Antivirus modules
What is antivirus software? Antivirus software is a type of utility
software that looks for and eradicates viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and
bots. Some antivirus software also scans for spyware, although several
security software publishers offer spyware detection as a separate module.
Antivirus software is included in security suites or can be purchased as a
standalone module. Antivirus software is available for all types of computers
and data storage devices, including handhelds, personal computers,
USB flash drives, and servers.
How does antivirus software work? Modern antivirus software
attempts to identify malware by searching your computer’s files and memory
for virus signatures. A virus signature is a section of program code,
such as a unique series of instructions, that can be used to identify a known
malicious program, much as a fingerprint is used to identify an individual.
Antivirus software scans for virus signatures in programs, data files, incoming
and outgoing e-mail and attachments, and inbound instant message
attachments. Antivirus software can also watch for unusual activity such as
a considerably large number of e-mail messages being sent out from your
computer.
Most antivirus programs can also scan for virus signatures in zip files, which
is important when downloading zipped software and receiving zipped e-mail
attachments.
How do I activate and deactivate my antivirus software?
Installation and activation procedures vary for each virus protection product.
However, once you have installed your antivirus software, the best and
safest practice is to keep it running full time in the background so that it
checks every e-mail message as it arrives and scans all files the moment
you access them. The scanning process requires only a short amount of
time, which creates a slight delay in downloading e-mail and opening files.
When installing some application or utility software, you might be instructed
to deactivate your antivirus software. You can usually right-click the icon
on your computer’s taskbar that corresponds to your antivirus software and
then select the exit or disable option. Do not forget to reactivate your antivirus
software as soon as the installation is completed.
How should I configure my antivirus software? For the most
extensive protection from malware, you should look for and enable the features
of your antivirus software listed in Figure 3-50.
How do I keep my antivirus software up-to-date? Two aspects of
your antivirus software periodically need to be updated. First, the antivirus
program itself might need a patch or update to fix bugs or improve features.
Second, the list of virus signatures has to be updated to keep up with the
latest malware developments. Virus signatures and other information that
antivirus software use to identify and eradicate malware are stored in one
or more files usually referred to as virus definitions. Antivirus program
updates and revised virus definitions are packaged into a file that can be
manually or automatically downloaded. If your antivirus software is part of
a security suite, the update might also include patches for other security
software modules, such as the spyware module or firewall.
Most antivirus products are preconfigured to regularly check for updates,
download them, and install them without user intervention. If you would
rather control the download and installation process yourself, you can configure
your antivirus software to alert you when updates are ready. In any
case, you should manually check for updates periodically just in case the
auto-update function has become disabled.