Avast Antivirus
Free.99 (Got to love the freeware)
W
hen it comes to freeware, we know there is plenty of it out there. Some good, some are horrible. When it comes to all the different anti-virus solutions out there, Avast tends to be my favorite for several reasons. One reason, it's free, also it is adware and spyware free (no pun intended). I use Avast and I have had no problems with it. Avast uses very little resources, runs fast, and doesn't block everything you do like some anti-virus software, and we all know how annoying that can get.
Features
A
vast protects your computer on many fronts. It works as an anti-virus as it should, and has built in software firewall features. All scanning features come with a slide bar that you can turn up and down, depending on how secure you need each "sector" to be. You may also customize each scanning agent. Avast provides live scanning of files from instant messaging, internet mail, outlook express, p2p files, web files, and of course files on your system. The network shield protects your system from malicious attacks. You can also view the history to see if your system has been attacked recently. Avast provides automatic database definition file updates. So if you are bad about updating your Anti-virus software, this may be a handy feature for you. Avast even has a feature called VRDB (virus recovery database), this will help in case a virus sneaks past, it will clean and return files to their original state. Avast will scan your memory at the start up of the program, so if you have a pesky virus that you can not get rid of because it loads into memory at startup, Avast will set-up a scan at boot time so it can clean the virus before it gets a chance to load on to your system again.
So what does Avast not do?
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vast will not do your laundry, clean your room, or make you rich, it also does not provide any protection from spyware or adware. When it comes to antivirus this is probably the best program you will find, free or paid, period. There is not much that Avast lacks when it comes to antivirus programs. It is easy to use and non intrusive. It even lets you set a password to change settings. With that said this will be a very short section.
Total Tech Review's Final Thoughts
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wesome program, with great features, when used in combination with a good anti-spyware/adware program, your trips to the local PC doctor will be a thing of the past.