Free Anti-Virus software!

Infopackets Reader Robert W. write s:

" Dear Dennis,

I read your article in the Lockergnome newsletter about McAfee Virus Scan. I have had problems in the past with both McAfee and Norton virus programs and abandoned them a while back in favor of a better and FREE antivirus program. It is AVG AntiVirus and can be found at grisoft.com.

I work as a computer technician and have heard of many complaints for both McAfee and Norton products not finding viruses even when you have the latest update. I have also seen this first hand in servicing computers with viruses on them. I highly recommend AVG AntiVirus to everyone. It is an excellent program, is continuously updated and best of all, is free! "

My response:

I have personally not tried the free anti-virus solution offered by Grisoft, but have heard good reviews from fellow colleagues. When visiting the Grisoft web site, I was unable to find any information regarding an "automatic update" feature which would keep the virus scanner up to date without manual intervention.

After sending out the newsletter, numerous avid AVG users emailed me to let me know of the automatic update feature present within the AVG virus scanner. Infopackets Reader Thiri writes:

" When you install AVG, it has a Control Centre, which (by default) places an icon in the System Tray. You can bring it up by a right-click, followed by a choice between the AVG program and the Control Centre. The Control Centre gives you the ability for a scheduled update -- of course this can take place only when you are connected to the Internet. "

Judi S. also had these comments regarding AVG:

" The AVG program is very non-obtrusive... mostly because it is NOT a resource hog. Norton used to slow my email download to a crawl; AVG doesn't interfere at all -- it also does not seem to slow other programs down while it runs in the background. It's fast, clean and efficient. AVG has caught both email and website JavaScript viruses. The only problem with the AVG update is that it is so non-obtrusive. It sets itself to a certain time of day, and if a dial-up connection isn't open, it doesn't remind you to check for an update. Because we are so Klez (virus) conscious these days, both hubby and I check for an update daily, but that's done thru AVG's control center that sits in the system tray. Right click to open it. Click on updates and AVG checks the site for new updates. PS: Thanks for a great ezine. I read it religiously. "