subject: Even Antivirus Scanners Can't Protect From All Malware [print this page] Antivirus programs do their best to protect you from viruses, but they can't be there to protect you from all kinds of malignant programs that can slip into your system.
You need to take your computer's security into your own hands to defend against the likes of trojans, spyware, and the like! There are limitless parasitic, destructive software infections out there just waiting for a computer whose user takes its defense for granted.
While the irresponsible people who create viruss are driven to constantly innovate to test their own skills or simply to be destructive, antivirus companies in turn do their best to counter each new type of virus as it comes out. But as this war has grown more evolved, the virus and malware side of things has gotten a lot more sophisticated, and by now it can be pretty hard, if not impossible, to keep track of all the malware out there. While viruses were the start, malware has not grown and split into many distinct types.
Besides the virus, Wikipedia also lists worms, wabbits (named after the famous Bugs Bunny), trojans (named for the Trojan Horse myth), backdoors, spyware, exploits, rootkits, key loggers, dialers, and URL injections. Adware is often considered the twelfth form of malware, and is typical bundled with spyware. None of these are necessarily programmed poorly. In fact, they can be programmed quite well. The 'mal' part of 'malware' is in reference to their destructive nature ot your computer.
So, with all that to deal with, it's no wonder the antivirus software companies can often get overwhelmed. Many times they're placed in situations where they have to choose a priority system of what to protect against because they simply can't cover everything simultaneously. Adware in particular often gets off scot free because it is often less obviously damaging to computers. But that just makes it subtler, not better.
The antivirus industry is further complicated by more than just the diverse nature of the enemy. They need to identify any new malware as it pops up, which means that many computers have to be infected first. In that fashion, antivirus software is always doomed to playing catch up. Once positively identified, the malware has to be analyzed and thoroughly understand so a proper removal program can be created without the risk of damaging the original computer further. A 'cure' that is finally created, tested, and approved is then made available by being transferred to each computer that has the appropriate antivirus software.
So it's a pretty complicated process. The antivirus programmers are remarkably swift in their efforts given everything asked of them, but unfortunately malware programmers move just as fast. Even a few days can mean the difference between hundreds or thousands more computers infected. For those of you who don't automatically update your antivirus software regularly, that time window can grow into an even more drastic problem.
The purpose of being informed about these things isn't to scare you, but to teach you the value in protecting your computer. Don't rely on a single piece of software to keep your computer safe. Even antivirus people will admit that they can't cover every single base! Get, at the very least, two different kinds, and dedicated anti-spyware software along with antivirus software. Then you can be a little more secure in your hard drive's safety.
by: Graham McKenzie
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