avg free

Versions for Windows clients

Grisoft provides a number of products from the AVG range, suitable for Windows 95 onward and Linux:

• AVG Free Edition, a freeware program which allows home users unlimited use and unlimited updates. It is not legal to use it commercially.
• AVG Professional Edition, this is the standalone Anti-Virus product designed primarily for home desktops.
• AVG SoHo edition, which includes AVG Professional licences for several machines (available in 2 and 5 licences), intended for small organisations using peer-to-peer networks.
• AVG Plus Firewall Edition, adds a firewall to the Professional version. Is available in 1, 2 and 5 licences.
• AVG Anti-Malware Edition, has both anti-virus and anti-spyware facilities
• AVG Internet Security Edition, contains anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and anti-spam facilities.
• AVG Anti-Spyware Edition, protects against spyware. Based upon the Ewido engine.
• AVG Network Edition, a lightweight, network-administrable version, intended for enterprises. Also available following the release of AVG 7.5 are Network versions of AVG Anti-Malware and AVG Internet Security.

All AVG products are compatible with the 64-bit edition of Windows. The AVG Professional edition also currently runs on Windows Vista Beta 2

All versions of the AVG software are available on a trial basis. Each trial allows all users (including businesses and institutions) a 30 day trial period. After this time a fee is required, which yields a key that unlocks the program for continued use.

Versions for servers

Grisoft also sells AVG antivirus solutions for computer servers running both Linux and Windows :

• AVG Email Server Edition - Protects both server and mailboxes against viruses and spyware, and is licenced per mailbox. Also covers sharepoint servers.
• AVG File Server Edition - Protects the server, is licenced per connection to the server. Also covers web servers.

The AVG Network edition can also be licensed to protect File Servers.

Features

AVG features most of the common functions available in modern antivirus programs, including periodic scans, scans of sent and received emails (including adding footers to the emails indicating this), the ability to "heal" some virus-infected files, and a "virus vault" in which infected files are held.

• AVGADMIN a remote administration tool allows software to be managed centrally on networks.

AVG Free Edition

AVG Free Edition has spearheaded the company's growth. According to Grisoft, over 40 million users have AVG Anti-Virus protection, including users of the Free Edition.

The AVG Free Edition is similar to the Professional product, but does not have all the features. It lacks the fine-grained control over how scans are conducted, and it receives lower priority (than the paid-for products) when downloading updates from Grisoft's servers. The language interface cannot be customised, and English is the only available language.

Full Technical Support is not available for the Free Edition, whereas it is available to users of the Professional products.

Ewido Anti-Spyware

On April 19, 2006 it was announced that Grisoft had acquired the German Anti-Malware company Ewido Networks. This was a step forward for Grisoft towards providing comprehensive security.

Light memory footprint

One feature of AVG that makes it popular with its users, is that it is very light on the system and does not slow it down notably like other anti-virus software. Resource use is low, the Professional Edition requires only 16MB RAM and 20 MB of space on the hard drive.

Certifications and awards

AVG Anti-Virus has won numerous awards. Certifications that the software holds include the Virus Bulletin VB100% Award - which is awarded to products which manage to detect 100% of the viruses "In the Wild", without false alarming. It is also 100% Detection Rate certified by independent ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs Checkmark Level 1 certification and TÜV Monitored Virus Protection certification. AVG free received a 4/5 rating on download.com and the PRO version recieved a 5/5 rating.

References

• Grisoft announces release of ewido Anti-Spyware
• Intel buys part of Grisoft

External links

• Grisoft's website
• AVG UK (Distribution and Support of AVG Anti-Virus in the UK and Ireland)
• Avalanche Technology Group - Distribution and Support of AVG Anti-Virus in Australia and New Zealand

Support of AVG Free is only available at free.grisoft.com