The modern world nowadays has become more and more dependent on computers and all the matters that regard them (Internet, private networks, online businesses, data storage). In this process a lot of confidential data is involved. There are companies with employees' registries and accounting information, banks, military organizations and so on. On the opposite level there are the simple PC users, the normal people, those who have a standard machine, with their normal files stored on it, with their multimedia databases (photos, DVDs, documents) and sometimes even more private information (like credit card numbers or passwords).

The word virus means poison in Latin. Everybody knows (and we are scared to know) what a computer virus is. Like a biological virus (those who infect people) the computer one will analogically infect the files by spreading itself into the "living cells" (the attacked files, in our case).

Every PC user, at office or at home, has this problem of data security. They are asking themselves what they should do, they've heard about viruses and antivirus software, but they have no clue about how they should manage this situation. The simplest answer is this: download and install a free, low requirements antivirus that will keep your PC safe and make you sleep better at night.

For this matter I've chosen my all time favorite free antivirus - ladies and gentlemen, I present you AVG Free Edition, the well known antivirus tool that will surely do the best job for your safety. The program is developed by the GRISOFT Company and it's compatible with all Microsoft Windows operating systems (including 95/NT) which require Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher).

But let's begin the AVG Free Edition presentation. The program comes with an easy and very intuitive interface (the Test Center) with all the major controls displayed in a left panel. It contains among others the Control Center (the main part of the program), the virus vault (the place where the infected files are moved) and the test results (here you can view all the scanned objects and the actions done by the antivirus).

The main screen also contains, beside the left panel, a useful mini-window - in the right side - that lets you choose from "scan computer", "scan selected areas" and "check for updates".

As I've also mentioned, the main part of the program is the Control Center. It displays all the components and the way to reach to their properties. These components are: Resident Shield, E-mail Scanner, Internal Virus Database, Scheduler, Shell Extension, Update Manager, Virus Vault.

The resident shield options will let you choose whether you want AVG to be started with Windows or not, lets you manage the file types you want to be scanned (I recommend "scan all files") and can be changed to scan even your floopy drive, if present.

E-mail Scanner is a plugin that will work within your mail client, scanning all the data that comes in and out through the client. You can configure it to scan only the attachments, only the incoming mail or the outgoing messages. It also has an attachment filter which lets you define what type of file extensions you want to receive.

The important part of the next component, Internal Virus Database, is that it can be manually updated anytime, although the automation is limited to 1 job per day. If you have the file definitions on a media support (CD/DVD, pen drive or somewhere on your hdd) you can also update through the "folder" option. The Scheduler contains 2 scheduled tasks (one for scanning and one for updating). Here you can change the starting time of the jobs, the scheduler will start when you'll power on the PC (if you enabled the option).

Shell Extension will let you scan your drives, files or folders with a mouse right click. It can be used to scan all the files within a folder and, of course, can be deactivated. If you use a proxy server, the Update Manager component is very useful to you because it has proxy support; for dial-up users the included option is indeed useful because AVG Free Edition will automatically open the connection for the update and will also close it when finished. The virus vault is the "prison". Here are stored all the infected files. You can filter them by date or by virus name.

In the view menu of the Control Center the component listing can be changed to reduce mode (actually a list) or back to standard mode (the thumbnail view). The program settings option in the Service menu enables you to manage the test results (how many test results to keep for a number of days).

Returning to the Test Center, the most important menu is the Tests one. You can choose the type of test you want to perform and the options for every one of them (system areas, computer - complete test, selected areas).

When the scan is finished, the antivirus will pop up a small window with the necessary information about the job: when started/ended, number of objects scanned and possible errors and the found viruses, if any (hopefully none).

If you want to try a new protection and still cannot decide which one, you definitely must scan your PC with AVG Free Edition.

Note: As nobody/nothing is perfect, I strongly recommend, along with the antivirus, to scan your PC once in a while with a good anti-spyware program. You can download one from here for free. Above this, if you are really concerned about your safety, you should understand that some new viruses aren't to be removed immediately by all antivirus programs. Therefore, I'd say to test your system from time to time with a second product in this field. You should see a complete list here, on our antivirus database. And, of course, use a firewall, be sure to enable that that came with your Windows OS or choose to install one of your choice. If you can't afford to buy one, try one of the free firewalls from our list.


The Good

AVG Free Edition will run in the background without being noticed. It requires small system resources to get its job properly done and will convince you to keep it as the best antivirus for your computer.


The Bad

Although AVG Free Edition is totally free - but only for home users, the company actually prohibits the use of its product for commercial purposes or within any organization - a few limitations are included in the free version: the software can not be installed on server operating systems (Windows Server 2003, for example) and will not scan network drives. The scheduling options are also limited, with only one update/schedule per day, the healing is not automatic and the language cannot be changed (English by default, of course).
Hint: You can manually update the definitions whenever you like.


The Truth

Let's face it! This program is FREE! And we're talking about a good antivirus, one that is free and doesn't have all that fancy useless graphics. For me it's just enough knowing that I can use a very good and free real-time protection for my PC, keeping my system fresh and high on resources.


Here are some snapshots of the application in action: