Protect yourself from computer viruses by using the free AVG antivirus from AVG Technologies - Tutorial 4 - Other AVG features

Last updated October 13, 2010 4:55 PM

In this short tutorial we'll be taking a look at some of the other features in AVG 2011 and what they mean for you.

In tutorial 2, you saw how to open the main AVG window. From that window we can see several modules that make up the program. The modules are shown again in the screen-shot below:-

We will go over the modules now and explain what each one does.

Anti-Virus - This is the module which scans and detects viruses on your computer, both in real time and when you run an on-demand scan.

Anti-Spyware - Just like the Anti-Virus module, only focused on spyware components.

LinkScanner - The LinkScanner module actively checks links that are returned when you search in a search engine. We'll take a look at this module in more depth later in this tutorial.

Resident Shield - This module prevents malware from disabling or tampering with AVG.

E-mail Scanner - Checks incoming e-mail for malicious attachments.

Update Manager - Ensures AVG is kept up-to-date. You should always keep antivirus software up-to-date so that it knows about the latest threats.

License - Manages user licenses both paid-for and free.

Anti-Rootkit - Detects and prevents the installation of known rootkits. A rootkit is software which attempts to covertly install and run itself at the "root" or lowest level of the operating system. This is done to subvert normal operating system security features like User Account Control. Rootkits are extremely dangerous and very difficult to remove, prevention is definitely better than cure.

PC Analyzer - Disappointingly, AVG technologies have decided to include a registry scanning module in an attempt to sell their users a registry cleaner. Registry cleaning is unnecessary, see this article for more information. You can safely ignore this module (and we recommend you do).

Identity Protection - Monitors how programs behave on the computer and automatically blocks activity that could lead to identity theft (such as documents or e-mails being sent across the internet without your permission).

More on the LinkScanner

The AVG link scanner is a unique feature that can make surfing and researching on the internet safer. When you have the AVG link scanner active, search results will have a tick/check or cross mark next to them, indicating their safety. See the screen-shot of a Google search below:-

You can see that our site has the green star with a tick/check mark in it, indicating it is safe. Bad or suspicious sites are marked with exclamation (!!) marks. Remember that this tool does often get things wrong, and can sometimes slow down your surfing (though not significantly) but it does improve your online safety.

To use the LinkScanner, the AVG toolbar must be installed on your browser. However, it need not be displayed, so feel free to hide the toolbar if you wish to reclaim space on your browser. See the help or documentation for your web browser for details of how to do this.

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