Have you ever gone to a website that you thought was safe and later on learned that you picked up a piece of malicious code (such as a virus or a Trojan horse) from that site? It happens even to the best of us, so do not worry about it. Just know that you can avoid this problem in the future with just one piece of software. And the best part of the whole thing is, this piece of software is free, and it has an exclamation point as part of its name. While the exclamation point of Avast! is not really that big of a feature, it does connote that this is a special kind of program in the normally dry, overly formal security software genre.
Avast! is a great piece of software. First off, it will warn you whenever you are about to go to a site which has been found to be suspect or which has some component that sets off Avast!’s sensing software that indicates a malware site. While it will occasionally go overboard and err on the side of safety, it is better to be warned about a secure site than to have an “all clear” flag waved in front of the proverbial Jolly Roger. Avast! is even good enough that it updates itself with new database entries every single day.
And on top of all of that, Avast! is a free program. It does allow you to extend your level of services (with things which you can supplement with freeware programs anyway) for a fee, but this is never required of you. All you have to do is install Avast! on your computer, register it and confirm that you are a human being, and the software will be yours (and do a lot of work to protect your computer) for as long as you keep it running. It is truly one of those “set and forget” kinds of deals.