Why Antivirus Firewall Softwares Fail

Many small office and home office (SOHO) users complain that their installed antivirus firewall software is not really up to the task of protecting their systems from security threats. This is partially true since Trojans, viruses, worms, spyware, malware and adware are evolving at such a fast pace that vendors and developers of antivirus firewall software's are reduced to the role of catch up. A recent study shows that almost ten to thirty new viruses are launched everyday and only two to five are discovered in time for a cure. Variations of existing strains are not even accounted for here.

But before blaming the ineffectiveness of current antivirus software from protecting computer systems, it is but fair to consider other factors that reduce their potency.

Physical theft or attack on the computer hardware used is beyond the defensive capabilities of antivirus software. The world has yet to see antivirus firewall software that can protect a systems data and hardware at the same time. This would probably involve artificial intelligence which is beyond the scope of this article.

Another factor is neglecting to update the antivirus software's virus definition database. If there are sixty viruses floating in the internet and the computer system's antivirus definitions database only holds fifty patterns, then the computer systems is vulnerable to the ten viruses not included in the database.

Unlicensed antivirus firewall software is also one of the main reasons why antivirus engines fail. A lot of people think that they can save a significant amount by downloading illegal installations of this software packages. This results in antivirus firewall software that is either impaired or cannot update it virus definitions. Of course once this happens, the computer system is compromised to the new viruses that crop up everyday.

Finally there is plain human error. Some people just install their brand spanking new antivirus software and expect it to protect their systems. This is not always the case. There are settings that have to be set like how often should it update its database and what to scan. Sometimes users just forget to turn on the antivirus software. If your antivirus firewall software is turned off then it is like having no antivirus at all.

It is therefore safe to conclude that the effectiveness of antivirus software can be increased if the users are educated on what it can and cannot do. Like my grandmother always say: A car is only as good as its driver.

I hope this article has been informative and has given you more of an insight into antivirus firewall software. If you would like to learn more go to antivirus firewall software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dustin_Smyth

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