What is the main function of antivirus software?

The primary function of antivirus software is to detect, prevent, and remove malicious software, commonly referred to as malware, from a computer system. This includes various types of threats such as viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, and spyware. Antivirus software continuously scans files and programs for known signatures of malware as well as employs heuristic analysis to identify potentially harmful behavior. By removing or quarantining detected threats, antivirus software helps maintain the integrity and security of the system, safeguarding sensitive information and preventing unauthorized access or damage.

The other options refer to different aspects of cybersecurity. Providing network security generally involves firewall configurations and intrusion detection systems, which is separate from the specific function of antivirus software. Monitoring user behavior is related to anomaly detection and user activity logs, which help to identify unusual patterns that may indicate security breaches but do not relate directly to antivirus capabilities. Encrypting data is a process that protects data by transforming it into unreadable formats unless a decryption key is used; this is important for data confidentiality but is outside the scope of what antivirus software is designed to do.