Types of Antivirus Software
Apart from the detection methods explained above, the types of scans an antivirus offers are an equal measure of how successful it is.
- On-Demand Scan: The term ‘On-demand’ scanning itself means that this feature either runs when the user wants to scan his computer on suspecting any abnormal behavior or the user schedules it to run at a specified time.
- Real-Time Protection: Almost all modern antivirus programs offer this type of automatic protection that runs in the background thereby increasing chances of catching malware before it does damage. Thus, these types of scans are also known as ‘background guards’. It monitors the system for any suspicious activity in real time while data is loaded into the active memory. For example, when a USB drive is inserted or a downloaded file is executed.
- Smart Scans: Under Smart Scans, an antivirus only scans the selected files that are more likely to be infected. This type of scanning lowers the need for system resources while protecting against the more common types of viruses, threats, and risks.
- Spyware Scanners: These scan and remove spyware, which is software that may have been installed on your machine without your knowledge to collect data.
- ML Antivirus: Machine Learning Antivirus uses machine learning to identify threats. Its ability to learn from previous experiences makes it an effective barrier against unfamiliar infections.
- Database Antivirus: Uses a database of known dangers to search for, identify, and address threats.
- Malware Removers: Rather than preventing malware from entering your system, these are intended to remove existing malware.
- Email Antivirus: Email Antivirus is primarily used to scan and prevent the spread of malware via email.
- Heuristic Antivirus: Identifies undiscovered viruses by inspecting code for suspicious traits.
How an Antivirus Works?
A virus can destroy our data and affect our computer’s performance by slowing it down. A virus can communicate our sensitive data back to someone else or allow someone to remotely access our computer and utilize it for their reasons. In this situation, antivirus comes into play, antivirus is software that prevents computers from viruses and any kind of malicious software.