Apparently, many users of modern computer systems have heard or know that there are so-called detector programs. What they are is not difficult to understand if you simply turn to the translation or interpretation of the English word detect, which literally means "detect." In this regard, questions arise about what such programs should identify. In most cases, for some reason, such applications are related to the protection of computer systems from viruses, although in fact, it would be completely logical to include, for example, utilities for finding errors in operating systems or on hard drives in the category of detector programs. As already clear, the scope of such utilities is quite wide, but since at the moment we are talking specifically about computer security, we will consider just such programs.
Antivirus Classification: Detector Programs
Yes, indeed, in the field of protection of computer systems, countering various kinds of viruses, of which from the time of their appearance every day is becoming more and more, is one of the first places. And these threats must somehow be identified (at the stage of penetration into the system, in an already infected system, etc.) and neutralized, if this is, of course, possible.
It was precisely for the detection of viral applets that special tools were developed at one time, which are now commonly called detector programs. But by what principles do such applications work and how exactly do they detect virus threats?
Purpose of anti-virus detection programs and basic properties
In general, based on the initial purpose and the very first developments of such utilities, it is easy to guess that they should be used exclusively to search for threats, but not to prevent their penetration into computer systems or to neutralize them. The first software products of this type really only knew how to detect various kinds of executable codes that could be in the body of the virus, but a little later, if you want, they became “wiser” and became able to detect files infected with viruses, which predetermined the appearance of their classification.
So, today, if we consider such applets, in pure form, so to speak, it is customary to distinguish between universal and specialized detectors. The former determine infection by the criterion of immutability of files, which is achieved by comparing the checksums before and after infection. The latter find viruses by signatures known to them, that is, they can only detect threats that are contained in the corresponding databases. Over time, the heuristic and behavioral analysis method began to be actively applied in such programs, and then the applications themselves became so universal that it became simply impossible to assign them to any one category of anti-virus software.
Compatible Functions
The fact is that modern antiviruses (detection programs) are no longer used only as a tool for detecting threats like the most common scanners. According to doctors, the disease is easier to prevent than to treat. This applies equally to antivirus programs. Thus, modern detectors also play the role, if I may say so, of a protective barrier at the entrance, and most (if not all absolutely) combine the functions of doctor programs, which are used to treat infected objects and to neutralize the cause infection, if possible.
If you give examples of detector programs, for the most part they are presented in the form of portable utilities, which allows you to run them one-time and from removable storage media, while avoiding the infection that the program could suffer if it were installed as a regular tool in a computer system . The most famous and most powerful are considered portable anti-virus scanners Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool and Dr. Web CureIt !.
However, they are often supplemented with checks using specialized utilities like AdwCleaner, which are mostly focused on adware viruses and browser hijackers from the Hijackers group.
How to use virus detection utilities correctly?
Actually, the issues of using such programs are clear to any user. True, depending on the settings present in the utilities, different parameters are used.
However, it is believed that if you suspect the presence of viruses in the system, you must specify a scan of absolutely all objects that can be represented in the list of the program itself, including system and hidden areas. In addition, if there is such a parameter, it is necessary to specify an in-depth scan, not a scan of the SMART type. Although it refers to the so-called “smart” virus detection, it only checks the boot sectors of the hard disk and the components responsible for the operation of the operating system. systems directly.
Mobile antivirus tools
As for the installation of detector programs on Android, there is nothing particularly complicated (we do not consider apple systems, since until recently there were no viruses for them). If you carefully look at even those applets that are offered for installation from the Google Play store (aka Paly Market), it is easy to notice that most antivirus applets are simply represented by mobile versions of stationary scanners. In most cases, the toolkit or functionality is comparable to stationary programs, although scanning can be done in a slightly different way. This is understandable, because in Windows and Android there are different system files and sections. But in general, there should be no difficulties.
Afterword
Here is a brief summary of all that concerns programs for detecting virus threats in different systems. To summarize, as the main conclusion, it should be noted that modern programs of this type no longer apply only to detection tools, but have much greater potential.