When choosing an antivirus program for your home or workplace, you should consider more than the rate of detection of a product in controlled tests. You should also make sure it is able to recognize new viruses and other malware. The virus writers are always trying to find ways to defeat antivirus software. They create viruses that disable them, hide from detection methods, or even bypass the antivirus software itself.

One of the earliest types of antivirus software worked by comparing files that came into devices against their database of known malware signatures. This is a form of signature detection and works well with older malware, but the issue is that virus authors can create signatures for different types of viruses at any moment and the antivirus security is always playing catch-up.

Modern versions of antivirus software use the heuristic detection method to identify potential threats. Instead of focusing on exact matches, heuristics examine patterns in files and programs to see whether they are similar to those of known malware. This http://webroot-reviews.com/what-are-the-potential-profits-of-data-room-software-for-private-equity-firms/ method has been enhanced by a method of behavior-based detection, which analyzes the way the program or file behaves to try to determine if it is malicious.

Some viruses attempt to take down anti-virus software by hiding, preventing access to the antivirus program’s updates system, or destroying code or library files needed for an antivirus scanner to function. Some viruses are more sophisticated and directly alter or disable components of the antivirus software. These viruses are becoming more popular and include features such as the worm component that can be transmitted from one computer to another.