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by : Jason Parker

Even though adware and spyware have been grabbing all of the personal-computing headlines recently, you should never become complacent about the threat of a virus. While the number of particularly malicious strains are few and far between, once your computer has a virus, it can start misbehaving immediately, potentially losing all of your data and passing the virus on to other computers.

There are many antivirus options on the market, but finding one that’s effective with a good development team and frequent updates is harder to come by. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, a free program that offers proactive protection along with handy scheduling features, lets you establish a basic line of defense against malicious viruses. While there is no bulletproof protection against new viruses, these four tips will help you set up AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition so you can vastly reduce your chances of infection.

Step 1: Update your protection

After you’ve installed AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, you’ll see the red, yellow, black, and green icon appear in your system tray. Double-clicking that icon will open the Control Center, which lists top-level options and AVG’s currently available components. Like any security program, antivirus programs are only as good as their latest updates. Without frequent updates you’ll still be able to guard against older viruses, but if a new one is released you’ll be completely unprotected.

To get started, click the Check for Updates button on the left side of the interface. When the next dialog box appears, click the Internet button to designate how you plan to update AVG. After a quick download and installation, your AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition will be completely up-to-date. Remember, updates come out fairly regularly for antivirus programs to protect against the latest threats, so the best method to stay on top of updates is to set a schedule. To do so, click Scheduler from the components on the right; then click Scheduled Tasks in the lower right of the interface. Select the line that says Update Plan in Basic Mode and click the Edit Schedule button. This will let you specify a time for AVG to download new updates on a daily basis. Choose a time from the drop-down menu that suits your schedule and click OK.

Step 2: Scan your system

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If you need to eradicate a virus from your system, you’ve got to find it first via a scan. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition has a few methods for system scans. The first step for scanning your computer is to click the Test Center button on the left side of the Control Center interface. The Test Center presents your options for scanning, as well as another update feature (as we noted before, update often). Clicking the Scan Computer button will scan all of your drives and system files. This method can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes depending on the speed of your system and the amount of data on your drive(s).

While it’s a lengthy process, you should use this option whenever possible during your routine maintenance because you never know where a virus might be hiding. For a quicker scan of a particular hard drive, or perhaps just the system files, choose the Scan Selected Areas button. This option is great for a quick scan when you think you might have downloaded something questionable or if things don’t seem quite right. You also can right-click any downloaded file and choose Scan with AVG from the Windows context menu. You even can scan every file in a ZIP or RAR archive for viruses. Your safest bet is to run the more thorough Scan Computer option whenever time permits.

Step 3: Schedule your scans

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Needless to say, regularly scanning your computer for viruses is important for keeping your data safe and preventing viruses from spreading. The best way to stick to a regular schedule is to use AVG’s Scheduler feature. Scheduling scans is much like scheduling updates. Open the Control Center, click the Scheduler component, and then click the Scheduled Tasks button on the lower right of the interface. Next, highlight the line that says “Test plan in basic mode” and click the Edit Schedule button.

In the next window you can select a time when AVG Anti-Virus will scan your computer every day. The best and most efficient times to perform scans are when you’re not already using your computer for other tasks. Pick a time when you know you’ll be away from your computer (perhaps lunch or the end of your day) and click OK. In that same window, you can check the box that sets AVG to scan at computer start-up if you miss your regular scan time.

Step 4: Prepare for a worst-case scenario

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One worst-case scenario would be if a malicious new virus somehow slipped past AVG’s defenses and infected your system files. As a preventive measure, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition lets you create a rescue disk on a standard floppy disk so you can get into your computer using its safe mode and clean the infected files. To create a rescue disk, open the Control Center and then open the Test Center as in Step 2. On the left side of the Test Center window, click the button that says Rescue Disk Wizard. Follow the directions in the wizard until you come to the final window. Insert a blank floppy disk and click Create to make your rescue disk.