What are the strengths of scanners?
Scanners, particularly signature scanners, are currently the most popular of antiviral software. This is likely due to three factors: the fact that viral programs are specifically identified; the inclusion of disinfecting software with most scanners; and the fact that it’s easy to play numbers games with signature-scanning programs. Scanners can only find infections after they occur, but that does not mean that scanners cannot play a preventative role in protecting the system. If scanning software is used consistently to check each disk or file that enters a system (and kept up to date), the chance of a viral infection being allowed to enter is greatly reduced.
