Antivirus program

Antivirus program is a software that detects and removes malicious software which attack other programs in a computer, thereby securing the system from harmful viruses or malware. National institute of standards and technology (NIST) defines Antivirus software in it's special publication of Guide to Malware Incident Prevention and Handling for Desktops and Laptops as "A program that monitors a computer or network to identify all major types of malware and prevent or contain malware incidents". An antivirus program is designed to protect your computer from virus infections. Since most viruses are designed to run in the background, most users do not know when their computer is infected. Virus protection programs serve to search for, detect, and remove these viruses. Antivirus programs must be kept up-to-date in order for them to be able to detect new viruses.