We all know about anti-virus software these days. I guess you have read my comparative study on anti-virus software too. If in case you haven't, here it is. While writing on that article I realized I have been rather superficial on the most important part of an anti-virus column and that is not WHAT cures the disease. Its about HOW they do it. Today let's find out how they actually work.

After a lot of study, I came to know about mainly four different algorithms used by today's anti-virus software to detect viruses:

  1. Generic Scanning Technique
  2. Integrity Checking Technique
  3. Heuristic Search Scanning
  4. Interception technique

None of them are individually perfect. However in combination they often prove to be a formidable opponent to any current viruses, trojans and more. Moreover some of the techniques also protect your computer against future viruses.

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