One method used is known as malicious activity detection. The antivirus software keeps tabs on the entire computer system. If there is any type of abnormal behaviour from any program, the software may begin monitoring it using another of these methods that will be mentioned later in this article.
Another method and perhaps the most well used is signature based detection. The anti-virus software contains a dictionary of the various signatures used by malicious computer viruses. What the software does is scan file contents. Then a comparison is made between those contents and the known virus signatures. When a match is made then the virus is detected.
A third approach is known as file analysis. With this method the antivirus software looks for files that have instructions contained within them that are similar to viruses. There are some drawbacks to this approach. In order for this method to work on your computer, the antivirus software must draw upon a significant amount of computer's resources. This makes it difficult to do other activities when the software is running. This method also works well to identify new viruses and their offshoots. Like other methods, on occasion certain files are earmarked as malicious when they are not.
File emulation is another manner in which antivirus software detects virus infection. What occurs with this approach is that a program is run and the software monitors the actions of the software. Based upon these actions, the antivirus software can determine if the program is safe to your computer or if it is malicious and should be removed. This method has some disadvantages. Occasionally, sometimes the antivirus software can incorrectly mark a program as a virus when in fact it is not.
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