AntiVirus

Antivirus software is designed to find known viruses and oftentimes other malware such as Ransomware, Trojan Horses, worms, spyware, adware, etc., that can have a detrimental impact to the user or device.

Antivirus programs provide a way to protect against known threats. The effectiveness of an antivirus program is heavily dependent on how often it is updated. Therefore, it is important to have the antivirus program scheduled to update daily.  Most antivirus programs rely on a library or database of known viruses that they use to compare with programs on a user’s device. If a match is found, the malicious program will either be deleted or placed into a quarantine area from which a user can decide to restore or delete the program manually.

One limitation of traditional antivirus programs is that they only provide protection against known threats. Therefore, if someone cooks up new malicious code, an antivirus program may fail to detect it when a scan is done. Users should not consider an antivirus program to be universal protection against all viruses and malware. Instead, users should consider an antivirus program to be one part of a comprehensive online security hygiene regimen. Security experts refer to this aspect of information security as Endpoint Protection.

There are some antivirus manufacturers that are incorporating predictive analysis and artificial intelligence into their antivirus software to be able to detect new malicious programs. They focus on detecting malicious software based on what it does, as opposed to whether it exists in a library or dictionary. While we cannot recommend one antivirus program over another, we encourage users to do independent research to find which antivirus program will work best for them.

Have you ever downloaded a file, opened it and been a victim of excessive pop-ups thereafter? Chances are the file installed an adware program on your computer when you opened it. An antivirus program could have stopped this if:

1. The malicious software was known to the antivirus company. 
2. The antivirus program was up to date.

This example showcases the strengths and weaknesses of antivirus programs. They are very efficient at what they do, but they will only protect against malicious programs that are known, and only if kept updated. The good news is, there are countless types of malicious software that antivirus companies know about, and they are becoming more and more efficient at discovering new varieties every day.

We recommend that users take several steps to avoid infection by a virus or malware.

1. The first step a user must make is to decide which antivirus program will be best for them. There are many free and paid versions of antivirus programs available. We encourage users to examine trusted sources or reviews of different antivirus programs.
2. When installing the antivirus program, it is best to set up scheduled updates. The antivirus program will usually prompt you during the setup process to schedule a certain time or frequency for updates. We recommend a daily update at a time when your computer will be on but not in use. It is also a good idea to have a thorough first scan to remove any viruses or malware that may already be on the device.
3. Ensure scans are performed at regular intervals. We recommend daily scans at a time when you are not using the device.
4. If you are using a paid antivirus program, it is important to ensure the subscription is renewed to avoid gaps in coverage.
5. Finally, be careful what sites you visit. All an attacker needs is for you to land on their dirty page. Visit only reputable sites.

With an antivirus program configured with regular updates and scans, users should feel safe from known threats. Antivirus programs are a key part to a user’s total cybersecurity hygiene practice.

Advantages

1. Virus Protection

The main role of an antivirus program is to stand against viruses and other forms of malwares. The viruses will not only cause damages to your data, it can degrade the overall system performance. All of them can happen without your knowledge. The antivirus software installed on your computer detects and removes these malwares before they cause any harms to your computer.


2. Spyware Protection

Spyware as the name suggests is a kind of malware that spies on your computer stealing all the confidential informations. These details also include credit card details, passwords and other financial datas. This ultimately leads to identity theft. The antivirus software has the capability to prevent these kinds of spyware attacks.


3. Web Protection

While surfing the internet, users can come across various other forms of threats. In an untrustworthy sites, cyber attackers can gather your credit card and bank account details. One of the way to overcome this is by using an antivirus software. Using antivirus program you can protect your valuable informations while surfing the web.


4. Spam Protection

Viruses can also enter your computer through means of spam emails and ads. These emails and ads can show up many times even if your have no interest in it. Once the virus finds the way to sneak into your PC it cause irreversible damages. An Antivirus works by the way of blocking these spam emails and ads.


5. Firewall Feature

Most antivirus programs include a firewall feature in them. Antivirus program with firewall feature ensures 2 way protection to your PC. This means that whatever the information that is sent or received will be double checked here. Therefore, no hackers can dig any personal informations from your system.


6. Cost Effective

Even thought there are many premium versions of antivirus programs for a monthly/yearly subscription fee, there are some antivirus programs those are completely free of charge. These kinds of antivirus programs offer almost the same level of protection provided by the subscription based. Even if you choose to afford a premium version, they are relatively inexpensive.

Disadvantages

1. System Slowdown

Using an antivirus program means that a lot of resources from the memory and the hard drive is being used. As a result it can drastically slowdown overall speed of the computer. Moreover, the process of scanning can also cause lags in the network.


2. No Complete Protection

If you are using a free antivirus program, there is no guarantee that it will provide you the complete protection. Most free antivirus programs out there only offer a basic level of protection. Moreover they are capable of identifying only certain types of threats. In order for acquiring complete level of protection, you have to use a firewall as well.


3. Security Holes

When security holes are present inside the operating system or the networking software, it will provide a chance for the virus to bypass the antivirus software. Unless the user takes actions to keep it update, the antivirus software won't be effective.


4. Limited Detection Techniques

For identifying a potential threat, there are always more than one method available. However in the case of antivirus program, it mostly executes the method of virus scanning. Basically what happens in the process of scanning is, it will try to search for the virus code patterns. Sometimes the antivirus programs can give you false alarms if the scanning matches with the normal file. Furthermore, if there are any new types of viruses the antivirus program will fail to identify it completely. That is the reason why antivirus software needs to be updated often.


5. Frequent Advertisements

Apart from premium versions of antivirus programs, through some means the free antivirus softwares needs to generate an income. Advertising is one of the ways to achieve them. Many at times these advertisements degrade user experience by showing up every time.


6. No Customer Support

Another drawback of a free antivirus program is that it lacks on the side of customer support. Unless you pay for the premium version, there won't be any customer support given to you. In the event of any problem, the only way to overcome is through forums and knowledge bases.