(Note: today's post is the Computer Tip for Monday, November 13. Starting next week, the "Computer Tip" and Video Clip will appear here on my blog, instead of in the newsletter. If you are a subscriber to the newsletter, you will continue to receive it. The newsletter will basically just be a link to the current blog entry.)
For quite some time, the antivirus program that I have used and recommended is AVG. It does a good job, it is not bloated like Norton so it doesn't slow down your computer, and it is also free for personal use.
You may have gotten a notice from AVG recently that the free version 7.1 will be discontinued. I have received many emails about this, asking "Does that mean I have to buy the paid version now?". The answer is no.
All you need to do is get the new free version, which is version 7.5. You can get it at this download link. When you get to that page, you will see box that says "AVG Free for Windows installation files" and under that will be a link to download the actual file (the file name will end with .exe).
When you click on that, the file will start downloading (it is a fairly large file, so it might take a while if you are on a dialup connection). If you are using Firefox, choose "Save to disk" and the file will end up on your desktop, where you will double click to install the program. If you are using Internet Explorer, just choose "Run" and the file will automatically start installing when the download is complete.
You do not need to remove the current version before installing the new one.
Under "Component Selection", just leave all boxes checked.
Finally, you will need to restart the computer when the installation is finished, so be sure to save all of your open documents first.
If you are still using CounterSpy as your antispyware program (which you should), then you don't need to download the AVG anti-spyware program. And you don't need to download the "Trial Version" of the AVG paid antivirus program. Just get the free version, and you will have what you need.
You don't need to do this immediately, since the current free version will be supported until January 15, 2007. However, I recommend doing it as soon as possible so that your software is always as up to date as it can be.
This week's video: the magic of pen twirling
