Avast - best free antivirus software ever! (Avast 4 Home Edition)

Member Name: dannyt25

Product:	Avast 4 Home Edition
Date:	12/02/09 (310 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good reliable free software which has very small quick updates.

Disadvantages: Takes a long time running boot scans

I always thought that AVG was the best free home anti-virus software about, until now that is!!
I have been using Avast Home edition for about 6 months now and can honestly say it knocks spots off AVG. The whole application itself seems a lot more simplistic and is easy to use. Avast is totally free for home use as they have a commercial version which they charge companies for.
I think the license lasts for over a year before it stops updating the virus checker but once this runs out you can just log onto their website and download the application again and get another years absolutely free.
Alwil who are the makers of Avast anti-virus offer support by email if you are struggling with any aspect of the application. Although just to make a point I have never emailed them as I haven't experienced any problems as of yet so I wouldn't know if the service was of any use.

Built into Avast are 4 different shields.

Internet Mail Shield : - This provides protection for your online emails.

Network Shield :- This is similar to a firewall and blocks unauthorised attacks

Outlook Exchange :- Protects email messages from MS Outlook

Web Shield :- Protects from general viruses while browsing the web.

This software provides great features which include a boot scan before the pc starts up. The only drawback with this is that the scan takes a long time and you don't really know what sort of timescale it will take to finish the full scan. There is a percentage indication but that seems to jump around.

Another great point to Avast is that the virus protection updates are small unlike if you were using Norton which sometimes hits the PC's memory and usage hard during updates which makes it unusable. This is great for some older PC's as it tends not to leave as much of a footprint behind and just gets on with the job quickly and efficiently.

All in all Avast is a useful security application that doesn't batter your CPU when doing updates. It's never going to be as effective as the likes of Norton or MacAfee but you cant expect that standard as the program is completely free.
If you have no security at all I would recommend installing this above the other free software available. Even if you are a computer novice this application is easy to install and once installed it can sit and automatically keep itself updated.

Summary: Efficient and tidy free Anti-Virus software.

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