In accordance with this invention, a system, method, and computer-readable
medium that aggregates the knowledge base of a plurality of antivirus
software applications are provided. User mode applications, such as
antivirus software applications, gain access to file system operations
through a common information model, which obviates the need for antivirus
software vendors to create kernel mode filters. When file system
operations are available to antivirus software applications, the present
invention may cause each antivirus software application installed on a
computing device to perform a scan to determine if the data is malware.