Millennials spend more than half of their time accessing the internet from whatever device they can get a hold of. Which is why advertisers, fraudsters and hackers will use any means necessary – ergo whatever computer virus they can get a hold of – to access private data. These viruses come in all forms, from freebies, to funny cat videos, emails – there’s no shortage of being infected with a virus. Even if you spend your entire life avoiding the internet, you could still get infected if you use a device (say a USB) to share documents with an infected computer.
Viruses are everywhere, unavoidable, and if you’re not careful, can ruin your computer system. So, why is antivirus software important? They’re the antidote, or vaccine. Which means they basically find and destroy viruses and other malware before they can cause any harm. Below are different types of malware that could access your computer and how you can prevent them.
Types Of Malicious Software
Just like there are different vaccines to preempt different diseases, different antivirus software are designed to prevent different malware from harming your computer.
● Virus – are so called, because they spread from one program to another, just like biological viruses spread to other organs. Plus, they’re incredibly hard to detect.
● Adware – usually in the form of pop ads. These usually need your cooperation to get into your system. Because they’re mostly adverts, they’re considered more annoying than harmful.
● Spyware – are designed to steal personal data, from bank details to passwords and addresses.
● Trojan Horse – always seem like helpful freebies, but have destructive hidden intentions.
● Worms – keep replicating themselves in your system until there’s no space left, or your device crashes.
What Is An Antivirus Software?
It is a program that regularly scans your device for some or all known malicious softwares. It will detect malicious sites and prevent you from accessing them, while keeping you from downloading malwares to your computer.
Most antivirus software require regular (sometimes daily) updates, to make sure they’re up-to-date on the virus they scan for. Note that they need these updates because hackers are consistently created new viruses that out perform what available.
How Does Antivirus Software Work?
Different antivirus software work in different ways. For example a traditional antivirus uses a signature based malware detection program. Meaning it scans the files you have and compares distinctive codes against its database. If it finds a duplicate, it either deletes it or isolates it. Traditional antivirus software work offline.
A behavior based antivirus program, uses heuristics to detect viruses. Meaning it can identify and block new viruses. Sometimes it’ll find that a program is infected and let you take action, other times, it will just block the threat.
There are cloud based antivirus programs which require internet connections. They detect all suspicious activities and report such incidences to the cloud.
Do I Need An Antivirus Software?
Due to how advanced technology has become, malicious software have become unavoidable.
Hence, questions like, “Why is antivirus software important?” have taken center stage. This is because the danger that can occur without them are serious. How protected is your personal data? IT Companies protect your data as part of a maintenance plan and provide disaster backups to keep businesses secure.