The main purpose of having the antivirus software in the computer is to find and clean any virus. The software maintains a large database of known viruses that is called virus definitions or virus signature. Virus definition is the important method of detecting the virus. The antivirus software uses this database to compare all the items present on the RAM, computer disks, and boot sectors against the database of viruses. The database of virus consists of large definitions in the form of unique binary code of patterns and each pattern represents a different virus. This database helps the antivirus software to effectively detect the viruses with the help of the code in it.
Though the antivirus programs effectively removes viruses, the virus creators often actively engage in producing new viruses every day. The virus creators are very keen in entering and destroying the personal information of the computer. The virus creators never target a group or a single user, and they often attack multiple users and sometimes many home users. They often attack users from different regions. Only one virus is enough to create a havoc of problem in the computer. The antivirus program provides protection against all the known viruses and often tries to provide maximum protection. Therefore, it is very important for the computer users to update their computer with the latest version of the antivirus definitions.