I’ve owned a computer for over two years now and during that time have tried out many virus detecting and scanning type software packages. Some have been fine but the majority seemed to cause more problems than they actually solved, slowing my system down or even causing it to freeze up completely.
Then a friend told me about AVG and sent me off to the website at https://grisoft.com to check it out. The program can be downloaded completely free of charge and offers great protection without clogging up your system. It runs silently in the background keeping an eye on your files whilst you can get on with other things.
One of the major benefits of this free software is not only does it scan all the important files on your hard drive, but also checks your incoming and outgoing emails and attachments for viruses too. And as an extra feature, it will also place a certificate on your outgoing mails to let recipients know that the contents have been checked thoroughly, which gives them extra peace of mind.
Regular updates are available and the program will download these automatically as and when new viruses are discovered. You can choose for yourself how often you want the program to download the latest virus database, but I would recommend you check for the latest upgrade every few days or so for best protection.
By default, the program scans your entire system for viruses once every day and you can schedule the time you want this to take place. One disadvantage is that you can’t actually schedule a full scan say weekly, or every three days or whatever. The entire scan can take a long time depending on how many files are stored on your computer, anything from an hour to three or more! Whilst the program is scanning, you may find your system slows a little but I don’t have too many problems. Or if you prefer, you can cancel the scheduled scan any time and choose to run it at a more convenient time. Or just wait until the next day when the default daily setting will launch the complete scan again.
You can also elect to do a full scan on demand, including scanning your separate drives, hard drive(s), floppy drive, CD/DVD drives etc. Or you can scan individual files and folders if you suspect there may be a problem with a lurking virus.
Grisoft send regular emails to let you know when a new virus database is ready to be downloaded, and they are also incredibly efficient at detecting and squashing new viruses as and when they are detected. They will also remind you to upgrade your software on a regular basis if you are being a little lazy in this department!
The program is very easy to run, with a straightforward interface, one of the simplest I’ve seen. If a virus is detected by the software, AVG instantly moves it to the virus vault and heals the affected files. I’ve been using AVG for almost a year now, and during that time, it has detected and healed 5 viruses automatically causing no damage or problems to my system at all.
Overall, this is a wonderful and simple little virus protection package, completely free to download and use and costing you nothing more than a few minutes of downloading time. The website is also very comprehensive giving details of latest viruses and upgrades available. Give this one a go, I feel sure you won’t be disappointed!