It may sound trivial to some, but how to update your antivirus is a very important part of keeping your computer running smoothly.
Let me give you a little background on how your antivirus works.
Once you install your antivirus, you will need to immediately update the database. This is because new viruses may have come out between the time your Antivirus was packaged, and today. Let’s say your purchased the antivirus today. It may have been on the shelf for 2 months, and maybe it was packaged 6 months ago. In the meantime, new viruses have been identified that the version out of the box does not cover.
New viruses are coming out all the time. In order to keep up with the newest, your software vendor, i.e. Norton, AVG, McAfee, etc., is constantly tracking the latest viruses and coming up with ways to stop the new viruses. One way they do this is to issue weekly “updates”. Keeping your Antivirus database up to date is vital in keeping your computer safe.
Most AV programs will do this weekly and the software is programmed to update on automatically. I think it is good practice to check once in a while on your own. It certainly doesn’t hurt.
To do this is very simple. Open the antivirus program and look for “Update”, “Check for updates”, “Live Update”, or something similar. Once you click on update, the software will check for new updates or definitions.
It’s actually that simple!
It may even be good to run a quick scan after that. You can never be too safe!
How to update your antivirus
