Saturday, May 1, 2010

Buy AVG Antivirus Software

AVG is an umbrella term for a range of anti-virus and Internet security software for the Microsoft Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD computing platforms, developed by AVG Technologies, a privately held Czech company formerly known as Grisoft.


The brand name AVG comes from Grisoft's first product, "Anti-Virus Guard", launched in 1992 in the then Czechoslovakia. In 1997, the first AVG licenses were sold in Germany and UK. AVG was introduced to the U.S. in 1998.

The AVG Free Edition helped raise awareness of the AVG product line.

In 2006, the AVG security package grew to include anti-spyware, as AVG Technologies acquired ewido Networks, an anti-spyware group. That same year, Microsoft announced that AVG components would be available directly within the Windows Vista operating system.

AVG Technologies acquired Exploit Prevention Labs (XPL) in December 2007, and incorporated that company's LinkScanner safe search and surf technology into the AVG 8.0 security product range released in March 2008.

In January 2009, AVG Technologies acquired Sana Security, a developer of identity theft prevention software. This software was incorporated into the AVG security product range released in March 2009.

According to AVG Technologies, over 110 million users have AVG Anti-Virus protection, including users of the Free Edition.

Versions for Windows desktop clients

AVG Technologies provides a number of products from the AVG range, suitable for Windows 2000 onwards. In addition to this, AVG Technologies also provides Linux and FreeBSD versions of the software. AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 is available in free and commercial editions. AVG 9.0 has identity theft protection through a partnership with Intersections Inc,. AVG 9.0 also adds white listing, behavioral protection and cloud operations to their signature-based blocking. The software adds the Resident Shield, firewall, and identity protection modules. The LinkScanner component has been improved to cut phishing threats further.

For desktop protection of PCs running Windows, the AVG solutions include:

  • AVG Internet Security is a full suite which brings together the AVG Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, Security Toolbar, Firewall, Anti-Spam, Identity Protection and System Tools protection components.
  • AVG Identity Protection provides protection against identity theft and unknown malware threats using behavioral monitoring.
  • AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall provides the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, Security Toolbar and Firewall protection components.
  • AVG Anti-spyware was a rebranded version of ewido Anti-Spyware[6], that was integrated into AVG Anti-Virus as of version 8.0. A free version was also available, having now been merged into AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
  • AVG Anti-Rootkit was a free anti-Rootkit program that was discontinued as of late 2006. Like AVG Anti-Spyware, it has now been merged into AVG Anti-Virus
  • AVGADMIN is a remote administration tool, which allows the software to be managed centrally on networks.[citation needed]
  • AVG Anti-Virus provides the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, and Security Toolbar protection components.
  • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition provides basic Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protection, plus the full AVG LinkScanner safe search and surf technology. There are some limitations with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition compared to the commercial versions of AVG products and other free antivirus. These limitations include:
  • Less protection – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition provides the same anti-virus and anti-spyware scanning engine as the commercial product; however, it lacks anti-rootkit. The older 7.5 Free Edition is perfectly capable of finding and disabling rootkits based on signatures, but cannot scan for rootkit-like activity. The 8.5 version of AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition version lacks any anti-rootkit capability. While there is no official protection for files from messaging sources, the Resident Shield component automatically scans files before they are opened or copied.
  • Infrequent updates – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition receives updates via a lower priority service. Priority updating via high-speed servers is only available for the commercial versions of AVG products.
  • No telephone or e-mail technical support – There is no telephone or e-mail technical support provided by AVG for users of AVG Free Edition products anywhere in the world. AVG Free Edition users have access to support via the self-help AVG Free Forum.
  • Less customization – Scheduling options in AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition are very limited (only one scheduled update per day). However, the AVG Resident Shield configuration allows exclusions. The on-demand/scheduled scanner allows advanced testing options such as heuristics and reporting of password-protected archives reporting. Process priority for on-demand/scheduled scans can be dynamically adjusted over three different configurations.
  • No server support – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition cannot be installed on server operating systems (such as Windows Server 2003), nor can it be used for the scanning of network drives.
  • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is only licensed for home and non-commercial use on a single computer.
  • AVG Free Edition has previously been responsible for popup ads advertising the non-free versions of AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Internet Security , which claim to provide more comprehensive levels of protection. AVG Anti-Virus 8.5 Free Edition users are now also subject to a daily pop-up advertising campaign for a "recommended upgrade" to AVG Internet Security. A "manager" on the AVG free version forum states that this advertisement appears once per day for one month each year.



Versions for servers

AVG Technologies also sells AVG anti-virus and Internet security solutions for web/file servers or email servers running either Linux, FreeBSD or Windows.

  • AVG Internet Security Network Edition provides centrally controlled protection for workstations and file servers. AVG Internet Security SBS Edition 8.5 adds e-mail server and Microsoft SharePoint server protection, plus e-mail server based anti-spam protection.
  • AVG Anti-Virus Network Edition provides centrally controlled anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for workstations and file servers. AVG Anti-Virus SBS Edition 8.5 adds e-mail server and Microsoft SharePoint server protection.
  • AVG File Server Edition provides anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for file servers.
  • AVG E-mail Server Edition provides anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for e-mail servers, plus e-mail server based anti-spam protection.

Features

  • AVG features most of the common functions available in modern anti-virus and Internet security programs, including periodic scans, scans of sent and received emails (including adding footers to the emails indicating this), the ability to "repair" some virus-infected files, and a "virus vault" in which infected files are held (A quarantine area; also known as a "virus chest").

LinkScanner

The patent pending LinkScanner technology acquired from Exploit Prevention Labs and built into most AVG products, provides real-time protection against exploits and drive-by downloads. LinkScanner includes: Search-Shield – a safe search component that places safety ratings next to each link in Google, Yahoo! and MSN search results; plus Active Surf-Shield – a safe surf component that scans the contents of a web site in real-time to ensure it's safe being opened. A faulty upgrade in 8.0.233 causing users to lose internet access, as well as concerns regarding web analytics have made LinkScanner a controversial component (see "LinkScanner Concerns").