The answer to this simple question can be stated as a politically correct, “Yes, to maintain computer’s health”. While some may be disagree with it, I consider it to be the simplest of the ways to keep a check on computer’s performance and saving for a sudden crash. With the increase in identity theft, malicious software and data stealing from the computer when your laptop is connected to internet; the need of installing an AVS has become a necessity. Imagine some spy sitting quietly in your laptop and saving all of your passwords and other private data. They would later be used for online shopping by some guy in other part of the world. To prevent such malicious activities and saving the data and other things, an AV is surely a worth investment.
There are two types of detections based on which an Anti-virus works: Signature-Based and Heuristic-Based. Signature-based AV has a virus dictionary and suspects any virus from that catalogue. This is an old method of detecting a virus and it needs a constant updation of the dictionary. The new viruses have started writing oligomorphic, polymorphic and metamorphic viruses, so that they can’t be detected by matching any virus signatures. Therefore, the sophisticated software has started using a Heuristic-based approach. In this approach the software checks out the behavior of the computer program and match any characteristic of a malware.
This is to prevent the computer from malwares which mutate over a period of time and thus can spread over the computer. It will notify the users if certain program does not work as it should and thus can be detected. Then there is Rootkit Malware, which attempts to gain administrative control of the computer system and thus will require re-installation of the OS itself. There is AV to keep a track of it. Most of the AV will provide a real time protection, monitoring computer system for any unwanted activity like spyware, viruses and other such things from attacking the system. They will always run in background and check for viruses even while checking mail or running a CD.
The need for installing an anti-virus is extremely important, even if you are just checking your emails or visiting legitimate sites. It is not always ‘bad sites’ that allows an access to virus, but even a use of search engine could compromise the security of the computer. It is not only Windows that is vulnerable to virus attacks, but products like Adobe Reader and Flash or Microsoft Office which can be easily corrupted by malwares.
To keep your OS secure, keep updating your OS and be regular in taking backups. Widows 7 have an option to take a full image backup, thus will secure you from losing any important data. Also, always beware of installing any new software. You may think the new software is trustworthy but a malware might be hidden in it. Thus if you have a real time anti-virus installed on the PC it will prevent installing any such software. It is also necessary to keep updating the anti-virus program time-to-time.
This guest article is written by Ilya Elbert who is an expert in computer repair.