But
antivirus software can also be a real pain in the neck.
The most basic, innocuous function of an antivirus program is to scan files
on demand. When you start a virus scanner and tell it to scan a file or a disk
Figure 6-2. Spybot - Search & Destroy is one of several antispyware tools that can be
used in conjunction with Windows Defender to help keep your PC malware-free
284 | Chapter 6: Troubleshooting
full of files, you??™re performing a useful task. The problem is that most of us
don??™t remember or want to take the time to routinely perform scans, so we
rely on the so-called ???auto-protect??? feature, where the virus scanner runs all
the time. This can cause several problems:
Performance hit
Loading the auto-protect software at Windows startup can increase
boot time; also, because each and every application (and document) you
open must first be scanned, load times can increase. Plus, a virus scanner
that??™s always running consumes memory and processor cycles, even
though you??™re not likely to spend most of your time downloading new,
and potentially hazardous, files for it to scan.
Browser and email monitoring
Some antivirus auto-protect features include web browser and email
plug-ins, which scan all files downloaded and received as attachments,
respectively. In addition to the performance hit, these plug-ins sometimes
don??™t work properly, inadvertently causing all sorts of problems
with the applications you use to open these files.
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