US Patent 8087081 Selection of remotely located servers for computer security operations

A client computer may be configured to perform computer security operation services, such as malicious code scanning and protection against online threats, using one of several remotely located server computers. The client computer may be configured to determine an operational state of the server computers and determine a protection status of the client computer resulting from use of a server computer of a particular operational state. The protection status may have one of at least three levels and indicate vulnerability of the client computer. The client computer may determine the operational state of a server computer based on available bandwidth for network communication between the client computer and the server computer. The client computer may be configured to allow for automatic or manual selection of another server computer when the currently selected server computer results in the client computer having a protection status below a threshold level.