How To Create A Backup System Image In Windows 8

 

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Computer Repair
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863-521-1079

Windows 8, Quickbooks won't email or print

Oh you naughty Windows 8, just another thing I don't like about you.

I have had MANY calls on this issue. This is an issue with even the latest 2013 versions of Quickbooks.  I have not found a fix for the email button but working on it. I have found fixes and work arounds for printing and creating pdfs.

Here are some of the most common issues that I have had to deal with and their work around and fixes:

Unable to reconcile accounts or to create, print, or email .pdf files

Repair damaged print settings - QBPrint.qbp file is the culprit here

QuickBooks 2010 and 2009 PDF Printer Problems with 64 Bit Systems

Solving Problems with Windows 8 and QuickBooks 2013 (and more)

Error: QuickBooks is unable to send your email to Outlook

 

Lakeland Computer Repair
www.MyComputerGirl.com
863-521-1079

D-Link Gaming Router pre-orders now available

When it comes to networking devices, many of us would definitely have heard of the name “D-Link” before, as this particular company is no stranger at all after being in the market for so many years. They have had their fair share of hits in the past, but if you were to have a parallel in contemporary terms, D-Link’s brand is somewhat like Toyota or Honda – delivering a functional and reliable device, and yet they are not really all that eye-catching in the first place, and neither does it make the heart race when one sets their eyes on it. Having said that, D-Link has just made available the pre-order of their most advanced Gaming Router ever, the D-Link Gaming Router with Qualcomm StreamBoost technology, or the DGL-5500 if model numbers are your cup of tea.

The D-Link Gaming Router would come with AC1300 wireless speeds that are unique to traffic shaping and bandwidth management, and it will also work in tandem with a quartet of gigabit Ethernet ports so that it can deliver the ultimate in gaming performance, media streaming and network control. Of course, placing a pre-order would still mean that a little bit of waiting is in order, and those who are interested in picking up the D-Link Gaming Router at $199.99 a pop via newegg.com would have to wait until August 1st for shipping to commence.

Listen to what Daniel Kelley, vice president of marketing, D-Link Systems, Inc., had to say about the Gaming Router, “The Gaming Router represents the ultimate in high-performance connectivity to give power users the ability and control they need to do what they love online without the concern or interruption of buffering and lag. Today’s action role-playing games and MMOs are more competitive than ever and with limited bandwidth coming into the home, gamers need to ensure they’re making the most of their connectivity to maintain an advantage. With Qualcomm StreamBoost technology, the new Gaming Router is designed to do just that – shape the network traffic to help gamers do more and lag less.”

I admit, this is the first time that I have heard about the Qualcomm StreamBoost technology, but apparently it has been designed to deliver a robust connected experience to users regardless of the device that they use over the home network, and this is achieved by intelligently managing and shaping traffic, while providing individual devices and applications the priority and bandwidth required in order to enjoy optimal performance.

PortaPow USB Power Monitor lets you know how much power your gadgets use

With the economy the way it has been, it’s important to cut costs wherever you can. Everyone has a different approach to this, whether it’s taking a bike to work, instead of a car, or trying to eat out less. However, there are some people who really want to save every cent, and for those people, the best place to look is at your electronic devices. Each and every one of these needs power to run, and electricity isn’t free (unless you’re using some sort of alternative energy, like solar power, but that’s a different conversation). So how to you keep track of how much juice each of your gadgets needs?

I’ve seen plenty of devices that you can use with most two or three-prong power cords, to see just how much electricity is flowing to the gadget. While these are great, they don’t cover everything. What about your USB devices? How much electricity are they sucking up, when they are in use? Well, this PortaPow USB Power Monitor can tell you that, and more.

By plugging this gadget in between your computer, and whatever device you have plugged in, you can see how much power is being drawn. You can also use it in conjunction with a solar panel, to see how much electricity is being generated. This will allow you to reposition the panel to ensure that you’re getting the most out of the light. This nifty little device might not be a life-changing purchase, but the $19 price won’t break the bank.

Link Referral, generate traffic

The Linkreferral ConceptWe are striving to provide an affordable alternative to search engines and banner ad campaigns which give mediocre results. Our four pronged approach to developing free traffic for our members is described below, Members directory traffic - By joining, you will be included in our members directory which is visited by our community of over 300,000 members, and thousands of outside visitors on a daily basis. You'll have the opportunity to earn a ranking at the top of your category, absolutely free! Receive valuable feedback from visitors of your website, network with your peers, and give your opinion on other websites in the directory. The more you participate, the more you get in return! (more details) Referral based traffic - You are probably familiar with the concept of network marketing, well this is a free version of that marketing method - by registering and promoting your linkreferral affiliate link, an exponential growth of 5 levels of referrals can be created (ex. you refer 10 people who refer 10 people each who refer 10 each....), potentially 10,000s of visitors/day all viewing your link prominently in the top spot of our 'Featured Sites' section on our home page for your referral ID. It works because its free, fast to register, easy to implement and no risk. People that are referred from your site will have nothing to lose and everything to gain, just like you. (more details) Search engine traffic - By registering, you'll benefit several ways, including, 1) having your webpage listing indexed more quickly - the major search engines continuously spider our site, and the sites listed in our directory. 2) Improved search engine rankings and SEO optimization. 3) Indirect search engine traffic via linkreferral.com. Pages such as your directory listing and your affiliate page listing feature your link and description, are picked up by all the major search engines. Your sign-up description, combined with our strong traffic base (a prime ranking factor for most major search engines) can pull in a significant immediate steady stream of traffic to your listing on linkreferral.com and then on to your web site. Linkreferral forums traffic - By participating in our forums on a daily basis, you'll build relationships and your reputation within the linkreferral community and improve the odds of successfully converting visitors to your end goal. Promote your listing by asking questions and giving comments, each post you make actively displays your link, category and member profile. www.MyComputerGirl.com Lakeland Computer Repair

The Next Version Of Android 4.3 or 5.0 Key Lime Pie

all know that Google I/O took place and main thing about this event was, we get the chance to find out what the giant search engine has been planning on, and there was another place which we can’t forget and it will help us to know about the “next” Android OS iteration. We have all been expecting Android 4.3 to be revealed during the latest I/O event, but instead peculiar, it didn’t happen. On the contrary, we had a chance to learn that Google has updated its core applications which was kind of like updating Android, without actually updating it. I hope you get it?

And, for those who were among those who were not satisfied with what Google had to show, and due to which a lot of technology fans specially of the next big OS update, won’t get a chance but if you really have no reasons to be worried about.

In the beginning, it has been rumored everywhere that Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie has been unveiling during Google I/O. But according to our sources we’ve learned that, because the majority of cellphone manufactures haven’t really able to keep up with Jelly Bean, Key Lime Pie will not see the light of day at the aforementioned event which really disappoint us.

On the contrary, the Android 4.3 iteration was expected to make an appearance, but it also didn’t. But fortunately Bluetooth SIG has sent out emails to tech bloggers shortly after the I/O keynote came to an end, informing everyone that the Android OS will get an update in the near future, bringing with support for Bluetooth Smart. After this the expectation of Android 4.3 has also raised up bringing so much fans to wait for Android 4.3.Let’s see what this Android 4.3 has set for us.

Google Planning To Offer Wi-Fi Internet Via Balloons

On Saturday in New Zealand Scientists released up to 30 helium-filled test balloons flying 20-km above Christchurch from technology giant, which also carrying antennae linked to ground base stations. In the beginning of the process or project Loon it is hope to eventually launch thousands of balloons at a time to provide wi-fi Internet to remote parts of the world, which will allow to cover more than four billion people with no access to get online. Bravo!

This project could also be effective especially in the case of natural disasters, when the existing communication and networks are completely affected. According to the “Project Loon is an experimental technology for balloon-powered Internet access,” the company said on its latest project from its clandestine Google (x), “where we work on radical, sci-fi-sounding technology solutions to solve really big world problems”.

“Balloons, carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, can beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster,” it added. “It is very early days, but we think a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, might be a way to provide affordable Internet access to rural, remote, and underserved areas down on earth below, or help after disasters, when existing communication infrastructure is affected.”

By listening they say, the work of this wi-fi internet is to connect by ground stations to the local Internet infrastructure and beaming signals to the balloons, and these are self generated as they are solar panels. Once mentioned earlier in my tech blog that the balloons, which will be in stratosphere is  twice as high as commercial airliners and good thing is it will be barely visible to the naked eye. Forming this will help us and be able to communicate with each other, forming a global network in the sky.

Now the Users side they will be able to use internet facility by joining the Internet antennae to the side of their house which can send and receive data signals from the balloons passing overhead. For trial experiment they are planning to take 50 people and these were randomly selected and were able to link to the Internet. The first person who get lucky to get Google Balloon Internet access was Charles Nimmo, a farmer and entrepreneur in the small town of Leeston who signed up for the experiment.

According to the Charles Nimmo he received Internet access for about 15 minutes before the transmitting balloon which he was counting on as it floated out of range. Well hope this experiment get positive results as it will bring easy access to everyone even for those who are unaware of internet.

Transcend-USB-3.0-Expresscard-Adapter

For laptop users desiring to join the USB 3.0 revolution without replacing their existing computer, Transcend’s USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter is a highly cost-effective solution for connecting to and taking advantage of USB 3.0-compatible peripherals. The card’s ExpressCard/34 interface is compatible with virtually all current notebook computers, and offers unrestricted two-way communication between notebook PCs and the latest generation of USB devices.

The new USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter comes with two high-speed USB ports that fully support SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard with connection bandwidth of up to 5Gb/s. Besides its quick and easy installation, the card enables speed enthusiasts to experience data transfer rates up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 with optimized power efficiency. Thanks to its backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, users can be assured that their older devices will still work with the new interface.

Transcend’s PNU3 USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter is fully compatible with Windows 7, and is backed by Transcend’s 2-year warranty.

Be the first winner of Google Glass

Is this the first Google Glass competition in the World? One lucky winner will take home the most hotly anticipated tech product when it launches later this year thanks to British firm, Anglian Home Improvements.

The prize will allow the winner to be one of the first to enjoy Google Glass. Google launched the product to a lucky few in an ‘ambassadors’  programme and the web is already buzzing with the possibilities for this piece of technology.

Google Glass is a camera, display, touchpad, battery and microphone built into spectacle frames. It allows users to film, take pictures and access web services on the go.

Matt Carey, Head of Digital Marketing for Anglian Home Improvements said: “Our products, like Google Glass, give people a better view of the world and we wanted to enable one lucky winner to be among the first to enjoy this amazing piece of technology.”

Enter the competition here: http://www.anglianhome.co.uk/google-glass/

How to Hack Passwords Using a Hardware Keylogger

Did you know that using a keylogger is the simplest way to hack passwords?. In this post, I will be giving you a detailed information on hardware keyloggers and their working. I will also teach how to make use of a hardware keylogger to hack passwords on your computer. If you are new to the concept of keyloggers or haven’t heard about this topic in the past, then here is a brief description about keyloggers.

A keylogger or sometimes called as a keystroke logger is a stealth computer program or a stealth device (in case of a hardware keylogger) that when installed, captures every keystroke typed on the computer’s keyboard. The keylogger is designed to operate in a total stealth mode so that its presence is hidden from the users of the computer.

A keylogger can be installed by the owner of the computer to capture passwords and other sensitive information that the user types on the keyboard. Keyloggers come in two forms: Software and Hardware.

A software keylogger is a software program that needs to be installed on the computer while the hardware keylogger is a hardware device that needs to be plugged in between the computer and its keyboard. For more information on software keyloggers and their usage, you may refer my previous post: How to use Keyloggers?

How Hardware Keyloggers Work?

Unlike the software keylogger, a hardware keylogger do not depend on any of the software program for its operation as they function at the hardware level itself. A hardware keylogger acts as an interface between the computer and the computer’s keyboard. The device has a built-in memory in which all the recorded keystrokes are stored.

They are designed to work with PS/2 keyboards, and more recently with USB keyboards. A hardware keylogger appears simply as a USB thumb drive or any other computer peripheral so that it does not arouse suspicion in the minds of the users. Therefore by looking at its appearance it is not possible to identify it as a keylogger. Here are some of the images of hardware keyloggers:

How to Install the Hardware Keylogger?

The hardware keylogger must be installed between the keyboard plug and the USB or PS/2 port socket. That is, you have to just plug in the keylogger to your keyboard’s plug (PS/2 or USB) and then plug it to the PC socket. The following image illustrates how the hardware keylogger is installed.

Once you install the hardware keylogger as shown above, it starts recording each and every keystroke of the keyboard including passwords and other confidential information. The keystrokes can be retrieved later by downloading the logs onto the hard drive.

Hardware keyloggers are also known to come in the form of a spy keyboard where the keylogger unit is built into the keyboard itself. This will eliminate the need to install a separate device between the keyboard and the computer.

Hardware vs. Software Keylogger:

The following are some of the pros and cons of hardware keylogger:

Pros:

• Hardware keyloggers are easy to install and uninstall.
• Since it operates at the hardware level itself, it is fully compatible with all the operating systems like Windows and Unix.
• Unlike a software keylogger, it cannot be detected by anti-spywares and anti-keyloggers.

Cons:

• Hardware keyloggers are only limited to capturing keystrokes while a high-end software keylogger can capture screenshots, browser activities, IM conversations and many more.
• Physical access to the target computer is a must in order to install the hardware keylogger, whereas some software keyloggers come with a remote install/uninstall feature.
• In case of a software keylogger, it is possible to access the logs remotely as they are emailed on a regular basis while this is not possible in case of a hardware keylogger.

Thus, both hardware and software keyloggers have advantages and disadvantages of their own. So, it is up to the user to make a choice based on the requirement
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How Windows Product Activation (WPA) Works?

Windows Product Activation or WPA is a license validation procedure introduced by Microsoft Corporation in all versions of its Windows operating system. WPA was first introduced in Windows XP and continues to exist in Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 as well.

WPA enforces each end user to activate his/her copy of Windows so as to prevent unauthorized usage beyond the specific period of time until it is verified as genuine by Microsoft. How WPA really works was a closely guarded secret until GmbH analyzed WPA using a copy of Windows XP RC1 and published a paper on their findings.

In this post you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Windows Product Activation.

Why activation?

Microsoft’s intention behind the activation is to limit the usage of its Windows operating system to only one machine for which the retail license is issued. Any other computer which runs on the same license must be disallowed from using the software. Hence, WPA demands for activation of the product within 30 days of its installation so as to ensure that it is genuine.

What does “Genuine Windows” means?

The copy of Windows is said to be genuine only if the product key used during the installation is genuine. It means that a given product key (retail license) must be used to install Windows only on one computer for which the license was purchased. Thus, if the same key is used for the installation on another computer, then it is said to be a pirated copy.

Exactly what information is transmitted during the activation?

When you activate your copy of Windows, you are transmitting an Installation ID code to Microsoft either by phone or Internet depending on the method you choose to activate. Based on this, the Microsoft’s licensing system can determine whether or not the installed OS is genuine. If it is said to be genuine, then the system will receive the Activation ID which completes the activation process. If the activation is done through a telephone, the Activation ID needs to be entered manually to complete the activation process.

What information does the Installation ID contain?

This Installation ID is a 50-digit number which is derived from the following two data.

1. Product ID – It is actually derived from the 25-digit product key (the alphanumeric value that is printed on the sticker over the Windows CD/DVD case) that is entered during the installation of the operating system. The Product ID is used to uniquely identify your copy of Windows.

2. Hardware ID – This value is derived based on the hardware configuration of your computer.

The WPA system checks the following 10 categories of the computer hardware to derive the Hardware ID:

• Display Adapter
• SCSI Adapter
• IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
• Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
• RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
• Processor Type
• Processor Serial Number
• Hard Drive Device
• Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
• CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

Thus, the Installation ID which is a combination of Product ID and Hardware ID is finally derived and sent to Microsoft during the activation process.

How is the Installation ID validated?

The Installation ID needs to be validated to confirm the authenticity of the installed copy of Windows. So, after the Installation ID is received by Microsoft, it is decoded back so as to obtain the actual product key and the hardware details of the computer involved in the activation process.

The Microsoft’s system will now look to see if this is the first time the product key is being used for the activation. This happens when the user is trying to activate his Windows for the first time after purchase. If so, the Installation ID is instantly validated and the corresponding Activation ID is issued which completes the activation process.

However, Microsoft system will now associate this product key with the hardware ID of the computer and stores this information on their servers. In simple words, during the first use of the product key, it is paired together with the Hardware ID and this information is stored up on the Microsoft servers.

What if a computer running a counterfeit copy of Windows attempts to activate?

The activation fails whenever the copy of Windows installed is not said to be genuine. This usually happens when the product key used for the installation is said to have been used earlier on a different computer. This is determined during the activation process as follows:

During the validation of the Installation ID, the Microsoft’s system checks to see if the same product key was used in any of the previous activation processes. If so, then it looks to see the Hardware ID associated with it. The computer running a counterfeit copy of Windows will obviously have a different hardware configuration and hence the Hardware ID will mismatch. In this case the activation process will fail.

Therefore, for a successful activation, either of the following two cases must be satisfied:

1. The product key must have been used for the first time. ie: The product key should not have been used for earlier activations on any other computer.
2. If the product key is said to have been used earlier, then the Hardware ID should match. This happens only if the same computer for which the license was genuinely purchased is attempting for subsequent activation.

What about formatting the hard disk?

Each time the hard disk is reformatted and the Windows is re-installed, it needs to be re-activated. However, the activation process will be completed smoothly since the same computer is attempting for subsequent activation. In this case, both the product key and the Hardware ID will match and hence the activation becomes successful.

What if I upgrade or make changes to my hardware?

In the above mentioned 10 categories of hardware, at least 7 should be the same. Thus you are allowed to make changes to not more than 3 categories of hardware. If you make too many changes then your activation will fail. In this case, it is necessary to contact the customer service representative via phone and explain about your problem. If he is convinced he may re-issue a new product key for your computer using which you can re-activate your Windows.

Some things WPA does not do:

• WPA does not send any personal information at all about you to Microsoft. There is still an option to register the product with Microsoft, but that is separate and entirely voluntary.
• If you prefer to activate via phone, you are not required to give any personal information to Microsoft.
• WPA does not provide a means for Microsoft to turn off your machine or damage your data/hardware. (Nor do they even have access to your data). This is a common myth that many people have about Microsoft products.
• WPA is not a “lease” system requiring more payments after two years or any other period. You may use the product as licensed in perpetuity.

I have tried my best to uncover the secret behind the WPA. For further details and more technical information you can read the actual paper by Fully Licensed GmbH at http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt. I hope you like this post. Pass your comments
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How Firewalls Work ???

If you have been using Internet on a regular basis or working in a large company and surf the Internet while you are at work, you must have surely come across the term firewall.

You might have also heard of people saying “firewalls protect their computer from web attacks and hackers” or “a certain website has been blocked by firewall in their work place”. If you have ever wondered to know what exactly is this firewall and how it works, here we go. In this post I will try to explain “How firewalls work” in layman’s terms.

How Firewalls Work?

Firewalls are basically a barrier between your computer (or a network) and the Internet (outside world). A firewall can be simply compared to a security guard who stands at the entrance of your house and filters the visitors coming to your place. He may allow some visitors to enter while denying others whom he suspects of being intruders. Similarly a firewall is a software program or a hardware device that filters the information (packets) coming through the Internet to your personal computer or a computer network.

Firewalls may decide to allow or block network traffic between devices based on the rules that are pre-configured or set by the firewall administrator. Most personal firewalls such as Windows firewall operate on a set of pre-configured rules that are most suitable under normal circumstances so that, the user need not worry much about configuring the firewall.

Personal firewalls are easy to install and use and hence preferred by end-users for use on their personal computers.  However, large networks and companies prefer those firewalls that have plenty of options to configure so as to meet their customized needs.

For example, a company may set up different firewall rules for FTP servers, Telnet servers and Web servers. In addition, the company can even control how the employees connect to the Internet by blocking access to certain websites or restricting the transfer of files to other networks. Thus, in addition to security, a firewall can give the company a tremendous control over how people use the network.

Firewalls use one or more of the following methods to control the incoming and outgoing traffic in a network:

1. Packet Filtering: In this method, packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set offilters. Packet filters has a set of rules that come with accept and deny actions which are pre-configured or can be configured manually by the firewall administrator. If the packet manages to make it through these filters then it is allowed to reach the destination; otherwise it is discarded.
2. Stateful Inspection: This is a newer method that doesn’t analyze the contents of the packets. Instead, it compares certain key aspects of each packet to a database of trusted source. Both incoming and outgoing packets are compared against this database and if the comparison yields a reasonable match, then the packets are allowed to travel further. Otherwise they are discarded.

Firewall Configuration:

Firewalls can be configured by adding one or more filters based on several conditions as mentioned below:

1. IP addresses: In any case, if an IP address outside the network is said to be unfavorable, then it is possible to set  filter to block all the traffic to and from that IP address. For example, if a certain IP address is found to be making too many connections to a server, the administrator may decide to block traffic from this IP using the firewall.
2. Domain names: Since it is difficult to remember the IP addresses, it is an easier and smarter way to configure the firewalls by adding filters based on domain names. By setting up a domain filter, a company may decide to block all access to certain domain names, or may provide access only to a list of selected domain names.
3. Ports/Protocols: Every service running on a server is made available to the Internet using numbered ports, one for each service. In simple words, ports can be compared to virtual doors of the server through which services are made available.
   For example, if a server is running a Web (HTTP) service then it will be typically available on port 80. In order to avail this service, the client needs to connect to the server via port 80. Similarly, different services such as Telnet (Port 23), FTP (port 21) and SMTP (port 25) services may be running on the server.
   If the services are intended for the public, they are usually kept open. Otherwise they are blocked using the firewall so as to prevent intruders from using the open ports for making unauthorized connections.
4. Specific words or phrases: A firewall can be configured to filter one or more specific words or phrases so that, both the incoming and outgoing packets are scanned for the words in the filter.
   For example, you may set up a firewall rule to filter any packet that contains an offensive term or a phrase that you may decide to block from entering or leaving your network.

Hardware vs. Software Firewall:

Hardware firewalls provide higher level of security and hence preferred for servers where security has the top most priority. The software firewalls on the other hand are less expensive and hence preferred in home computers and laptops.

Hardware firewalls usually come as an in-built unit of a router and provide maximum security as it filters each packet in the hardware level itself even before it manages to enter your computer. A good example is the Linksys Cable/DSL router.

Why Firewall?

Firewalls provide security over a number of online threats such as Remote login, Trojan backdoors, Session hijacking, DOS & DDOS attacks, viruses, cookie stealing and many more. The effectiveness of the security depends on the way you configure the firewall and how you set up the filter rules.

However, major threats such as DOS and DDOS attacks may sometimes manage to bypass the firewalls and do the damage to the server. Even though firewall is not a complete answer to online threats, it can most effectively handle the attacks and provide security to the computer up to the maximum possible extent
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How Antivirus Software Works

Due to ever increasing threat from virus and other malicious programs, almost every computer today comes with a pre-installed antivirus software on it. In fact, an antivirus has become one of the most essential software package for every computer.

Even though every one of us have an antivirus software installed on our computers, only a few really bother to understand how it actually works! Well, if you are one among those few who would really bother to understand how antivirus works, then this article is for you.

How Antivirus Works:

An antivirus software typically uses a variety of strategies in detecting and removing viruses, worms and other malware programs. The following are the two most widely employed identification methods:

1. Signature-based dectection (Dictionary approach)

This is the most commonly employed method which involves searching for known patterns of virus within a given file. Every antivirus software will have a dictionary of sample malware codes called signatures in its database. Whenever a file is examined, the antivirus refers to the dictionary of sample codes present within its database and compares the same with the current file. If the piece of code within the file matches with the one in its dictionary then it is flagged and proper action is taken immediately so as to stop the virus from further replicating. The antivirus may choose to repair the file, quarantine or delete it permanently based on its potential risk.

As new viruses and malwares are created and released every day, this method of detection cannot defend against new malwares unless their samples are collected and signatures are released by the antivirus software company. Some companies may also encourage the users to upload new viruses or variants so that, the virus can be analyzed and the signature can be added to the dictionary.

Signature based detection can be very effective, but requires frequent updates of the virus signature dictionary. Hence, the users must update their antivirus software on a regular basis so as to defend against new threats that are released daily.

2. Heuristic-based detection (Suspicious behaviour approach)

Heuristic-based detection involves identifying suspicious behaviour from any given program which might indicate a potential risk. This approach is used by some of the sophisticated antivirus software to identify new malware and variants of known malware.

Unlike the signature based approach, here the antivirus doesn’t attempt to identify known viruses, but instead monitors the behavior of all programs.

For example, malicious behaviours like a program trying to write data to an executable program is flagged and the user is alerted about this action. This method of detection gives an additional level of security from unidentified threats.

File emulation: This is another type of heuristic-based approach where a given program is executed in a virtual environment and the actions performed by it are logged. Based on the actions logged, the antivirus software can determine if the program is malicious or not and carry out necessary actions in order to clean the infection.

Most commercial antivirus software use a combination of both signature-based and heuristic-based approaches to combat malware.

Issues of Concern:

Zero-day threats: A zero-day (zero-hour ) threat or attack is where a malware tries to exploit computer application vulnerabilities that are yet unidentified by the antivirus software companies. These attacks are used to cause damage to the computer even before they are identified. Since patches are not yet released for these kind of new threats, they can easily manage to bypass the antivirus software and carry out malicious actions. However, most of the threats are identified after a day or two of its release, but damage caused by them before identification is quite inevitable.

Daily Updates: Since new viruses and threats are released every day, it is most essential to update the antivirus software so that the virus definitions are kept up-to-date. Most software will have an auto-update feature so that, the virus definitions are updated whenever the computer is connected to the Internet.

Effectiveness: Even though an antivirus software can catch almost every malware, it is still not 100% foolproof against all kinds of threats. As explained earlier, a zero-day threat can easily bypass the protective shield of the antivirus software. Also virus authors have tried to stay a step ahead by writing “oligomorphic“, “polymorphic” and, more recently, “metamorphic” virus codes, which will encrypt parts of themselves or otherwise modify themselves as a method of disguise, so as to not match virus signatures in the dictionary.

Thus user awareness is as important as antivirus software; users must be trained to practice safe surfing habits such as downloading files only from trusted websites and not blindly executing a program that is unknown or obtained from an untrusted source. I hope this article has helped you understand the working of an antivirus software
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