Security is undoubtedly a very important factor on the
Internet. There are many threats that are present on the network. Fortunately,
there are also many tools that we can use to protect ourselves. Today we are
going to talk about it, differentiating two that are widely used. We are going
to explain what are the differences between antivirus and
antimalware. We are going to talk about how each option protects us and under
what circumstances we have to use them.
Differences
Between Antivirus and Antimalware
When we choose to protect our systems we can make use of
different tools. Two clear examples are antivirus and
antimalware. This is something that must be applied regardless of the type of
operating system we are using or the device we have.
Now, we must bear in mind that not just any tool will
always protect us for what we need. We can basically compare it with medicines.
All medicines serve to heal us, just as vaccines prevent diseases. But of
course, does any medicine cure us of everything? There is the question. The
same happens with antivirus and antimalware and you have to know how to
differentiate them.
To understand the differences, we first have to know what a
virus is and what malware is. This way we will know what each tool really works
for. These are two terms that sometimes confuse users. On the one hand we have
viruses, which are programs created to make a system not work properly. They
can multiply, change their characteristics, hide. On the other hand we have
malware, which is all malicious software. It can have much more functionality
than viruses. For example, it can steal passwords, distribute Spam, be
programmed to steal information, etc.
How
an Antivirus and Antimalware Works?
If we start with antivirus we can say
that their main function is to prevent the entry of viruses. What it does is
make it difficult for these threats to enter. It's like giving our team a
vaccine to prevent it from getting infected.
On the other hand, antimalware software acts more
specifically with the malware that is already inside. Scans for malicious files
and software that shouldn't be there. If it detects something, it sends it to a
quarantine area where it cannot infect other functions, and then deletes it.
Keep in mind that today we have security solutions that act
in a hybrid way. In other words, they can act as an antivirus preventing the
entry of these types of threats, but also as antimalware.
In short, an antivirus has the main
function of detecting viruses and preventing their entry. In principle we can
have tools of this type without the ability to eliminate them. On the other
hand, antimalware's main objective is to eliminate these threats.
Therefore, these differences must be taken into account
when we want to correctly protect our system. There are many types of threats
on the network but we also have many solutions to protect ourselves. There are
both free and paid antivirus and antimalware. It is a matter of choosing the
one that best suits what interests us and always keeping it updated.
Comments
Post a Comment