Antivirus (AV) is a software program that is developed and designed to detect malicious content on the devices(computer, smartphones, etc), remove malicious programs from the devices and protect the system from such content in the future. Antivirus software typically offers two options for detecting malicious content, they are Quarantine and Delete. In the quarantine process, when the antivirus is unsure whether or not the file is infected with a virus, it quarantines the particular file in order to prevent it from contaminating other files. Quarantining makes analyzing it easier for antivirus software companies. This allows them to potentially alter their antivirus solution to be more capable of defending against it in the future. In the process of deleting the infected files, they will be completely removed from the device. In addition to viruses, most of today’s antivirus programs are also capable of detecting and removing other types of malicious software, including worms, Trojans, adware, spyware, ransomware, browser hijackers, keyloggers, and rootkits. Besides being able to identify and remove these threats, the best antivirus software can also prevent them from infecting your system.

Since new viruses are constantly being created by computer hackers, antivirus programs must keep an updated database of virus types. This database includes a list of "virus definitions" that the antivirus software references when scanning files. Since new viruses are frequently distributed, it is important to keep your software's virus database up-to-date. Fortunately, most antivirus programs automatically update the virus database on a regular basis.