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.