Anti-Virus Killer

What Does Anti-Virus Killer Mean?

An anti-virus killer (AV killer) is a tool that removes virus-protection programs. Rather than defensive security solutions, AV Killers are offensive security solutions that are considered malicious in nature because they disable the anti-virus software designed to protect computers from malicious attacks. Some AV killers can even work their way around firewalls.

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Anti-virus protection software for home computers has improved over the years, helping to protect users from viruses, system crashes and any other negative effects caused by malware. As a result of this increased security, hackers have been forced to come up with other ways to inflict damage on targeted computers. AV killers are one way to do this.

Techopedia Explains Anti-Virus Killer

When an anti-virus program scans a computer, AV killers will circumvent the protective measures of these scans, thus allowing viruses to sneak in anyway. Since virus detection software has been on the rise by home users and businesses alike, other methods and computing tools have been developed by programmers with less-than-noble intentions. Software manufacturers have responded by preinstalling anti-virus software within the software they develop, but this is an ongoing battle, because the more stringent virus protection becomes, the more prominent and powerful anti-virus killers become in response.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…