19.-+Antivirus


 * Antivirus **

An antivirus is protective software designed to defend the computer against malicious software. Malicious software or "malware" includes: viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, hijackers, dialers, and other code that vandalizes or steals the computer contents. In order to be an effective defense, the antivirus software needs to run in the background at all times, and should be kept updated so it recognizes new versions of malicious software. Virus signatures are patterns that are matched by the antivirus software within communication layers. Most viruses do have patterns, but some don't. That is when the intelligent engine in the antivirus software takes over. Most antivirus software will offer to delete or contain the malicious code. The antivirus program runs in the random access memory (RAM or memory) of a computer. All communication from that computer is programmed to be monitored by the antivirus software, thus when malicious code is detected it is stopped before it can damage the computer.