But just as viruses have grown in strength and complexity over the years, so also have the tools used to combat them. With the latest generation of anti-virus software, you can give your computer a level of protection never before possible.

The economical alternative
There are many anti-virus options on the market, but finding one that’s effective with a good development team and frequent updates is harder to come by. Big names such as Norton, McAfee, and PC-cillin offer top-notch protection but their steep price tags prevent the average home PC user from availing of their services.

Fortunately, there is an option that has everything you need in an anti-virus program with a price tag that’s tough to beat.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is the well known anti-virus protection tool that offers proactive protection along with handy scheduling features. It can be downloaded by home users free of charge from free.grisoft.com. Updates are also available for free for the lifetime of the product.

Installing AVG Anti-Virus is a breeze! Just double-click on the setup program and with a few more clicks of the mouse, you are done.

Update you definitions!
Like any security program, anti-virus programs are only as good as their last updates. Therefore, after installing it, it is best to update AVG Anti-Virus to make sure that your PC will be well-protected against all known viruses.

To update AVG, open the Control Center by double-clicking on the yellow, black, green, and red icon on the system tray. Click the “Check for Updates” button on the left side of the interface. After a few seconds, a window indicating the necessary updates will appear. Click “Update”. After a few more moments, AVG will indicate that the new virus definitions have been downloaded and installed.

Anti-Virus updates come out frequently. To make sure that you always have the latest updates, it is best to check for updates regularly. You may choose to do so manually but the best method to stay on top of updates is to set a schedule. To do so, click “Scheduler” on the right side of the Control Center then click “Scheduled Tasks” at the bottom. Highlight “Update plan in Basic mode” then click “Edit Schedule”. Choose your preferred time from the drop-down menu and click “OK”.

Now that AVG is armed with the latest virus definitions, you are ready to scan your system for viruses.

Scan for Viruses
From the Control Center, click the “Test Center” button then click “Scan Computer” on the window that appears. This will scan all the files in your PC and will take a while to finish. While it is a lengthy process, you should use this option as often as possible as part of your routine maintenance to ensure the security of your system.

For a more focused scan of a particular hard drive or any special location in your system, choose “Scan Selected Areas”. This option is great for a quick scan when you think that you might have downloaded something questionable.

It is important to scan your system for viruses frequently. The best way to stick to a regular schedule is to use AVG’s Scheduler feature. Much like scheduling updates, click “Scheduler” from the Test Center interface. Highlight “Test plan in basic mode” then click “Edit Schedule”. Although it is better to scan your system when you are not using it, you may also schedule the scan at any other time because AVG does not eat up a lot of your system’s resources.

Other features
AVG also allows you to create a rescue disk on a standard floppy disk so you can get into your pc using its safe mode and clean the infected files. To do so, click the “Rescue Disk Wizard” from the Test Center interface. Follow the directions then insert a blank floppy disk and click “Create”.

AVG not only protects your system from known virus threats, it also provides real-time protection and spots programs that behave like viruses and put them in isolation – even before a code is written to counteract them. The Resident Shield works in the background and checks all files and file types (including floppy disk, CD content, etc) while the Email Scanner works with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook and checks email attachments for suspicious files.

AVG has everything you need in an anti-virus program! It has a thorough scan engine that provides real-time protection without taking much of your system’s resources. Best of all, it’s free! What more can you ask for?