avg

BufferZone Pro for Vista is security software that functions as its own environment. You can surf the Internet through the program's interface and be protected from threats like viruses and malware.

BufferZone Pro for Vista has an attractive and easy-to-navigate interface with a lot of good features to help enhance your computer's security. You have the option to monitor activity on computer peripherals such as CD-ROM drives, flash drives, and USB hard disks, which is a nice benefit. The program comes with its own Firewall and it also has an Event Log that you can check to see … Read more

Most of what's new in AVG Free 9 is under the hood, with the security vendor talking up speedier scan times. There's also a new identity protection feature that's free to people in the United States.

Also in this slideshow, I show an easy way to keep the AVG security toolbar from repurposing your default new tab page.

AVG Free provides the bare necessities when it comes to security, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. You'll get a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, LinkScanner, and e-mail scanning. AVG Free 9 introduces a few new features, with improvements focused on performance, including claims of faster scan and boot times. One new feature is the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Only for users in the United States, ITRU is a business partnership with Identity Guard which provides "consumer identity theft solutions," accessible only from the AVG toolbar in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The interface is … Read more

CORRECTED October 15, 2009, 11:45 a.m.: The default search choice is not changed, as was mistakenly reported earlier. Also, it's not the user's home page that gets changed, but the new tab page. I've clarified the nonmandatory nature of the LinkScanner toolbar, and added information on the identity theft feature in the toolbar.

After giving its paying customers a few weeks to upgrade to version 9, AVG has announced its update for AVG Free 9.

For those unfamiliar with the popular freeware security tool, it provides only the bare necessities for protecting your PC, but … Read more

URL shorteners may be handy for your tweets on Twitter. But they're also known security holes since they don't display the actual address of your destination. A free tool from security vendor AVG may provide a solution.

AVG has updated its free LinkScanner tool to detect malicious pages hiding behind shortened URLs. The company said the tool checks the actual destination of each URL link to make sure the page is legitimate.

More than a dozen URL-shortening services abound on the Net, including TinyURL and Bitly. With its 140-character limit, Twitter automatically shortens URLs in each tweet via … Read more

AVG's most popular product is its free antivirus, but the company also makes two enhanced security suites that are geared for users who don't mind paying for additional protection--as long as it's worthwhile. AVG Anti-Virus 9 introduces a few new features, claiming faster scan times, faster boot times, and other under-the-hood improvements.

Users who've used AVG 8 will find the interface nearly identical, and generally it's easy to use. From the main window, though, you must double-click to get further information on any feature, whether virus scanning, firewall protection, or updating. We'd like to … Read more

The feature-rich versions of popular security program AVG have been updated, with AVG Technologies claiming faster scan times, faster boot times, and other under-the-hood improvements. While version 8 introduced a consolidated product line, making those features work better together takes the attention of AVG Internet Security 9 and AVG Anti-Virus 9.

AVG is making some bold claims for these updates. The company is touting scan times that are "up to 50 percent" faster, based on marking files safe until their file structure changes, and boot times that are "10 to 15 percent" faster. Memory usage is … Read more

Cautionary tales about identity theft are everywhere: blared from the TV, inked in news stories, and relayed with horrified detail in conversations among friends. Heck, I've had to deal with a lifted wallet myself. Anyone who's been there can attest that despite quick calls to the credit card companies and banks, dealing with the aftermath is still a hassle. But physical larceny is one thing; digital defrauding can quickly become a much deeper, broader, and unmitigated violation that can stretch to the bottom of your savings accounts and social circles.

The publishers behind the popular AVG security program … Read more

A study commissioned by Web security company AVG Technologies and the Chief Marketing Officers Council (CMO) points out an interesting contradiction between people's concerns and actions regarding security risks on social networking sites.

The summary report says that "while the majority of social networking users are afflicted by web-borne security problems, less than one third are taking actions to protect themselves online."

Unfortunately, the data provided to the media as of Tuesday afternoon says very little about the study's methodology, lacks the actual questions asked, and in some cases lacks the actual percentages of responses. It … Read more