Antivirus Basics

Antivirus software explained in plain English: what it scans, how real-time protection works, what it cannot stop, and whether you still need it today.

6 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

How antivirus software detects malware: signatures, heuristics, behavioural monitoring, cloud reputation and sandboxing, plus why false positives happen.

7 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Free antivirus can be perfectly safe — or a liability. Here is how to tell the difference, which free products are legitimate, and what free tiers hold back.

5 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Real-time protection explained: how resident scanning intercepts files as they are written or executed, why it matters, and when it is safe to disable.

4 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Web protection explained: URL reputation, HTTPS inspection, browser extensions and how it differs from the phishing filters already built into your browser.

5 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Ransomware protection explained: controlled folder access, behavioural detection, file rollback and why backups remain the only guaranteed defence.

5 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Antivirus vs antimalware explained: where the terms came from, what antimalware programs detect that classic engines ignore, and whether you need both.

5 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Whether you can run two antivirus programs at once, why two real-time engines conflict, and the safe way to combine a resident antivirus with a second-opinion scanner.

4 min read · Updated 2026-08-09

Phishing protection explained: URL reputation lists, heuristic page analysis, email filtering and why user awareness still catches what software misses.

4 min read · Updated 2026-08-09