- What is a computer antivirus?
- What are computer antivirus for?
- Computer viruses
- Types of computer antivirus
We explain what computer antivirus are and what these programs are for. Also, what types of antivirus exist.
What is a computer antivirus?
Computer antiviruses are pieces of software of application whose objective is to detect and eliminate computer viruses from a computerized system. That is, it is a Program that seeks to remedy the damage caused by these invasive forms of software, whose presence in the system is usually not detectable until its symptoms become evident, such as the biological viruses.
During the 1980s, with the appearance of the technologies exchange of information digital like floppy disks and later Internet, it became possible to put in successive contact numerous computers. This brought about the appearance of computer viruses, and later, the spyware, malware and other forms of harmful software that enter without the consent of the Username to the machine and cause various types of damage: deconfigure key sequences, delete personal files, hijack private information, etc.
The remedy, then, was to acquire a computer antivirus, offered by various Business of commercial programming to guarantee the monitoring, cleaning and protection of the computers. In case of lack of them, the user ran risks damage to the system and also spreading the virus every time you copied a floppy disk or sent a email.
Currently there is a massive offer of services antivirus, essential given that we spend more and more time connected to the Internet, receiving and sending information to and from unknown computers.
What are computer antivirus for?
Today's antiviruses do more than just scan and disinfect a machine that has contracted a computer virus. They generally offer active monitoring services, to prevent full access of an infected document to the system, block websites insecure files and delete risky files as soon as they enter the computer. This is often called active protection.
On the other hand, computer antiviruses also deal with other pieces of unwanted software, such as spyware, malware or rootkits, and even hacking attempts. For this it has a firewall (remote connection blocking software) and a database definitions of viruses, which is a kind of encyclopedia of already known viruses.
Computer viruses
It was never said who was programming computer viruses, although numerous theories accuse antivirus companies themselves of creating the virus. trouble and then sell the solution. The truth is that these viruses acted as a terrorist attack: anonymously and based on their own logic.
The magnitude of its damage to the system or of the annoyance caused to the user varies, from the deletion of personal files to the sabotage of essential system processes. Currently, due to the rise of Internet services, viruses often pursue the hijacking of useful vital information, such as credit card numbers or Photographs intimate, when not administrative permissions to operate the computer remotely.
Types of computer antivirus
Various types of computer antivirus can be identified, according to their operation:
- Identification antivirus. Those that track active sequences associated with certain viruses, but are not very effective at dealing with unwanted software. They have the virtue of being very light, some run from the net.
- Decontaminating antivirus. Usually installed on the system like any other app softwareThese programs can be activated at will to check the entire contents of the computer for viruses. If there are, then they proceed to disinfection and, if not possible, to quarantine or deletion.
- Real-time protection antivirus. Those that provide constant protection to the system, without the need to carry out an exhaustive review, but by reviewing all incoming and outgoing files and connections. These antivirus programs are usually combined with decontamination functions.