Antivirus (Anti-Malware)

Malware rarely arrives with a clear warning label. It may look like an ordinary attachment, a free download, a browser extension, a fake software update, or a file shared by someone the user trusts. That is one reason antivirus became such a familiar part of cybersecurity. It gives systems a way to examine software and activity for signs that something harmful is trying to get in or run.

Although the word antivirus sounds narrow, modern tools usually do much more than search for old-style computer viruses. They are built to deal with a wider range of threats such as trojans, worms, spyware, ransomware, and suspicious behavior that may indicate compromise. In everyday security, antivirus is often one of the first protective layers between users and malicious code.

Antivirus, or anti-malware, is security software designed to detect, block, quarantine, and remove malicious software. Modern products go beyond simple virus signatures by using behavior and heuristic analysis to catch a wider range of threats. Its real value comes from reducing the chance that malware can run freely on endpoints and from supporting broader incident detection and response.