A well-designed antivirus program helps prevent malware infections and eliminates existing threats or attacks on singular computer systems, networks, or entire IT systems. The software scans websites, files, downloaded software and user data for malware types that are known to exist. They also monitor program behavior to detect potential threats.

The majority of antivirus protections provide multiple scanning methods, including on-access, scheduled and quick scans. On-access scans look for malware in directories of the operating system, the common file areas, and other common locations on startup. Scheduled scans allow you to set a daily schedule, a week-long schedule or a monthly one to run a full system scan at a specific time. Fast scans typically last for about a minute or so and focus on commonly used areas of your computer, including temporary files or the directory of your operating system.

Some programs use heuristics in order to scan for malware, looking for similar tendencies and patterns. This is a more advanced form of virus detection when compared to signature-based detection, and can detect malware that other Go Here programs fail to recognize. 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 is becoming more interconnected hackers are targeting businesses with more frequency to snag caches of consumer information or to make their name through hacktivism (disrupting professional systems for social or political reasons). Every business should have antivirus security in place to safeguard them from cyberattacks.