What is the functionality of antivirus software?

Antivirus software can identify and block many viruses before they can infect our computer. Antivirus software scans files or computers memory for certain patterns that may indicate an infection. Many antivirus packages include an option to automatically receive updating virus definition.

It is also a good idea to manually scan files; we receive from an outside source before opening them. This includes the following:

a) Saving and scanning E-mail attachment rather than selecting the option to open them directly from source.

b) Scanning media including CD and DVD for virus before opening any other file.