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Hacking has evolved into a billion-dollar growth business, making hackers relentless in their pursuit to exploit your data. And while antivirus programs can stop hackers, it is important to note that, much like the use of vaccines against biological viruses, no antivirus (AV) software is 100% foolproof. Nevertheless, antivirus software is highly effective at reducing your chances of becoming the next victim of a cyber attack. In fact, antivirus programs are able to effectively dispatch with most digital attacks on computers.

Antivirus software works by immunizing your computer against unauthorized software or coding that can threaten your operating system and data, and the better your antivirus software, the more secure your data. However, not all antivirus software is created equally. The more powerful antivirus packages detect threats in real-time and protect against existing and zero-day threats as well as malware, spyware, ransomware and more. Also, in order to ensure that your antivirus program can stop hackers, it must be updated regularly. Some of the more advanced AV software provide automatic updates.

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When the antivirus software scans your files and emails, it is looking for viruses and it will delete or quarantine anything that looks like a threat. Known cyber threats can be identified by the AV program because it checks all the files and programs on your computer against a database of known threats. Zero-day threats, or threats that have never been encountered before, on the other hand, are identified using behavior-based detection techniques. This type of detection scans your computer for deviations from the norm and is able to determine whether those deviations represent a threat. In other words, it detects when behavior goes outside an acceptable range. For example, an AV would look at the behavior of a program and if it noticed the program trying to access certain files or registry entry that it wouldn’t normally try to access, the AV will flag the program as a cybersecurity threat.

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Antivirus software is indeed the best way there is to protect yourself from hackers, but it is not the only way, and most cybersecurity experts recommend a multi-layer approach to protect your data. A multi-layered approach includes the following:

1.  A firewall for preventing unauthorized access to or from a network
2.  Encryption capabilities so that even if hackers can access your data, it is encrypted rendering it useless to them
3.  Automatic updates and patches of all your cybersecurity software
4.  A password manager to generate and keep track of long, complicated passwords, which provide greater security from hackers
5.  Data loss prevention software (DLP), which can detect when sensitive data such as bank information is leaving your system and going out over the Internet.

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To answer the question, ‘can antivirus software remove viruses’, we should first examine what antivirus software is, as well as its function. A short answer to this inquiry is that antivirus software is a program designed to prevent, detect, and remove, yes remove, different types of malware including viruses, which are also a type of malware. The more complete answer, however, explains how these objectives are achieved. Let’s take a look:

**Prevention** – Antivirus software (AV) works by monitoring your computer for potential threats in real-time to guard against vulnerabilities as they happen. This allows the AV software to automatically quarantine suspected malware before it damages your data and PC. Most AV software will notify you when it quarantines a potential threat. 

**Detection** – Today’s antivirus software rely on several detection methods. The most widely used method is signature-based detection. Signature-based detection uses a database of stored virus signatures and the AV software compares those signatures to the signatures of files and programs on the user’s PC. Virus signatures are unique strings of data that are characteristic of known malware, so when the AV scans a user’s PC and detects one of these signatures, the file or program with the malware signature is deemed a threat. Because signature-based detection relies on a database of virus signatures, the success of this detection process requires that the signature database be extensive and regularly updated so that it contains the latest signatures. In addition, the AV software itself must be regularly updated to make sure it is always using the latest signature database. Signature-based detection, however, cannot detect unknown and emerging threats, which is why AV software today employ several malware detection methods. One such method is behavior-based detection, which analyzes an object’s behavior for suspicious or anomalous activities or behaviors. Another method is heuristic-based detection, which uses rules or algorithms to search for commands that might indicate malicious intent. Behavior-based and heuristics-based detection methods complement the signature-based method because together, they make it possible for the AV software to detect known malware as well as malware that hasn’t yet been discovered.

**Removal** – Many antivirus software programs will remove malware automatically without notifying the user, while other programs will notify users about a threat and ask them if they want to remove or quarantine the file with the malicious code. Note, however, that while some malware are quickly dispensed with by AV software, there are some malware infections, such as rootkits, that require more effort and are more complicated to remove. For this reason, subscription-based AV software, which typically has more advanced antivirus features than free versions, is often recommended for more comprehensive protection.

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#Malicious software

Can Antivirus Programs Stop Hackers?

Can Antivirus Remove Virus?

Can antivirus detect malware?

Will antivirus software remove existing viruses?