AVG Antivirus Protection has been around for many years; ten years, to be exact. They started out as a little known company announcing the goal of offering free cutting edge virus protection. They quickly became widely popular and well known for the quality of their software. Over the past ten years, the company has made many changes and expanded greatly. They are now an international corporation with locations in Europe, Britain, and the United States. They’ve also won a variety of industry awards including one of their most recent from Business Solutions Magazine. They were voted “Best Channel Vendor” of 2010 in the Security category. They were among the top two for both product features and product reliability.

Despite the impressive stats, AVG seems to remember its humble beginnings. It still offers free editions of their AV software and they also offer free trials of their other programs. On their website, you can view all of their current offerings, get discounts if you choose to upgrade from the free edition, and download the free version with a simple click of your mouse.

Which AVG product should you try?

If you’re new to AVG, I’d highly recommend trying out their free edition. Constantly updated, AVG didn’t skimp on quality because this is a free edition. In fact, the free edition is more reliable than paid versions of some other AV software I’ve tried. The free edition offers great features, including:

• a Smart Anti-Root kitThis ensures that your PC won’t spread a virus to any other PC should it contract one.
  
  
• Social Networking ProtectionDo you spend a lot of time on FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, or other social networks? Then this protection is a necessity for you.(Although AVG claims that this is a unique feature of theirs, there are other AV programs that offer this sort of protection).
  
  
• LinkScanner AVG offers a great version of an online verify-before-you-visit. Imagine having a body guard check out a building before you enter. This is what LinkScanner does. It scans any links you’re interested in visiting and lets you know if you should just skip it.

If trying the free edition makes you yearn for more AVG or if you’re already familiar with their software, then go ahead and upgrade. AVG offers two fuller types of protection. With either the Anti-Virus software or the Internet Security AV programs, you’ll receive:

• an online shield for safer downloads
  
• an online shield for safe chatting
  
• excellent technical support
  
• Priority updates – you’ll be the first to know about any new threats

The Internet Security version offers a few more perks in addition to everything mentioned. How much is all of this awesome coverage going to cost you? Currently, AVG doesn’t disappoint with an amazing price of under $50 for either program. If you’re convinced that you’d like to test them out, visit the download page of their site to begin.

AVG Free Downloads Page