What is Antivirus Software?

Antivirus software or antivirus programs are designed to identify, prevent, and remove malicious software (malware). Malware is any kind of program that does harm when run. Malicious software includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs.

The goal of antivirus software is to prevent this from happening. Antivirus software tries to identify malware, stop it from running on the computer, and undo its effects.

Antivirus software typically analyzes incoming files, blocking those that are recognized as malicious. It also performs scheduled scans of systems using definitions of known viruses. Read More