Project Computer Viruses- What is a virus scanner?
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Simply stated, a virus scanner is a program that looks for computer viruses inside programs, searching methodically.
You'll notice that all virus scanners have a "Scan System" function or words to that effect. This, quite simply, performs the basic function of a virus scanner. It scans everything1, so prepare for a long wait if you have a large hard drive2. However, it is still wise to run this monthly, especially if you download files, especially programs, from the Internet.
No, this isn't that thing you get spammed3 about over email so much4. Scanners with a Background Checker simply scan every file before it lets you open it. No more, no less. Advantages are that you don't really need the Monthly Scan every month, and it's far more secure, especially if you love the Internet. However, your computer will slow down to a speed comparable to that of an arthritic armadillo with one leg and a truck tied to its tail. If you can stand the tripled or quadrupled file loading time, however, background checking is a good thing to leave on. Just make sure that any virus scanner you buy with background checking can have that disactivated, or else a Scandisk5 or Disk Defragment6 will never complete, due to "Disk Contents Changed, Restarting..." it can get somewhat frustrating.
"Screensaver Scanning" does not mean checking out all of your .SCR files to see if there's a virus in your screensaver. (That should actually be part of your monthly scan.) Screensaver scanning, or just the ScreenScan, runs part of a complete system scan while your screensaver is going. Not reccomended! It has a bad tendency to crash computers.
Most virus scanners let you check files as soon as they're downloaded, before anything can be run. It's pretty much a requirement.
Now that you know what a virus scanner does, here are some websites where you can obtain one.
If you get an error on any of the sites, PLEASE try them again, especially the third site- the Microsoft site. Microsoft is often overloaded, and you will get a standard browser error if it's out. Please wait a minute and try again before saying a link is broken; that goes for you too, Moderators.
Back to the index.
Jobs of a Virus Scanner
Monthly Scan
You'll notice that all virus scanners have a "Scan System" function or words to that effect. This, quite simply, performs the basic function of a virus scanner. It scans everything1, so prepare for a long wait if you have a large hard drive2. However, it is still wise to run this monthly, especially if you download files, especially programs, from the Internet.
Background Checker
No, this isn't that thing you get spammed3 about over email so much4. Scanners with a Background Checker simply scan every file before it lets you open it. No more, no less. Advantages are that you don't really need the Monthly Scan every month, and it's far more secure, especially if you love the Internet. However, your computer will slow down to a speed comparable to that of an arthritic armadillo with one leg and a truck tied to its tail. If you can stand the tripled or quadrupled file loading time, however, background checking is a good thing to leave on. Just make sure that any virus scanner you buy with background checking can have that disactivated, or else a Scandisk5 or Disk Defragment6 will never complete, due to "Disk Contents Changed, Restarting..." it can get somewhat frustrating.
Screensaver Scanning
"Screensaver Scanning" does not mean checking out all of your .SCR files to see if there's a virus in your screensaver. (That should actually be part of your monthly scan.) Screensaver scanning, or just the ScreenScan, runs part of a complete system scan while your screensaver is going. Not reccomended! It has a bad tendency to crash computers.
Download Diving
Most virus scanners let you check files as soon as they're downloaded, before anything can be run. It's pretty much a requirement.
Who ya' gonna call? Virus-Busters!
Now that you know what a virus scanner does, here are some websites where you can obtain one.
- www.mcafee.com- McAfee Personal Virus Scanner and McAfee Online
- www.symantec.com- Norton Anti-Virus Home
- Microsoft Knowledgebase: Anti-Virus Product Vendors List (more complete than the list in this article!)
- www.cert.org- not a virus scanner, but a knowledgebase of many computer viruses and how to prevent them
If you get an error on any of the sites, PLEASE try them again, especially the third site- the Microsoft site. Microsoft is often overloaded, and you will get a standard browser error if it's out. Please wait a minute and try again before saying a link is broken; that goes for you too, Moderators.
Back to the index.
1and I do mean EVERYTHING, if you really want to find viruses (viri is for human bodies, viruses is for computing.) Viruses are often hidden in non-program files.2Or even not that large. Running a scanner on "automatic quarantine" (which moves all files detected with viruses to a special folder, and does not pop up a dialog box), the author can go to bed and have it about 50% done when he wakes up six hours later on a 35 GB hard drive. Oh well, at least it really does catch stuff.3If you don't know what spamming is, then you obviously don't have email or have existed on the Internet for less than two days.4"FIND OUT ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE!" The author is so sick of that...5 If you don't know what Scandisk is and have never seen it run, you are either very lucky or very Linux.6See previous footnote.
