Mike Southby

I was asked by a friend a few days ago for a step-by-step walk through for installing AVG Free Edition on their machine.

For ‘non-techies’, simply telling someone to go install something is often a lot harder than it sounds.  In the case of AVG Free Edition this confusion is compounded by Grisoft trying their very best throughout the whole installation process to tempt you into buying one of their premium solutions, and this makes it easy to become confused whilst negotiating the various pages you have to navigate just to find the download link.

Depending on your specific needs, and only you know the kind of browsing you are likely to be doing, a basic antivirus solution is more than ample.  Of course if you are likely to be exposed to multiple threats, a more sophisticated internet security solution may be required.  For most however, AVG Free Edition will be more than adequate and provide sufficient protection for day-to-day internet use.

Caveat: I am in no way offering security advice in this post, I am assuming that you have already sought advice if necessary, and have decided to install AVG Free Edition being aware of its features and limitations.  Remember also that in accordance with its EULA, AVG Free Edition is for home use only and must not be used for business purposes.  If in doubt, check.

So just how do you install AVG Free Edition, well all you need to do is follow these simple steps (this walk through is based on a Windows 7 installation):

• Download AVG Free Edition from the following URL and save to your desktop – http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801
• Double click on the file that downloaded to your desktop, it should be called ‘avg_free_stb_all_9_40_cnet .exe’
• If you have Vista or Windows 7 click ‘Yes’ at the security prompt and then when the installer loads, ensure ‘English’ is selected as the setup language and then choose ‘Next’.  If you are using XP you shouldn’t get the security prompt
• It’ll do a connectivity check, then ask you to choose either ‘Install only basic free protection’ or ‘ Recommended’, only choose the basic protection otherwise it’ll take you to a page to buy the full version.  Click ‘Next’
• It’ll now download the installation files, this will take a few minutes; time for a cup of tea depending on your connection speed
• Next you’ll be asked to accept the license agreement so tick the check box and then click ‘Yes’
• Choose ‘Custom Installation’ followed again by ‘Next’
• The next screen will have your license number which should be pre-populated so just click ‘Next’
• On the next screen is the destination folder for the installation which should be c:program filesavgavg9 by default, click ‘Next’, you’ll be prompted to create the folder as it does not exist so click ‘Yes’
• The next screen is the component selection, assuming you use a web based email solution (such as Gmail or Live Mail), you don’t need the email scanner so un-check EVERYTHING apart from ‘AVG for Windows’ and ‘Link Scanner’ followed by ‘Next’
• You’ll now be asked if you want to install the AVG toolbar; which you don’t.  Un-check both boxes and click ‘next’
• You’ll now be asked to set up the schedule of regular scans and updates, leave the ‘Updates’ options as they are but change the ‘Scans’ options to ‘Never’ (unless you want a daily scan of your hard disk which will slow your computer down) and click ‘Next’ followed by ‘Yes’ at the prompt checking if you are sure you want to turn off daily scans
• Click ‘Finish’
• Click ‘Wait until the first scan starts’

And that’s it.  Of course you can also choose a standard installation instead of specifying the custom options but unless you really need the extra features, there is no need as ultimately the more options which you select, the more resource hungry the application will be.  It’s a balancing act but we are trying to get decent protection without sacrificing system performance.

I hope this helps.

As some of you may know if you are following my Twitter updates, last week I broke my G1.

Now I had been thinking for a while that it was getting a little left behind in terms of technology with all the newer handsets on the market, so the obvious choice was to replace it with something newer and stereotypically of me, something totally different (what is it they say about a change?).

So that left me with a few choices, either another Android device (I’d already thought previously about a Nexus One), an iPhone, the Palm Pre or, a Windows Mobile device.  Logically knowing my love of all things Android it would have made sense to go with the Nexus One, but somehow I found myself being drawn to the sheer lushness of the HTC Leo, or as we know it in the UK market the HD2.  In terms of design, I think it’s a fantastic phone, technology wise too it ticks all the boxes with the latest Snapdragon 1Ghz processor and that huge 4.3 inch screen but, and there’s a catch, it runs on the Windows Mobile platform.  After being a very happy Android user, my head told me not to go for another Windows Mobile device after having many previously, and yet it didn’t take too long until I saw the words ‘thank you, your order has been successfully completed and should arrive shortly’ appear on my screen.

Now I’d like to take this opportunity to say I am well aware that the basic Windows Mobile platform is not a patch on the Android, however HTC have ported their very successful ‘Sense’ interface for the very first time onto a Windows Mobile device with the HD2.  In doing so they have effectively removed (visibly) the Windows Mobile interface for all but the most backend of tasks giving the platform a much needed new lease of life.  There will be those who at this stage will be cringing and telling me what a mistake I have made but there can be no arguing that of all the mobile platforms, Windows Mobile ‘just works’ when it comes to seamless office integration, by that I mean push email with Exchange and the ability to view, edit or create documents on the go; put simply, Windows Mobile is in my opinion, the best business solution for mobile users, it always has been.  Sure, Android can do all these things too, but unless you want to port all of your business needs to Google Apps (which is not as stable or reliable as they will have you believe, I know this through my own experiences), it’s a little ‘clunky’ getting things to work seamlessly as you need 3^rd party applications and workarounds.

Having said that it’s not all great, I haven’t used Windows Mobile for a few years but in terms of application support it’s not a patch on Android, or the iPhone for that matter.  Social integration and the ability to download useless applications for fun is where the money is at these days.  How I’ll miss the ability to make rude noises or hold my phone to my mouth as if it were a glass and watch the ‘beer’ level go down.  OK, perhaps not.  Still, I will have the ability to run the social networking applications I have been used to using such as Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare so all is not lost.  Also worth remembering is that what the Windows Marketplace (which let’s be honest is a joke compared with the Android Marketplace or the iPhone Apps Store) lacks in terms of applications, is somewhat made up for by the work of developers over at the XDA Developers Forum.

For my needs though, I think – indeed I hope – Windows Mobile 6.5 with Sense on the HD2 will be just fine.  I guess only time will tell; watch this space for updates over the coming weeks.

The install or upgrade of Microsoft Internet Explorer will give you the option to change your default search engine just as in previous versions of IE; of course for many this is going to involve a change from Bing to Google.  Now it may only be a minor point but after this initial choice their doesn’t seem to be an easy way of changing to a regional variant of Google using the Search Add-In menu, being that I live in the UK it seems a reasonable assumption that I am going to choose to change my default searching habits to UK searching – or at least have that choice.  Easy to do you’d have thought, alas not in IE!

After giving it some thought, the answer is actually quite easy, instead of using the menus within IE simply visit the webpage that was first seen at the beginning (of course most people will have gone straight past this screen and no longer have access to it), the webpage is:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/searchguide/en-en/default.mspx?dcsref=http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx

Here you will have the option to create your own search provider which is a lot easier than it sounds.  All you need to do is the following (using Google UK as a guide):

• Open a new tab in the browser (IE, of course), ensuring you leave the existing page open as you will need to come back shortly
• Visit the search engine that you want to be your default, in this case http://www.google.co.uk
• Perform a search for ‘TEST’ ensuring that you use all capital letters and that you check the UK option to return search results based on UK sites
• Copy and paste the URL of the page containing the search results into the box back on the ‘Add Search providers To Internet Explorer’ page
• Choose a name for this search provider, in this case Google UK
• Hit install

That’s it, simple.  Next time you use the search field in IE you’ll be presented with relevant sites.

If you have Sky HD then you’ll probably wish like me that the ITV HD service was available through your subscription, let’s face it it’s not as if they do not charge enough!  It would seem that the ITV HD service is only available on Freesat (via the red button), frustrating considering that ITV are carrying some of the latest FA Cup matches and the traditional SD signal broadcast on Sky is woeful.  What a lot of people do not realise is that it is possible to receive the ITV HD service by using your existing Sky+ HD box.  Read on.

To get ITV HD on Sky, go to Services > Options > Add channels, and enter the following details:

• Frequency (GHz): 11.427
• Polarisation: H
• Symbol Rate (Mbaud): 27.5
• FEC: 2/3

Then select Find Channels and add channel 10510.  You can watch it via Other Channels.

Note: This trick appears to work on the new Sky+ HD EPG guide only.  Also, you will not be able to record programs using the Sky+ function or find the channel in the EPG, you’ll have to manually select the ITV HD channel by selecting channel 10510 in the Other Channels section.  To find out what ITV HD programmes are available take a look at this site.