Cybersecurity remained mostly under the public awareness radar for the better part of 20 years. Now that cybersecurity is being covered in the news and talked about at the dinner table, people like you (and Timmys mom) are realizing they need to step up and join in the fight. Anti-malware programs are able to do this in three ways: they detect malware on your computer, safely remove it, and clean up any of the damage to the computer that the malware may have caused.”]
Source: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2015/12/how-does-anti-malware-work/