Best Free Antivirus Software for Windows
What are Zero-day Exploits?
No matter how obsessive you are with securing your network, there is still a risk posed by zero-day exploits. Knowing more about this dangerous malware will help you ramp up your network security and impose proactive measures against it, starting with using the best free antivirus software for Windows.
Defining Zero-day Exploits
Zero-day exploits refer to the flaws in hardware, software, or firmware that manufacturers are not aware of. The moment hackers discover this unpatched flaw and launch a cyberattack using it, the attack is called a zero-day exploit. It’s dubbed as “zero-day” because the flaw has yet to be patched by security professionals. Unfortunately, such attacks have a high chance of succeeding because the target remains defenseless unless the vulnerability is mitigated. This makes zero-day exploits a dangerous security threat to any organization, hence the need for the best free antivirus software for Windows.
Usual Targets
Typical zero-day exploit targets include government agencies, large businesses, and home users who use vulnerable systems. Other targets are individuals authorized to access intellectual property, firmware, hardware devices, and Internet of Things (IoT), and organizations, individuals, or countries, as targeted by some countries.
Dangers Posed by Zero-day Attacks
Hackers develop zero-day exploits to target specific vulnerabilities, which then compromise computer systems or trigger devices to perform unintended behaviors. If you don’t have the best free antivirus software for Windows, you likely have vulnerabilities to take advantage of. These weaknesses can only be addressed with a patch from the manufacturer. But until then, the malware will steal your data, gain control of your system, corrupt files, or access your contacts and spread the malware further by sending them messages.
Some zero-day exploits also involve installing spyware to snoop around your computer. These are the things that you can expect to happen if you don’t have the best free antivirus software for Windows with the latest patches.
How to Detect Vulnerabilities with Best Free Antivirus Software for Windows?
Conduct Vulnerability Scanning
To prevent a zero-day attack, you should be one step ahead of the hackers by conducting vulnerability scanning. This is a solution that can simulate attacks on your software code, review code, and try to find potential vulnerabilities that may have come with the latest software update.
Even this step does not fully guarantee that you find all zero-day exploits. For those that get detected, you should also check the results of the vulnerability scanning, conduct your own code review, and sanitize your code to prevent the attack.
Use Antivirus Software
Utilize of the best free antivirus software for Windows, such as Comodo Internet Security. This antivirus program runs suspicious, unknown executables in a sandbox to contain it away from your device, scans files against a long list of good and bad files with the help of its 85 million endpoints, and delivers a 100% verdict using its VirusScope behavioral analysis and human researchers.
Comodo offers the best free antivirus software for Windows because it operates with features such as anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, bot protection, anti-malware, certificate-based whitelisting, jailing protection, virus-free warranty, command-line analysis, host IPS, unlimited expert virus removal, and secure online banking and shopping. These features are among the reasons why you should install Comodo and enjoy the best free antivirus software for Windows and peace of mind.
Patch Management
Patch management also helps despite it not being a proactive measure. As soon as the best free antivirus software for Windows spot vulnerabilities, software upgrades and patches must be applied quickly. However, it might take time to deploy patches. Software developers may be delayed in detecting vulnerabilities, developing a patch, and distributing it to their users. The longer the delay, the higher the chances that a zero-day exploit will happen.
Use a web application firewall
The best free antivirus software for Windows can provide you this kind of firewall, which can help prevent zero-day exploits. This firewall checks incoming traffic and filters malicious ones that might look for weaknesses in your security. The process is called input validation, which makes up for the issues that patch management and vulnerability scanning cannot take care of.
Final Thoughts
You can prevent zero-day exploits if you use the best free antivirus software for Windows as your first line of defense. You can augment this layer of protection by installing software updates to prevent malware infection, which is often used by zero-day attack hackers.
For exceptional pc protection, use Comodo Internet Security. It safeguards your network and data against malicious programs and online threats. It also lets you work and transact online with confidence by keeping your browser safe.
