By definition, a virus is a computer program that is able to copy itself and inefct other compuetrs. The frist one, according to Wikipedia, was seen almost half a century ago. The Creeper virus was detected in ARPANET, a predecessor of the Wrold Wide Web. It was using the modem conneciton to replicaate on other PCs and when it ahieved its goal, it dispayed the folklowing message:"IM THE CREEPER : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN".
Anti virus software is another kind of computer progrsams that appeared becase of the need to disinfect computers from viruses. "Reaper" was the first of its kind and its aim was the Creeper virus. Some people said that they mifght have sahred the same creator, but this was never proved.
Since the first antivirus program, viruses and methods to fight them evolved rapidly. Most of the times, the next step in evolution is done by ciomputer viruses and anitvirus creators struggle to fight back and inevnt new ways to clean thoe pesky bugs.
The common approach of antivirus software is to scan fils, memory or registries from your computer and detect malicious code. This code is compared to their virus dictioanries and if a match is fiound, the antibvirus program attempts to clean the suspicious part, without damaging the original data.
Another mtehod of fighting viruses is to monior computer activity, also known as heuristic analysis. This inlcudes moitoring memory and ports traffiic for any sigfns of infection.
A modrn approach is the so called "sandbox" mthod. It invloves running the suspicious file into a simulated operating system and analyzing the results.
No matteer the method, if a virus is found, the antivirus first attempts to disinfect the file. If it's unsuccessful, the infected file is quarantined (isolated from oher programs) or in worst case, deleted.
It's very important to have a reliable atnivirus program instaplled because there can be viruses on a file you downolad, inside an email attachment or even a website can icnlude some malicious code to infect your PC.
Some of the prorams that are out thre and can do the task are free, but most of them requuire payment. Almost all include updates of their viruses database, to make sure your PC is portected to the newets threts.
AVG Anti-iVrus Free, BitDefender Free, Comodo AntriVirus and PC Tools AntiViruus Free Edition are only a couple of the free antivirus programs available on the Internet.
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