When it comes to fighting the bad guys on the Internet it pays to be one step ahead of them all of the time.
This is a hard thing for most people to do since they are not trained computer experts.
It is similar to trying to fight Mike Tyson in his prime.
These guys are that good and should not be taken lightly.
Luckily for most people there are companies, and also volunteers, who try to defend the average person from being attacked by malicious hackers.
These people have provided the average person tools for when the normal antivirus running on their computer is just not enough.
Online Antivirus Scanners
One of these tools are antivirus programs that run on a server online.
These services provide you a level of protection against viruses that have taken over your local antivirus software.
In the past couple of years, hackers have become knowledgeable enough about the vulnerabilities of a machine where they can place a block on your antivirus software.
There are several work arounds for this problem, one of them includes using an online antivirus scanner.
These virus scanners will hook onto your computer and start a in depth scan just like your normal anti virus would do.
If an exploit or any other kind of vulnerability is found they will dispose of it.
This is a welcome relief for anyone who has found that their computer has been hijacked and ran out of options short of formatting the whole thing and starting over.
The Pros And Cons Of Online Antivirus Scanners
There are several advantages to being able to use an online antivirus scanner and several disadvantages as well.
The most obvious advantage is one that I talked about earlier, the ability to run an antivirus scan when your machine is taken over.
Another advantage is that when you are using an online antivirus by a reputable vendor, you know that it will most likely be more up to date than even the antivirus software on your computer.
0 day exploits that happen in the wild are the worst enemies to a normal desktop based antivirus program.
There are a lot of people who do not run updates on a regular basis.
When it comes to scanning your computer from an online antivirus you already know that it is updated so you do not have to be concerned about it.
The disadvantages to using an online scanner is that now some of the smarter bad guys know about this resource as well.
While you may be able to trick most of the hackers out there by using this resource, the smarter ones will have already come up with schemes to thwart this effort.
That means that this method is effective but not 100%.
Also, another problem with using an online anti virus scanner is that you must make sure that is from a reputable company.
There are several false antivirus sites that claim to be an authentic scanner but instead they are loading your computer with malware.
It is probably best to go with a company that either has good reviews or is a name that you know.
As you see there are several reasons for using an online antivirus scanner.
Just make sure that you go to a legitimate site and everything should be fine.
Luckily for you, I’ve already taken a look at the Top 10 Online Antivirus Scanners.
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