AVG Free

Submitted by HelpMeRick.com on December 30, 2005 - 8:45am.

For the past almost three years, we have been recommending (and using) this free anti-virus program from Grisoft to our listeners and clients. The first question we get after recommending it is: "Is it as good as McAfee or Norton?" In a word, YES!

The next question is how Grisoft can offer the product for free. Grisoft started in the Czech Republic in 1991 and quickly became a favorite product in the Europe corporate world. Today, AVG boasts nearly 10 million users world wide including Fortune 500 companies, government, and academic installations. Grisoft gives away a version of their software to home users to continue to garner new users.

You can purchase a full version of AVG Antivirus for $39 which includes FREE tech support and updates for TWO years!

The free version of AVG is fully functional, provides automatic updates, in and outgoing email scanning, and daily system scans. It does not offer any technical support or flexibility in custom scanning and updating schedules.

AVG takes up less than a third of the space that Norton or McAfee do, and in our tests, it catches more viruses and Trojans than either of the 'Big Two'. AVG also requires a significantly decreased demand on your system's resources (memory) than the other two products resulting in a faster machine.

To use the AVG Antivirus:

1. Click here to visit their site and download (about 45 minutes for dialup users
2. Uninstall your current antivirus program using Add/Remove Programs in the Control panel
3. When your old antivirus has been uninstalled, double-click on the file you downloaded in Step #1 and follow the on-screen instructions.
4. Once installed, get online, double-click the AVG program, and click "Check for Updates"

Once installed, AVG truly takes over and becomes a mostly hands off product sitting in your system tray and protecting your system.

One default I do change for my customers is the time of the daily scan (which by default is 8am). Click on the "Scheduled Tasks" button in AVG's Control Center and change the time to a time where you are less likely to be using the computer.

Grisoft also offers an extremely affordable pay version of the software that includes technical support. If you use the free version, in the rare instance you may need support, you can find it online at their forums at grisoft.com.

If this helped, consider buying me a beer or an Americano!