Why can a “so-so” antiviral actually be harmful?
Some people would suggest that half a loaf is better than none, so a mediocre antiviral is better than none at all. Unfortunately, because viruses usually operate outside of the user’s perception, having a poor antiviral engenders a false sense of security. Not only can the user be harmed by this–and likely at the worst possible time–but the infected system will be continuing to spread copies of the virus to other systems and users. In addition, antiviral programs which have loopholes may themselves become sources of antiviral spread. Antiviral programs are programs like any other, and must have special protection built in to ensure that they don’t become infected. Antiviral scanners also must “open” the files they are checking. Viruses often infect “on file open”, and if such as virus is active in memory and remains undetected when a scanner sweeps the disk, it is possible that all files on the disk may become infected. Finally, any weaknesses in a particular piece of antiviral soft
