Anti-virus software

Anti-virus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware).

Related Topics:
Computer program - Computer virus - Malware

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Anti-virus software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this:

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• Examining (scanning) files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus dictionary
• Identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might indicate infection (This approach is called heuristic anaylasis and is different from the relatively new behavioral anaylasis used by Panda Software. Such anaylasis may include data captures, port monitoring and other methods. NOD32 uses a limited version of this, monitoring LSPS to detect spyware.

Most commercial anti-virus software uses both of these approaches, with an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach.

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Anti-virus software: Approaches to virus detection ►