Antivirus programs are software programs that protect your computer, laptop, tablet, phone and other Internet-connected devices from malware. At the end of the day, antivirus software (often abbreviated AV software) is a software program designed to detect, remove and isolate malicious programs and code installed to infect your system.
Getting a bit deeper into the taxonomy, antivirus software is a class of programs designed to prevent, detect and eliminate malware infections on individual computer devices, networks and IT systems. It is designed to detect and remove viruses from computers to protect itself from a variety of threats, including other types of malicious software like keyloggers, browser hijackers, Trojans, worms, rootkits, spyware, adware, botnets and ransomware. Antivirus programs work because they run in the background to scan computers, servers and mobile devices to detect, restrict and spread malware. Generally, you have little idea that they are at work. That is, until they alert you to the presence of something nasty on your network or hard drive!
But what is a virus?
Viruses are unwanted programs that penetrate users’ systems without their knowledge. They perform unwanted and malicious actions that ultimately affect system performance, user data and files.
Then, sometimes you hear about malware. What does that do?
Malware is malicious software that installs viruses and spyware on your computer or device without your knowledge. Malware is designed to disrupt normal computer and mobile operations, collect sensitive information, access private computer systems, and place unwanted ads. It can also crash your device and monitor and control your online activities. Malware is often the piece of the puzzle that opens the door to an attack.
Antivirus programs are available for all operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Android and iPhones. While it is true that viruses are less common on Apple devices and cell phones, viruses for them do still exist.
How are antivirus programs so effective?
Antivirus software has a prophylactic effect; it does not eliminate viruses, but prevents them from infecting your computer in the future. When antivirus software detects or detects a virus or detects the presence of a virus, it removes the virus from the computer system.
Many antivirus software programs also contain real-time threat detection and protection that protect against potential vulnerabilities as they occur on the system by scanning and monitoring devices and system files to look for potential risks.
The automatic protection provided by most antivirus, anti-spyware and other anti-malware programs includes real-time protection, access scans, background guards, resident shield, autoprotect and other synonyms for similar services.
Software as Malwarebytes turns on the anti-hacking lock when it performs regular scans to detect the presence of hackers and hacking-based programs in a computer network. If the matches are similar or identical to those in the extensive database of known viruses and malware, the malware is isolated, scanned and removed.
Be careful to not fall for the fakes out there, though!
Whereas earlier iterations of tailor-made programs were designed to target individual viruses, millions and millions of different types of malicious software are now creeping through the Internet.
Take for example Mac Defender, which sounds like a legitimate program to protect a Mac computer from infection. Branded as “Mac Defender” and “antivirus software” under the aliases MacProtector and MacSecurity, this is actually a phishing scam that is used to trick careless consumers or those who want to protect their data.