A good antivirus program prevents malware infections and eliminates existing threats and attacks on individual computer systems, networks, or entire IT systems. The software scans files, websites, installed software as well as user data for malware types that are known to exist. They also monitor the program’s behaviour to identify possible threats.
Most antivirus protections offer a variety of scanning methods such as scheduled, quick and on-access scans. On-access scans examine directories of the operating system and common file areas to look for malicious code on launch. Scheduled scans let you create a daily schedule, a week-long schedule or a monthly schedule to run a full system scan at a specified time. Fast scans typically last for only a few seconds and will look at the most frequently used areas of your computer, such as temporary files or the directory of your operating system.
Some programs use heuristics to detect malware, searching for similar patterns and tendencies. This is a more advanced form of virus detection compared to signature-based security and can detect malware that other programs can’t. These advanced forms of antivirus detection may not work as well for small businesses, as they are often prone to false positives–identifying secure parts of files and programs as potentially harmful.
As the world of business becomes increasingly interconnected hackers are focusing on businesses more frequently to steal consumer data or to create their name through hacktivism (disrupting professional systems for social or political reasons). All businesses should have antivirus protection to guard them from cyberattacks.