In the battle against malware attacks, computer users are becoming more aware of the need to have antivirus software on their computers. This is a great step in preventing problems related to malware, but many users cannot afford to purchase or download applications that cost money. This is why AVG Anti-Virus is a great option for most home users.

AVG Anti-Virus is offered for free to users of non-commercial computers. Millions of people have already downloaded and installed the software making AVG Anti-Virus one of the more popular free antivirus applications. However, if you require more protection than a basic antivirus program, you will need to purchase a more complete package offered by AVG. The free version is lacking in many areas such as technical support, anti-spyware, anti-spam, a firewall and multiple languages.

GRISOFT, which is the developer and distributor of AVG Anti-Virus has also recently made free anti-spyware and anti-rootkit programs available for home users if they are in need of these protections. For a computer user that is in need of a complete security suite, they also have release AVG Internet Security Home Edition, a complete protection package that can be used on up to three computers in your home. Of course, this comes at a cost to the user.

Once you have installed AVG Anti-Virus or another antivirus program, do not forget about the threat of malware. Unfortunately most free antivirus programs will not protect you from receiving these threats through email attachments, which is the most common way that they are spread. For this reason it is a good idea to be careful when receiving emails from people you know. If you did not expect to receive an attachment from them, then you should refrain from opening it until you can verify from that person that they did in fact send it to you. The reason for this is that many times when a computer is infected with a virus it will automatically send emails to everyone in your contact list with a copy of itself attached. If you receive an attachment from someone that you do not know, do not open it under any circumstance! A good rule of thumb is to use your common sense and do not open any attachments that are unsolicited.

An antivirus program is only as good as the virus definition file that is installed with it. For this reason, you are also going to want to be sure that your antivirus program is updating frequently. Even if you have the automatic updates feature of your antivirus program enabled, it is a good idea to check to see when the last update actually occurred. This way if your program is having problems connecting to the developers update server due to firewall issues or other problems, you can correct these issues in a timely manner so that your computer is not exposed to threats for a long period of time.

There are, unfortunately, some cases in which a virus or worm can attack your computer without the antivirus program picking it up. If you know that your computer has one of these infections but your antivirus program could not detect or remove it, you can download and run a virus cleaner that is targeted towards these particular infections. A quick search using your favorite search engine should get you pointed in the right direction.