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Lady Bane's Guide To Virus Scanners

Viruses are very real. People get them, and those that aren't protected send it them to everyone they know before they are even aware that they have it. The following are instructions on how to get AVG Virus Scanner, a freeware program from Grisoft. You may want to print these directions before you start. Click here for a printer friendly version.

Part 1: Downloading

• Go to: www.grisoft.com into your favorite web browser
• When you get to the website you will see on the menu on the left hand side of the screen "AVG Free Edition", click on that.
• You will then be taken to a page that tells you about all of the features of the free edition go down to the bottom of the page and click "Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition".
• You will then be shown the license agreement and you will be asked to select "Yes, I Agree" or "No, I Disagree". Press the "Yes, I Agree" button.
• Next you will see the Registration Page, be sure to use your real e-mail address because they will e-mail you the license number which you need to use the program. You only need to fill in the information with a star (*) beside it, the rest is optional. Click "Continue" when you are done.
• A Download page will come next and the file should start to download, a new window should pop up and depending on your browser and it's settings you may be asked to asked to "Open", "Save", "Cancel" or "More Info". Select "Open" which will automatically start the program when it is finished downloading.
• The file is 5.66MB, which means it will take approx 15 minutes to download if you are using a dial-up connection. It may take even longer if you have a slow connection.
• While your program is downloading, take this time to check your email and you should have one from AVG with your serial number in it. Write your serial number down on a piece of paper or "Copy and Paste" it if you know how to.
• When the download is finished it will automatically start the installation program. A window will pop up that says "AVG 6.0 Anti-Virus System Setup" and give you three options "Setup", "Cancel" and "About". Click on "Setup"
• You will then be prompted to close any other programs you have running and click "Next", do that.
• Next you will be shown another license agreement, just click "Yes"
• Next you will have to type in the serial number that they e-mailed you, type it in in the little box. If you don't have the serial number written down yet or your email hasn't arrived check out Troubleshooting below. Click "Next" to continue
• Next you see the Installation Location page, unless you want it somewhere special just click the "Next" button again
• After that is the "Select Program Folder", which means where it will appear on your programs list in your start menu. Just hit "Next".
• It will then show you a summary of how you want it to be installed, just click "Next" again.
• It will copy and install some files, just sit back and relax for a second
• After that you will need to "Configure your Protection", and there will be 4 options that you can use. Each one is explained briefly, I would leave them all checked though and then hit "Next"
• Next it will ask you if you want AVG to update itself automatically. I strongly recommend this because your virus scanner is useless unless it has all of the latest viruses in its memory, click "Next".
• The "Readme" will be displayed next, just click the "Next" button again
• Congratulations, you now have a virus scanner; you will be prompted to restart your computer. Click "OK" to restart it now or uncheck the box and restart it manually yourself later.

Part 2: Getting Started

• After you restart your computer the "Getting Started" section will start up automatically. This is to get the latest virus data, make some rescue disks and scan your computer for viruses; you will only have to do this once.
• The first part is updating the virus data; I strongly recommend you do this right now. Connect to the internet (if you're not already) before you press the "Update Now" button
• The next part is making rescue disks, if you have blank 3.5" disks then I suggest you do this, if not you can always come back at a later time and make them. These disks will help you if you get a virus that sneaks by the virus scanner. They are not mandatory but if you've got some disks, why not take the extra precaution?
• The next section is to actually scan your computer for viruses that you may already have. If you have never used a virus scanner before then definitely scan! This may take a while but you can do other things while it's scanning at least. If you have a virus (or viruses) then it will tell you and give you some options about what to do with them.
• After you go through those steps you should be done. AVG will run in the background and hopefully you will never hear from it again.
• If by chance you do get a virus then a screen will pop up and ask you what you want to do or else automatically put it in the "Virus Vault". The instructions on screen should advise you on what to do.

Part 3: Troubleshooting

• Q. Help, I didn't write down my AVG serial number before I needed it and now I can't get it without exiting the setup program!
  A. No worries, simply press your Windows key (if you have one), it's usually located between the Ctrl and the Alt key near the bottom left of your keyboard, once you press that then start your email program, get the number and quit out of it and type in your serial number.
• Q. My ZoneAlarm Alert popped up when I tried to download the latest virus updates.
  A. That's okay, click the checkbox beside "Remember this answer the next time I use this program" and click "Yes".
• Q. At the "AVG Update File Download" part nothing ever happened, I just sat and waited. What am I supposed to do?
  A. The server may be down, so just click "Cancel" for now and try again later.