What is the primary protection provided by antivirus software on school computers?

Antivirus software is designed primarily to detect, prevent, and remove malicious software or malware from computers. This includes viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, spyware, and other harmful programs that can compromise the integrity of a system, steal sensitive information, or disrupt operations. By scanning files and monitoring system behavior, antivirus solutions maintain the security of devices by ensuring that malware cannot infect the system or, if it does, that it can be swiftly neutralized.

The other options do not align with the main function of antivirus software. For instance, while software updates are important for security, antivirus software itself does not provide protection from the updates; rather, it may require timely updates to its virus definitions to be effective. Similarly, antivirus tools do not safeguard against hardware failures, which relate more to physical damage or malfunctions in components rather than software threats. Lastly, while some antivirus programs may include features to help detect phishing attempts, their primary role is focused on malware protection, making this secondary to their core function.