The main functions of anti-viruses:

• Malware protection;
• Prevent hacker attacks;
• Checks files on PCs and flash drives;
• Check sites for security;
• Restore infected objects;
• Blocking unwanted content.

With Antivirus, the user can easily and quickly check system performance, detect and cure files corrupted by malware.

While browsing the Internet, the antivirus program will warn you of the dangers of going to infected sites and protect you from intrusive pop-ups.

Antivirus prevents hacker attacks and attempts by intruders to steal confidential information, bank card numbers and passwords. These are just the basic functions of antiviruses. If necessary, the user can take advantage of advanced versions of the protection software.

Additional anti-virus features:

• Blocking unsolicited emails;
• Blocking phishing emails sent for the purpose of identity theft;
• Setting up information filters to limit children’s access to certain sites;
• Parental controls or limiting children’s Internet time.

How many antiviruses should I install on my computer?

Installing one antivirus is enough to keep your computer safe. Several such programs can interfere with each other and cause operating system malfunctions.

Many manufacturers offer free trial versions of antivirus programs with a certain period of validity from 30 to 90 days. Users can use these to evaluate the work of a protection program.

There are free versions of antiviruses, which, unlike their full counterparts, do not work all the time and scan the system only after the user starts.

What devices support Antivirus?

Antivirus programs are provided not only for personal computers, but also for tablets and smartphones, because these devices are also exposed to viruses and need to be protected against them.

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Viruses

A program that can work covertly in a system, causing a certain kind of damage to the computer and user data. The main feature of a virus is its ability to reproduce itself and spread its copies on the system, local networks and the Internet.

Worms

A program that damages a system by mass distribution of copies, causing the computer to become littered and thus preventing normal operation. The classic worm is said to be incapable of infiltrating normal programs and destroying them.

Trojan horses, Trojans, Trojan programs

A Trojan masquerades as a normal program – hence the name. The moment an application disguised as a Trojan starts to run, various malicious algorithms are launched: data theft, deletion of files, modification of certain elements of useful macros. The Trojan is incapable of self-replication.

Spyware

Spyware is designed to collect sensitive user information: passcards, logins, passwords, pin codes, addresses, phone numbers.

Keyloggers

Keyloggers log all keystrokes and secretly transmit them to the remote server, where the hacker can analyze the information and find vulnerabilities. Find out the secret credit card codes and withdraw money from the bank account, for example.

Zombie Program

A program for remote, unauthorized control of a computer. It is used most often to organize massive Ddos hacker attacks. In this case, the owner may not even notice the extraneous activity, because the computer itself is not harmed. Only the consumption of Internet traffic increases.

Rootkits

Special algorithms that intrude into system folders or the registry, masking themselves as “normal” processes. Specific actions can be in a wide range of tasks, data theft, file corruption, keylogging, and so on.

Phishing

The most popular method is via an invitation to visit a famous site, following a link in an email message: “Your account at Odnoklassniki has been compromised. Go to the site and change your passwords”. The user ends up on a fake resource, exactly like the original site. He enters a password and login to sign in to his account. After that everything is clear – criminals got the registration data and can do whatever they want.

Ransomware banners

A banner blocks all the work of the computer, the keys and the mouse stop responding. Usually, the banner threatens to completely destroy the operating system and even the BIOS after a while, unless the owner has transferred a certain amount of money to a specified mobile account.

Exploits

A virus exploit searches for vulnerabilities in the system or applications and then tries to change the settings and control processes according to the algorithm set by the hacker. The computer stops listening to its owner and becomes a puppet in the hands of attackers. The computer is “exploited” by the intruder. Is that scary enough already? Or can we go on and on, almost to the point of a full-blown doctoral dissertation. There are enough cyberthreats to make you wonder: how to protect yourself and your computer from cybervillains?

To summarize

There are a large number of viruses, different in their purpose, but they all have one thing in common – they are harmful to our computer. In today’s world, most people already know what an antivirus is, so the first thing every user should do when installing a computer is to download an antivirus to keep their computer, tablet or phone safe; and sleep well.

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Antiviruses

Suppose you have just installed a new Windows on your computer. What program do you think you should download first? Of course it is antivirus. Your system is completely clean and vulnerable to viruses, which you can catch by installing other programs or just surfing the Internet without it.

Browsers

So, we have already installed the protection, now we can start downloading other programs. To work on the Internet we use a special program – a browser.

By default, in the Windows operating system, which is the most popular OS, initially the main browser is not unknown Internet Explorer (which is jokingly called the browser to install browsers) and a newer version of Microsoft Edge, which appeared with the release of Windows 10.

If you are a Windows 10 user, in principle, you can try Microsoft’s Edge browser, since it is based on the Chromium engine and has nothing in common with its predecessor.

Drivers

So, protection and comfort on the Internet is set. Now we can install drivers for the system to activate all the features of our computer, such as video card, processor, sound card, etc.

In the past, installing drivers involved a whole ritual and took a lot of time, because we had to install each driver separately for each component of the PC using disks, today – everything is much easier. Today’s utilities are able to detect all the drivers you need for your computer or laptop configuration – and install them automatically.

Programs for communication

In today’s world, almost no one uses texting anymore, because there are free applications – messengers that instantly deliver your messages to the person you are talking to, and it only requires an Internet connection. In addition to trivial texting, you can make audio or video calls, join communities, receive notifications, and much more.

Movie and music players

Of course, by default, Windows or Mac OS has a built-in media player that provides all the standard features you need for basic viewing of audio or video content. But the basic player does not support some special formats of video files, so many users resort to downloading specialized media players that contain all the necessary codecs and functions.

Word editors

If your work somehow involves viewing or writing text information, you just need to install a handy text editor, because reading huge texts in Notepad is very uncomfortable. Often text editors are part of a collection of programs – an office suite that includes other applications for working with content, such as: spreadsheet editors, database editors or programs for creating presentations.

Archivators

Another useful utility on your computer can be a program for compressing files and folders – the archiver. Of course, modern hard drives allow you to store terabytes of information, and perhaps reducing the size of the occupied space is not so relevant anymore, but you can still meet zipped data on the Internet, which will need to be unpacked when downloading. That is when you will need it.

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