What is it?
AVG Antivirus is one of the best FREE antiviral programs available. AVG Free edition is available for all single home and non-commercial end users Worldwide!
The only things you lose out wrt the Paid Version are:
. Basic user Interface only
. Disabled Advanced Scheduling of Tests
. Disabled Creating of Your Own Tests
. No Technical Support
Where can you get it?
Homepage: https://grisoft.com
Download: https://grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
Why should I get it?
In today’s world, where viruses are found in plentiful on the net and always waiting to infect you, an anti-virus scanner has become a must. Instead of spending a lot of your money purchasing a scanner like Norton or McAfee, you could always try one of the many free anti-virus scanners available.
Again you ask, Why AVG? Simply because it has been found to be very reliable. AVG boasts of having received the VB100% in the test of Virus Bulletin in June 2003 and 100% detection rate of AVG Anti-Virus System is continuously certified by independent ICSA laboratories.
Features
. AVG Resident Protection
. AVG Email Scanner
. AVG On-Demand Scanner
. Basic Scheduled Tests
. Free Virus Database Updates
. Automatic Update feature
. Easy-To-Use Interface
. Automatic Healing of infected files
. AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files
Installation
The program is very easy to install, though you have to register on the AVG website and they send you a key for the registration, which you use while installing. You may also be asked to restart your computer.
Immediately after installation it gives you the option to Update Database, scan computer and create a Rescue Disk.
Usage
AVG interface is very easy to understand and use. The Basic Interface is all you will need for scanning your computer. You are offered the options of a Complete Test, Removable Media Test and Quick Test, in addition to a User Test. All these settings can be customized through their menus.
AVG also integrates with your Outlook Express and scans Incoming and Outgoing mail for virii. You can modify the settings and choose to turn them off if you do not wish to use it.
They have a very detailed but again simple to use Control Center, which can be accessed by double-clicking on the tray icon (near the clock)
What I really loved about this software is the Update Manager It gives you the option to update from the net. It even supports using a Proxy Server for the same. You also have the option to download the update files from the AVG website and then use the Update manager to choose this update file.
Also available is the Shell Extension for Windows, where you can rightclick on a file and choose it to scan.
They also have a Virus Vault where infected files can be quarantined before deletion.
Help Files are also available. I have never found the need for these as they program is too simple to use.
I also noticed that AVG is very low on system resources which is a real boon for slower and lesser configuration PCs compared to resource hungry programs like Norton.
Pages worth checking out
Quick Installation Guide: https://grisoft.com/us/us_ts_guide.php
FAQ: https://grisoft.com/faq/us_faqindex.php
Removal Tools: https://grisoft.com/us/us_ts_removers.php
To conclude, I suggest that if this review has interested you, do check out the AVG free version. Who knows you may stick to it completely like I have :-)