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Virus scan is part and parcel of a antivirus software, it scans a hard drive to detect malicious software in a computing device. Simply put, the goal-directed nature of a virus scanner software is to review and identify threats from viruses and programs.
How does Virus Scan work?
Anti virus scanner works in a very traditional way, it uses a database called a virus dictionary which has lots of codes from different known viruses. When anti-virus scans a file, it will take a snippet of that code and compare it with the codes in their virus dictionary, if the files match then the virus attack on a computer is confirmed. In simple words, the entire scan and detection process relies on the repository (virus dictionary/signature) of known viruses. A robust virus scanner is more capable of tracking down Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Spyware and Malware software often circulated by Cyber criminals for their personal gains. When an intruder is identified to exist in the system files, the virus scanner secures the computer by blocking all activities of the virus.
Virus Scanner and Repository
Often, these malicious programs seem to come from legitimate sources and their malicious intentions stay hidden. The virus dictionary or repository plays the key role in identifying the malicious software. It could be anything such as the virus, worm or malware and this could be one of the vital reason to why that many of the virus scanners today never rely on single malware strain.
Rather, the signature offers an incredible opportunity to cross-check against a wide range of already detected files that contain code into which the malicious features are embedded. This procedure is known as heuristics.
After identifying the infecting virus on the computer, the whole list of affected files can be short-listed and usually the number of infected files are huge.
Virus Scanner Updates – How Often Should I Do it?
Generally, anti virus analysts keep updating the virus signature frequently. There are no defined dates for checking on updates, do it as and when it possible. In simple, a usual update increases the number of known viruses on file. Few anti virus software carries out automatic signature updates. For example, Comodo anti virus scanner software automatically updates when connected to the internet.
What happens when a Virus Scanner Identifies a Cyber Threat?
When a virus scanner successfully detects a virus or malware threat, it either deletes it, moves it to quarantine, or disinfects it. The anti virus program disinfects the affected files and restores to its former shape and later, the files are moved to the original position. When it is not possible to remove the infection, the file is put in quarantine. This prevents any further damage and infected files can still be tried to restoring to normal. The purpose of quarantining an infected file is to eliminate the risks posed to your computer.
Switching of The Virus Scanner
As a predefined configuration, the Comodo anti virus software is bound to automatically check for software and Antivirus database updates.
Turn off Automated Software Updates:
- Click the ‘More’ button from the top navigation and click ‘Preferences’ link from the ‘More’ Tasks interface.
- Click ‘General’ tab from the ‘Preferences’ interface.
- Deselect the checkbox ‘Automatically check for program updates’.
Turn off Automatic Virus Database Updates:
- Click the ‘Antivirus’ button from the top navigation and click ‘Scanner Settings’ from the Antivirus Tasks interface.
- Click the ‘Real Time Scanning’ tab from the ‘Scanner Settings’ interface.
- Deselect the checkbox ‘Automatically update virus database’.
