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.