Supplementing your Anti-Virus Program with Anti-Malware Tools
An anti-virus program alone does not offer enough protection and does not provide comprehensive protection. It cannot prevent, detect and remove all threats at any given time. Anti-virus software is
inherently reactive...meaning it usually finds malware after a computer has been infected.
Anti-virus and anti-spyware (anti-malware) programs each
perform different tasks as it relates to computer security and
malware detection. Essentially, they look for and remove different types of malicious threats. In simplistic terms, an anti-virus program will focus on
viruses,
worms and
Trojans while an anti-spyware program tends to focus more on
spyware,
adware and
PUPS (potentially unwanted programs)?. However, there can be some overlap in functionality and detection features depending on the program's scanning engine, how the vendor defines a specific threat and what
Naming Standards are used. Some vendors also add a modifier or additional information after the name that further describes what type of malware it is.
