Every day, computers and laptops are subjected to all kinds of malware attacks. A lot has already been said about this, as well as about ways to combat this problem. However, such questions come every day, and their number not only does not decrease, but rather increases. Most likely, this is due to the fact that more and more people are mastering computers. Therefore, today we will talk about what types of antivirus programs are. After all, it is they that prevent the "enemy" software from getting to your data, and also neutralize everything that has already managed to penetrate your digital information. Today, probably only a madman uses his computer without such protection. It is enough to go online once or insert a third-party storage medium to expose your data to the risk of destruction.
Occurrence
So, I’ll immediately note that all existing types of viruses and antivirus programs did not arise immediately. They appeared and improved over the years, with the so-called viruses appearing first, after which the developers released the appropriate software to combat electronic pests.
Complexes
Before we begin to analyze the types of anti-virus programs, it is worth saying that today it will be difficult to meet this or that type of this software in its pure form. This is due to the fact that in our time, due to the huge number of various malicious objects, developers have to create their product in such a way that it can track and neutralize all types of malicious software. Therefore, these products are composed of several components.
Scanner
The first on the list is the scanner. It is the main element of modern software. All antivirus programs for Windows 7, Windows 8 and so on have this component in their composition. Roughly speaking, this element provides passive protection for your computer. When you start it, or it will be done according to the schedule, the scanner will check the specified areas. It can be either one file or several hard drives.
How will the detection of malicious objects occur? Everything is very simple. The scanner will search and compare the virus code. Examples of such codes are contained in predefined signatures (sets of a characteristic sequence of bytes for all known viruses).
Although today all the main types of antivirus programs are combined in one product, it is worth saying a few words about the shortcomings of a single scanner. Firstly, it is defenseless against all viruses that do not have a constant program code, and which can be modified with the preservation of all their basic functions. Secondly, this component is not able to withstand varieties of the same viruses, as a result of which the user is forced to constantly update anti-virus databases. Well, the main drawback of this tool is, of course, the lack of the ability to detect previously unknown and new viruses. And such an opportunity is quite in demand today, especially when it comes to the newly emerging threat of infecting thousands of computers using e-mail. Moreover, such infection can take place all over the world in just a few hours.
Monitor
We continue to understand what types of antivirus programs are. The next ones on our list are monitors. It is from this element, along with scanners, that the basic protection of laptops and computers is formed. Based on all available signatures, real-time verification of all current processes is performed. Whether it is viewing a file or running it, a preliminary check before performing all the actions will be performed.
There are monitors designed for the mail client (a program for processing and viewing e-mail), file monitors, as well as monitors for special applications. Mostly, the latter are provided with modules for checking Microsoft Office files. The advantage of this component is the ability to detect malware at the very first stage of activity.
The auditor
But this is not all types of antivirus programs. The next view is the auditors. They are able to save in a certain database all the data about the state at some point in the critical system areas for work. In the future, the current files are simply compared with those that were previously registered. Thus, this makes it possible to identify all suspicious changes, if the latter took place.
The advantages of these tools include low hardware requirements, as well as high speed. And the thing is that auditors generally do not need any anti-virus databases. Indeed, distinction and perception are made solely on the principle of the immutability of the source files. All this makes it possible to effectively restore the system if it was damaged by the activity of certain malicious modules.
But, as you probably already guessed, there are some drawbacks. They consist in the inability to quickly respond to the fact of the appearance of a virus in the computer system. Also, during the scan, new files are excluded. Most viruses that infect exclusively newly created files readily take advantage of this.
Vaccines
Concluding our topic "viruses and antivirus programs," I want to talk about the latest type of security software. These are vaccines, or they are also called immunizers. This software simulates the infection of your files with some viruses. As a result of this, if there is an “invasion” of real malware on your computer, then the viruses will “consider” that the data is already infected and simply will not infect them.
It is fair to say that this method is not effective for protecting the system. This is due to the fact that some viruses simply do not check for whether the system is infected or not. Also, methods for such testing for viral agents can vary significantly. Therefore, in our time, this protection option is practically not used.
On this our topic "viruses and antivirus programs" can be considered considered.