
The Creeper virus was followed by several other viruses. Some people consider "The Reaper" the first antivirus software ever written – it may be the case, but it is important to note that the Reaper was actually a virus itself specifically designed to remove the Creeper virus.

The Creeper virus was eventually deleted by a program created by Ray Tomlinson and known as " The Reaper". This computer virus infected Digital Equipment Corporation's ( DEC) PDP-10 mainframe computers running the TENEX operating system.

See also: Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms 1949–1980 period (pre-antivirus days) Īlthough the roots of the computer virus date back as early as 1949, when the Hungarian scientist John von Neumann published the "Theory of self-reproducing automata", the first known computer virus appeared in 1971 and was dubbed the " Creeper virus".

Behavior-based (heuristic evaluation): The anti-malware flags suspicious behavior by files and apps, such as creating new secret documents in hidden folders.A match immediately flags the file as malicious. Signature-based: The suspected file’s digital signature (based on the file’s contents and calculated using a cryptographic hash function) is compared against a database of known malware signatures.

Anti-malware tools can prevent new malware from being installed on the system (for example, by scanning files while they’re being downloaded) or detect, quarantine, and remove existing malware. (also antimalware) Anti-malware definitionĪnti-malware is the umbrella term for software and policies designed to protect systems from malware (malicious software like computer viruses).
