection from spyware, viruses, root-kits, provides anti-phishing service, and offers a laptop and gamer mode.

Avira introduced Avira Protection Cloud (APC) which takes the information available through internet (cloud computing) to enhance the detection and effect on system performance less.APC was initially used only during a manual quick system scan but later it was extended to real-time protection.

Avast is the popular antivirus available in the market, and it has the largest share of the market for malware applications. Avast free antivirus product’s features include antivirus with Avast Passwords, antispyware, streaming updates, Secure HTTPS scanning, Home Network Security scanner, Site Correct, Do Not Track, anti-malware, Smart Scan, Rescue Disk, anti-phishing and Software Updater (manual).

For the comparative performance analysis of antivirus, time consumed by different anti-viruses for different scans like full, quick and customized are considered. Analysis is performed on a laptop consisting of intel i3 core processor with 2 GB RAM, 64 bit operating system and windows 8.1 single language version. The common steps carried out for the entire antivirus are:

Step 1: Install antivirus in the computer.

Step 2: Double click/right-click on the Antivirus System Tray icon and navigate to antivirus software.

Step 3: Click on scan tab

Step 4: Select the type of scan available in provided option (i.e. full scan, quick scan, custom scan).

Step 5: If custom scan is opted, user will be able to select the folders, drivers and software available on the system.

Step 6: Click on “Start” scan.

Step 7: The user will be prompted with the alert box with option “View results” after the scan gets completed

Step 8: The scan result will be displayed on the screen.

Step 9: The user will be able to repair the errors.

Table 1: Time based analysis on antivirus using full scan:

Table 2:Time based analysis on antivirus using quick scan

Table 3: Time based analysis on antivirus using custom scan:

Table 4: Antivirus performance and protection percentage [10]:

System Information:

System Type: 32- bit Operating System.

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3.

No. of files scanned in Full scan: 800114 files

No. of files scanned in Quick scan:55672 files

No. of files scanned in Custom scan: 413234 files

Results and Discussion:

McAfee antivirus scanned less files with more time than Avira. Avast scanned less files with less time compared to Avira. Bitdefender scanned more files in less time compared Norton. Hence Bitdefender antivirus performed better than other antivirus by   scanning more files in less time. Hence the data fetched by toptenreviews.com looks good in full scan as the topten reviews mention BitDefender to have 100 percent performance and protection.  The full scan results are plotted in figure 2.

In Quick scan Avira scanned less files consuming more time than McAfee. Avasta scanned less files in less time than Avista. Norton scanned more files in less time than Bitdefender. Hence the data fetched by toptenreviews.com looks good in Quick scan as the toptenreviews mention BitDefender to have 92 percent performance and 100 percent protection. The quick scan analysis is plotted in figure 3.

Custom scan

In custom scan performed for C drive, Avira scanned less files consuming more time than McAfee. Avasta scanned more files in less time compared to McAfee. Bitdefender scanned more files than Norton in less time. Hence Bitdefender performance is more than any other antivirus. The custom scan analysis is represented in the form a bar chart in fig 4.

As per the toptenreviews.com bitdefender has 100% performance and protection which is the same case of the analysis performed based on this paper. But comparing the performance of Avira to other antivirus, it has less performance as Avira took more time to scan the less number of files. But in the toptenreviews McAfee performance is tagged to below compare to other antivirus. Hence according to the analysis, Bitdefender has more performance compared to other antivirus and Avira has less performance.

Antivirus is a powerful program which protects and removes viruses from computer .Antivirus download new and updated definition files which contains the signature of viruses. When antivirus scans a file and identifies that the file matches a known piece of malware, antivirus stops the file from running further and put them into “quarantine”. In the performance study of different antiviruses, Bitdefender have high performance as bitdefender scans more files in less time. Norton can be rated second high performer as Norton as well scans more files in less time. Performance of Avira is low as it takes more time to executed limited files.

• https//www.howtogeek.com/125650/htg-explains-how-antivirus-software-works/
• Sulaiman Al Amro and Ali Alkhalifah,” A Comparative Study of Virus Detection Techniques”.
• Ankush R Kakad, Siddharth G Kamble, Shrinivas S Bhuvad and Vinayak N Malavade,” Study and Comparison of Virus Detection Techniques”.
• Sarah Gordon,” Antivirus Software Testing for the New Millenium”.
• https://www.opswat.com/blog/antivirus-performance-study-shows-diversification-key
• http://in.pcmag.com/antivirus-from-pcma/37090/guide/the-best-free-antivirus-protection-of-2016
• http://thinhlong.vn/upload/download/avc_report25.pdf
• https://www.raymond.cc/blog/test-the-effectiveness-of-your-antivirus-firewall-and-hips-software/
• https://www.sans.org/readingroom/whitepapers/commerical/anti-virus-software-challenge-prepared-tomorrows-malware-today-782
• http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/security/best-antivirus-software/

What is antivirus and why is it important?

You’ll see a lot of warnings about the importance of installing antivirus software.  There are a lot of competing  pieces of software on the market, and we’d like to help you understand what computer viruses are, how your machine can become infected, and how anti-virus software works.  It’s important to note that Macs and PCs are equally vulnerable, despite what you may hear.

What is a computer virus?   A computer virus, sometimes called malware, is a computer program that is installed on your computer without your knowledge that is intended to perform tasks that are not in your best interests.  Among the common impacts of different viruses:

• Encrypting all the data on your computer so the attacker can charge you money to get your files back
• Stealing every keystroke, so the attacker can learn your accounts and passwords
• Turning on your computer’s microphone and camera
• Using your computer to attack other users

Usually viruses not only perform the function they were designed to do, but also alter your computer’s operating system to make them hard to detect, and to reinstall themselves if they are not removed properly.

How do viruses spread?   Viruses are designed to spread quickly and easily, and can do so in a number of ways.  The most common are:

• Attachments:  Almost any kind of file can host a virus.  These include Microsoft Office files, PDFs, images, and nearly anything else.
• Malicious website.  Every website actually contains content from dozens of places: Images, articles, surveys, ads, etc.  Less reputable sites don’t do a very good job checking that those pieces of content are free from viruses.  Often, attackers will set up sites that are specifically designed to look like reputable sites but in fact spread malware when you connect to them.
• USB sticks:  Attackers will leave USB memory sticks in public places like parking lots and conference rooms, hoping someone will pick them up and insert them in computers.  When the stick is inserted, the malware installs.

What does anti-virus software do?  Anti-virus software examines every file and piece of software that tries to install or execute on your computer and determines if it’s malicious.  It does this in 2 ways.

• Signature-based:  This is the most common method.  Anti-virus companies are constantly publishing lists of known malware as reported across the Internet.  If a file matches the list, it is blocked.  Literally thousands of new viruses are discovered daily, so it’s very important that antivirus software is set up to update itself constantly.  This works pretty well, but if you’ve been hit with a new piece of malware that hasn’t been included in your software’s list yet, you won’t be protected.
• Behavior-based:  More sophisticated programs supplement their list of signatures by watching what a program does and making judgements about whether it is malicious, and acting accordingly.  For example, if a new file starts modifying the operating system and encrypting your computer, behavior-based antivirus software might block that software because it is acting like a virus.

What should you install?  We’re not going to recommend a specific piece of software, but here are some guidelines.

• Software you pay for is generally better than freeware.  Often it will include behavioral detections and additional features such as blocking you from visiting known malicious websites.  Usually they cost less than $100 per year, and often the fee allows you to protect several computers. 
• Well-known software from reputable vendors is usually better than something no one has ever heard of.  Check PC Magazine or something similar for ratings and reviews.

If you don’t want to buy antivirus software, click here for information on how to download Sophos’ home edition, which is free to the FIT community.

Essay on Antivirus

Students are often asked to write an essay on Antivirus in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Antivirus

What is antivirus.

Antivirus is a type of software. Its job is to protect your computer from harmful programs called viruses. These viruses can damage your computer or steal your private information.

How does Antivirus work?

Types of antivirus.

There are many types of antivirus software. Some are free, and some you have to pay for. Examples include Avast, Norton, and McAfee. Each one works a bit differently.

Why is Antivirus important?

Having antivirus software is very important. It keeps your computer safe and your information private. Without it, you could lose important files or have your personal details stolen.

How to use Antivirus?

Also check:

250 Words Essay on Antivirus

Antivirus is a type of software. It is designed to protect your computer from harmful programs called viruses. Viruses can slow down your computer, steal your information, or even damage your files. Antivirus works like a shield, stopping these viruses from harming your computer.

How Does Antivirus Work?

Antivirus software works in two main ways. First, it scans your computer to find viruses. It looks at all your files and checks if any of them match known viruses. This is called virus scanning. If it finds a match, it will alert you and offer to remove the virus.

Second, it watches what happens on your computer in real time. This is called real-time protection. If it sees something suspicious, like a program trying to change a file without permission, it will stop it. This helps catch new viruses that aren’t in its list yet.

Why Do We Need Antivirus?

500 words essay on antivirus.

Antivirus is a type of software that helps protect your computer from harmful things called viruses. Just like we get sick from germs, computers can get sick from viruses. These viruses can slow down your computer, delete your files, or even steal your personal information. Antivirus software works like a shield, stopping these viruses before they can harm your computer.

Antivirus software works in two main ways. First, it scans your computer to find viruses that might already be there. This is like a doctor checking you for signs of illness. If the antivirus finds a virus, it works to remove it and heal your computer.

We need antivirus software because the internet is full of viruses. These viruses are created by people who want to harm others or steal their information. Without antivirus software, your computer is like a house with no doors or windows. Anyone can come in and take what they want.

Choosing the Right Antivirus

Free antivirus software can provide basic protection, but it might not be enough if you use your computer a lot or have important files. Paid antivirus software usually offers more protection and extra features, like customer support or protection for multiple devices.

In conclusion, antivirus software is an important tool for keeping our computers safe. It works like a shield, protecting our computers from harmful viruses. By choosing the right antivirus, we can surf the internet without worry, knowing our computers and personal information are safe. Just like we need to take care of our health, we also need to take care of our computers. That’s why having antivirus software is so important.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Antivirus Software Essays

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What is Antivirus Software?

In computer systems, the security of data is always a major concern because there are some unidentified people (known as hackers) who always try to steal or harm the personal data or information of the users using viruses, worms, trojans, etc. So, to protect computer systems from these viruses or any other harmful activity, software is developed and that software is known as Antivirus software.

Antivirus software (computer protection software) is a program(s) that is created to search, detect, prevent and remove software viruses from your system that can harm your system. Other harmful software such as worms, adware , and other threats can also be detected and removed via antivirus. This software is designed to be used as a proactive approach to cyber security , preventing threats from entering your computer and causing issues. Most antivirus software operates in the background once installed, providing real-time protection against virus attacks. 

While you may believe that your computer is safe as long as you don’t visit questionable websites , hackers have far more sophisticated methods of infecting your computer, which is why you need a powerful antivirus to stay to secure your data and system. The implications of a virus getting into your computer might be fatal. Viruses can cause a wide range of malicious behaviour. They can crash your device, monitor your accounts, or spy on you through your webcam . So, always use antivirus software.

Types of Cyber Threats

As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow, so does the risk of cybercrime for mobile phones, laptops, smart home devices, and other internet-connected devices. According to the 2023 Cost of Data Breach Study by IBM, the average cost of a data breach involving mobile devices is \$1.9 million. You need to protect yourself against malware by using strong passwords, keeping your devices up to date, and being careful about what apps you download.

The three most common types of cyber threats are –

To learn more about computer security threats, please see this article

How Antivirus Works?

Antivirus software works by comparing your computer applications and files to a database of known malware kinds. Because hackers are continually creating and disseminating new viruses, they will also check systems for the presence of new or undiscovered malware threats. The antivirus checks files, programs, and applications going in and out of your computer to its database to identify matches. Similar and identical matches to the database are segregated, scanned, and eliminated.

Most Antivirus programs will employ these four types of detection techniques:

• Signature detection is a method by which an antivirus keenly scans files that are brought into a system to analyze more likely hazardous files.
• Specific detection , which looks for known parts or types of malware or patterns that are linked by a common codebase
• A genericthe detection is a type of detection that looks for known parts or types of malware or patterns that are related to a common codebase.
• Heuristic detection is a type of virus detection that looks for unknown infections by spotting suspicious file structures.

Examples of Antivirus Software

The antivirus software is available in 2 types: 

(i) Free: Free anti-virus software provides basic virus protection

(ii) Paid: commercial anti-virus software provides more extensive protection.

The following are some commonly used antivirus software:

1. Bitdefender: Bitdefender Total Security is a comprehensive security suite that protects against viruses and dangerous malware of all varieties. This user-friendly antivirus software is compatible with all four major operating systems and smart homes, and it also includes a free VPN with a daily limit of 200MB, parental controls, camera protection, a password manager, etc. This security suite is reasonably priced and will protect up to five devices 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

2. AVAST: This is a free antivirus available. All you have to do to obtain top-notch protection on your computer, emails, downloads, and instant messages in the free version is register (for free) once a year. It includes a sophisticated heuristics engine that enables it to detect viruses .

3. Panda: It can detect viruses, trojans , spyware, adware , worms, and malware at the same level as other antiviruses do. It is different from others because using this software, when you scan your computer, it doesn’t consume any of your computer’s resources instead, it runs in the cloud, allowing your machine to continue to function normally.

Benefits of Antivirus Software

• Spam and advertisements are blocked: Viruses exploit pop-up advertising and spam websites as one of the most common ways to infect your computer and destroy your files. Antivirus acts against harmful virus-infected adverts and websites by denying them direct access to your computer network .
• Virus protection and transmission prevention: It identifies any possible infection and then attempts to eliminate it.
• Hackers and data thieves are thwarted: Antivirus do regular checks to see if there are any hackers or hacking-related apps on the network. As a result, antivirus offers complete security against hackers.
• Protected against devices that can be detached: Antivirus scans all removable devices for potential viruses, ensuring that no viruses are transferred.
• To improve security from the to web, restrict website access: Antivirus restricts your online access in order to prevent you from accessing unauthorized networks. This is done to ensure that you only visit websites that are safe and non-harmful to your computer.
• Password Protection: Using antivirus, you should consider using a password manager for added security.

Disadvantages of Antivirus programs

• Slows down system’s speed: When you use antivirus programs, you’re using a lot of resources like your RAM and hard drive . As a result, the computer’s overall speed may be significantly slowed. 
• Popping up of Advertisements: Apart from commercial antivirus applications, free antivirus must make money in some way. One approach to attaining these is through advertising. Many times these advertisements degrade the user experience by popping up every time.
• Security Holes: When security flaws exist in the operating system or networking software, the virus will be able to defeat antivirus protection. The antivirus software will be ineffective unless the user takes steps to keep it updated.
• No customer care service: There will be no customer service provided unless you pay for the premium version. If an issue arises, the only method to solve it is to use forums and knowledge resources.

Antivirus Software/Program – FAQs

1. what is a computer virus list its types..

A computer virus is a sort of malware that spreads by introducing a copy of itself into another software and integrating into it. The virus may be present on a computer, but it will not be active or propagate until a user executes or opens the harmful host file or software. The viral code is run at the same time as the host code. Some commonly used virus are: Boot sector Virus  File Virus  Polymorphic Virus  Email- Virus Macro Virus

2. How can you protect your system against viruses?

We can use antivirus software to protect your system against virus. Antivirus software works by comparing your computer applications and files to a database of known malware kinds. Because hackers are continually creating and disseminating new viruses, it will also check systems for the presence of new or undiscovered malware threats. The antivirus checks files, programs, and applications going in and out of your computer to its database to identify matches. Similar and identical matches to the database are segregated, scanned, and eliminated.

3. How to know your system is protected?

To check the system protection in: In Windows 8/10: Antivirus software is already installed on your machine if it runs Windows 8. Windows Defender is a feature in Windows 8 that protects you from viruses, spyware, and other unwanted software. In Windows 7: Click Start button -> select Control Panel -> click Review your computer’s status under System and Security . To expand the section, click the arrow button next to Security. If your antivirus software is detected by Windows, it will be listed under Virus protection. In Windows Vista: Click Start button -> select Control Panel -> click Security -> security center -> click on Malware protection. If your antivirus software is detected, it will be listed under Virus protection.

4. What is an antivirus software name any two?

Software created specifically to detect, prevent, and remove malware (viruses). Here are some popular antivirus softwares are as follows: McAfee Norton

5. List down common sources of computer virus infection.

The sources via which you can infect your system with viruses are: Downloading programs/software from internet . Emails External devices like pen-drives Using an unknown CD to Boot data Bluetooth Cracked Software

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• Antivirus Software

Antivirus software is a set of programs that can prevent, detect, remove, and search for different viruses or other malware software like worms, trojan, adware, etc. Basically, the computer devices use this software but, it also works on networks and IT systems. Furthermore, it is not sufficient to just install this software rather, we also have to update them from time to time.

Moreover, it is a type of utility software. Utility Software or system utilities is a type of system software that helps in the proper and smooth functioning of a computer system. Moreover, they assist the operating system to manage, organize, maintain, and optimize the functioning of a computer system.

Functions of an Antivirus Software

Antivirus software keeps running as a background process. Furthermore, it keeps scanning the device or and servers for any malware threat. It performs the functions as follows:

• Scans the specific files and directories for malware patterns which can indicate any malware.
• Allows the users to schedule scans according to them. Moreover, it then performs the scan at the scheduled time.
• Users can also scan the system anytime they want.
• If it detects any malicious software it removes it from the system. Furthermore, some software does this itself in the background. On the other hand, some software asks permission or inform the user before removing them.
• Thus, it makes sure that the system is always safe for work.

The Need for Antivirus Software

We need antivirus software to protect us from different malware and viruses. Let us study different malware.

• Malware: It stands for ‘malicious software’. It is a category that includes software like viruses, trojan horse, spyware, etc. Furthermore, this software performs unwanted activities and changes in your system. Moreover, they can delete files, slow down, or even crash your system.
• Spyware: It is software that hides in the operating system and makes unwanted changes. It can even spy on your online activities.
• Ransomware: It is malicious software that displays messages regarding the deposition of money. Moreover, this software tries to charge money from the user by creating alerts about continuing system use.
• Viruses: These are unwanted software that enters the system and make unwanted changes without the permission of the user.
• Worms: They are a type of virus that creates multiple copies of itself.
• Trojan Horse: It is also a type of virus that pretends to be a harmless file but, it is actually a virus that spreads on the system when the user downloads it.
• Adware: These are advertisement supporting software that displays numerous unwanted advertisements. Moreover, it can also make changes to the browser.
• Spam: These are unwanted emails.

Working of Antivirus Software

If a virus enters a system it affects the working by making changes in the files and directories. Moreover, it can also slow down the working of the system and also delete important files. Whenever the antivirus detects any malware syntax or any such activities, it tries to remove these files. Moreover, it alerts the user about the virus too. The several ways of detecting the viruses are as follows:

Signature-Based or Virus Dictionary Detection

In antivirus software, there are certain files, dictionaries, or databases present. These databases have known virus signatures. Furthermore, there is almost 100,000 today which the security professionals have found. So, using these signatures antivirus easily detect these past viruses.

Although, signature-based detection is the best way to detect past viruses without any false information. But, it is not able to detect new viruses. Or in other words, it can detect new viruses if the definition file of the virus is present in the antivirus software.

• Heuristic-Based Detection

This is one of the most common techniques of virus detection. In this technique, the antivirus uses an algorithm. Furthermore, this algorithm compares the signature of some known viruses to the suspected threat. Besides, detecting past viruses it can also detect new viruses. Moreover, it can also detect past viruses that have been modified or disguised.

Furthermore, this detection can sometimes produce false-positive results. This means that it can show the system as infected even if it is not.

• Behavior-Based Detection

If a virus becomes successful in hiding from the above detection techniques. In that case, an antivirus checks the behavior of the programs. If it detects any strange or unwanted activities it warns the user. There can be several such activities such as:

• Remote connections to computers.
• Deleting or modifying files themselves. Moreover, if changes in files are occurring in a large number.
• or changing various other settings of the system.

It is a good technique to detect viruses that try to steal information from the computer system.

• Sandbox Detection

In this technique, if there is any suspicious program, it is run in an artificial virtual environment. Furthermore, this environment is created by the antivirus to trick the malware software. It is not the real system environment. Then, the software runs in this environment and its activities are recorded. If in case, the antivirus finds any harm or unwanted activity it warns the user. Otherwise, it allows the software to run in the real environment.

This method is heavy and slow. Therefore, it is not used in normal antivirus software. But, the antivirus for corporate and network systems uses this technique.

• Data Mining

It is a recent technique in the field of viruses and malware detection. Moreover, it works on viruses that are new and more recent. In this technique, data mining and machine learning algorithms are used to detect viruses in files.

Types of Scan

Besides, the detection techniques the scanning also plays an important role. There are several ways of scanning the system for threats. They are as follows:

• On-demand Scan: As the name suggests, this scan occurs when the user itself wants to scan the system for malware. Or in the other case, if the user schedules the scan to occur at a specified time. It searches the content of disks, directories, files, boot sectors, and system components.
• Real-Time Protection: This is a type of automatic protection that keeps running in the background. Due to this, the antivirus catches the malware before it does any damage. Hence, we can also call them a background guard . It scans the system when any new program or device is freshly loaded in the memory. For example, inserting a new USB.
• Smart Scans: In this, the software scans for files that are more suspicious of catching the malware. Therefore, this method saves time and resources.

Advantages of Antivirus Software

The advantages of antivirus software are as follows:

• It detects, blocks, and removes viruses and malware from the system.
• It warns about dangerous websites, attachments, links, advertisements, etc.
• Prevents identity threats.
• Blocks phishing.
• Keeps the online activities and accounts protected.
• Protects the system from getting slow or corrupted.
• Protects the data and files from deleting.
• Therefore, helps to run the computer system smoothly.

Examples of Antivirus Software

There are several antiviruses available these days. They are as follows:

• Microsoft Defender
• Bitdefender Antivirus
• Malwarebytes
• McAfee Total Protection
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus etc.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. What is antivirus software?

A1. Antivirus software is a set of programs that can prevent, detect, remove, and search for different viruses or other malware software like worms, trojan, adware, etc. Basically, the computer devices use this software but, it also works on networks and IT systems. Furthermore, it is not sufficient to just install this software rather, we also have to update them from time to time.

Q2. What are the different types of threats?

A2. Several threats are:

• Trojan Horse

Q3. Name different detection techniques in antivirus software.

A3. Different detection techniques are:

• Signature-Based Detection

Q4. Name different scanning techniques in antivirus software.

A4. Different scanning techniques are:

• On-Demand Scan
• Real-Time Protection
• Smart Scans

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Utility Software

• Disk Management Tools
• Compression Tools
• File Management Tools

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Antivirus Software College Essays Samples For Students

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Discipline Essay Samples

It in business., essay on computer technology, question 1:.

What can parents do to protect their child from online predators? Answer: When a family member especially children use the internet, parents must protect their children from untoward incidents like online predators. When parents protect their children means, they merely understand the risks, open conversation is implemented, and parents provide clear guidance for a healthy online behavior. In addition, as their children use the technology, parents can help reduce risks on online exposures.

There are basic steps parents can help to protect their children against online predators.

Essay on convenience vs. security.

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Rootkits As Serious Threats To Computing Essay Example

Introduction, computer virus and its prevention essay examples, consumer behaviour diary essay, executive summary.

In this report, the consumer spending diary of the author will be recounted in detail. Over the course of several weeks, the author was asked to record all spending that was not a daily staple, as well as the reasons why these purchases were made. Following the diary, an overall analysis of the spending behaviour is provided, with aspects of cognitive and behavioural theories of consumer behaviour weighed against the author’s recorded spending habits. These are used to determine the level to which marketing and advertising play a part in these spending decisions.

1. INTRODUCTION

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