Understanding the Threat of Computer Viruses and How Antivirus Programs Protect Your System

A computer virus is a malicious software program that can replicate itself and infect other computers. It is designed to spread from one computer to another, causing harm to the system by corrupting files, stealing personal information, or causing other types of damage.

An antivirus program is a software designed to detect, prevent and remove viruses and other types of malware from a computer system. It works by scanning files and applications for suspicious behavior or code patterns, and removing any detected malware to protect the system from infection. Antivirus software can also provide additional features like firewall protection, web filtering, and email scanning to prevent malware from entering the system through different channels.

Antivirus programs use a variety of methods to detect and remove viruses, including signature-based detection, behavioral analysis, and heuristics-based analysis. Signature-based detection involves comparing the characteristics of a file or application to a database of known malware signatures, while behavioral analysis looks for unusual behavior patterns that may indicate the presence of malware. Heuristics-based analysis uses algorithms to identify and block new and unknown threats based on their behavior and other characteristics.

In summary, while a virus is a harmful software program designed to cause harm to a computer system, an antivirus program is designed to protect the system by detecting, preventing and removing such threats.