Types Of Antivirus

What are the different types of antivirus? An antivirus is software that is used to eliminate or contain virus software. The main job of the antivirus software is to identify, prevent and remove viruses or malware from a computer or a gadget. Given that there are many types of computer virus, there have also been many types of antivirus software that has been introduced and being introduced until present.

The most common types of antivirus software are the signature based detection antivirus. These are the antivirus software that works best in detecting the virus on their onset. You see, each virus that has been created has its own digital signature. A digital signature is a code that specifically identifies as certain virus. In humans, a digital signature is equivalent to a birthmark. When the antivirus software is updated, it downloads the digital signature of the new viruses that are created. This way, when this certain digital signature is found, then they kill the virus or let you know that they have found it.

Another one of the types of antivirus is called heuristics. These are the antivirus software that protects computers and devices from new and yet to be known malware. As the name implies, heuristics algorithms are used to detect these viruses and malware. Much like the signature based detection antivirus software, the heuristic types of antivirus also looks for the digital signatures of the viruses to detect them. However, there is no need to update for this to take place. The antivirus software checks their virus databases to find the viruses that harm your computer.

The third types of antivirus software are called rootkit detection. These are the types of antivirus that are most offensive and nasty to malware. The types of malware and viruses that this antivirus software affects are those that are able to evade the signature based detection antivirus as well as the heuristics. They affect the malware and viruses that target the operating system. They are the antivirus software that targets the viruses and malware that makes an operating system inoperable.

Lastly, we have real time protection antivirus. As the name implies, these are the types of antivirus software that brings real time protection. These are the antivirus software that needs not to be executed as they are automatically turned on when your computer system is turned on. This way, when a certain virus or malware enters the system, the antivirus program will detect them and do not allow them to get into the system. Also, if they are updated and they see that there is the certain virus already in the system, they quarantine the virus or malware and update the user. This way, the user can decide whether or not the virus should be cured and whether the affected files can be deleted to avoid further contamination.

There are many other types of antivirus programs. This is mainly because up to date, there are new viruses that are being created and are threatening your computer system. Just make sure that you have antivirus software installed so you have firsthand protection from these harmful pieces of code.