“Am I well protected by the antivirus product that I just chose?” This is the most common question that lingers in the mind of almost every security-cautious PC user when first installing an antivirus solution, whether it’s free or purchased. Almost every commercially available antivirus program today boasts that it will protect you from any and all malware. However, the reality is no two security products are created equal and there are similarities and important differences among antivirus software when it comes to evaluating the level of sufficiency and effectiveness of protection. This article shows you what to look for and how to tell if your antivirus software provides you enough protection.
Known or Unknown
There two types of malware: Known and Unknown.
- A Known virus is a piece of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the past four weeks. Detection of known viruses is relatively trivial because for the past decade or so, the antivirus industry has evolved into a “coopetition” landscape (in other words, a coexistence of cooperation and competition), through which security researchers and solution providers proactively and voluntarily share discovery of new virus samples with absolutely secure measures.
- An Unknown virus, better known as a zero-day attack, is a threat that exploits an unknown computer security vulnerability.
