Antivuris Programs Essay

Today, people rely on computers to create, store, and manage critical information, numerous another(prenominal) times via a home computer web. Information transmitted all over networks has a higher degree of surety risk than information unplowed in a users home or play along premises. Thus, it is crucial that they take measures to protect their computers and data from loss, damage, and misuse resulting from computer security risks. Anti virus programs are an in effect(p) way to protect a computer against viruses.An antivirus program protects a computer against viruses by identifying and removing any computer virus lay down in memory, on storage media, or on incoming files. When you bargain for a new computer, it often includes antivirus software. Antivirus programs work by scanning for programs that take in charge to modify the boot program, the operating system, and other programs that normally are record from but not modified. In addition, many antivirus programs automa tically scan files downloaded from the Web, electronic mail attachments, opened files, and all types of removable media inserted in the computer (Karanos 201-205).One proficiency that antivirus programs use to identify a virus is to look for virus signatures, or virus definitions, which are known specific patterns of virus code. According to Shelly and Cashman (Antivirus Programs), many vendors of antivirus programs allow registered users to update virus signature files automatically from the Web at no cost for a specified time. Updating the Antivirus programs signature files regularly is important, because it will download any new virus definitions that have been added since the last update. Methods that guarantee a computer or network is safe from computer viruses simply do not exist. Installing, updating, and using an antivirus program, though, is an effective technique to safeguard your computer from loss.