How To Detect If An Antivirus Is Fake?

 

How To Detect If An Antivirus Is Fake?

What is an antivirus?

It seems pretty simple and easy to tell what  antivirus is . Who has not yet heard of this type of software, its importance, and why it must always be updated, etc, etc? Here you will find a lot of information related to antivirus, to help you better understands this type of software and how they work. 

Antivirus is a program that helps protect your computer against most viruses, worms, Trojans, and other unwanted invaders  that can infect your computer. Among the main damages that these programs can cause are: the loss of microprocessor performance, deletion of files, data alteration, confidential information exposed to unauthorized persons and the uninstallation of the operating system.

Over the years,  viruses, malware and other threats that threaten us every time we access the Internet or connect an unknown pendrive to our computer,  have progressed to a level where they are practically undetectable. Also the ways in which they are introduced into our computers is increasingly sophisticated and treacherous.

Hardly a user who uses the Windows operating system, any of its versions, has not used any antivirus software on his computer, at least once in his life. We are not saying that only Windows is conducive to malware,  but because it is the most widely used operating system in the world, it is the target of choice for creators of digital pests . This is because crackers  always try to reach as many users as possible.

Normally, Antiviruses monitor virus activities in real time  and make periodic checks, or according to the user's request, seeking to detect and then  delete or remove viruses from the computer. Today's Antiviruses have  specific vaccines for tens of thousands of known virtual pests , and thanks to the way they monitor the system, they can detect and eliminate viruses, worms and Trojans before they infect the system.

These programs identify viruses based on "signatures" , identifiable patterns in files and  computer behavior, or unauthorized alterations in certain files and areas of the system or hard disk. Antivirus must be updated frequently, as with so many malicious code being discovered every day, products can quickly become obsolete. Some antivirus can be configured to update automatically. In this case, it is advisable that this option is enabled.

DETECTION OF FAKE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

Just as we need the installation of an antivirus program to be able to protect our computer, tablet or smartphone from possible attacks, it is also important to bear in mind that we cannot install any software that appears as an antivirus, since in many cases there are malicious programs that pretend to be antivirus to infect our computer.

For this reason, it is always good to take into account some guidelines that allow us to determine if an antivirus software is really what it claims to be, or if it is a malicious program that will install a virus on our computer and cause damage that can even come to represent the loss of information stored in the PC.

In this sense, we must consider some issues that can generate suspicions that we find ourselves facing a virus that pretends to be an antivirus. One of the main things to keep in mind is to avoid downloading antivirus software from unofficial sites.

Today there are hundreds and hundreds of program download sites that offer us access to quality software completely free of charge, and in many cases when we believe that we are downloading and installing an antivirus, it is possible that it is actually malicious software .

Therefore, what is always recommended is to download the antivirus software from the official website of the program's manufacturer, and of course that this software is widely known and prestigious among users around the world.

This is undoubtedly one of the aspects that we must always take into account when choosing the antivirus that we are going to install on our computer, but there are also a series of guidelines that can tell us when an antivirus is false. Here are some of the most frequent tracks:

·         Rogue antivirus software usually does not offer a trial period.

·         Rogue antivirus software may install itself, automatically through our approval.

·   Fake antivirus software can simulate our computer's operating system through pop-up windows.

·         Rogue antivirus software usually doesn't include an easy way for us to uninstall it. It may not directly include such an option.

·         The fake antivirus software will usually ask us for immediate payment in order to use it.

Fake antivirus software usually finds hundreds of viruses on our computer, and immediately shows us urgent messages so that we pay what they ask for and thus be able to start cleaning.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that there is a type of fake antivirus software known by the name of scareware , which broadly consists of software that will show us pop-up windows in which we will be informed that our computer is being infected and attacked by a virus .

Therefore, the message will inform us that to eliminate the supposed virus we must pay the corresponding money that the tool costs that will allow us to eliminate the virus that attacks us.