AVG offers a free home user edition with free updates for the life of the product and that has made it popular with a lot of home PC users looking for a cheap anti-virus solution. The major difference between it and the professional edition designed for commercial users is that you only get the basic user interface. The advanced scheduling of tests and creating of your own tests has been disabled.


Although this won’t matter to most home users, bear in mind that there is no technical support with the free version. However AVG is a well laid out program, designed with the basic user in mind.


The key feature that makes it easy to use regardless of your level of computer skill is the basic/advanced mode switch that allows you to swap between a very simplistic interface and a more in-depth intermediate setup.


When using basic mode all of your settings are automatically configured by AVG and there really is very little that the user needs to modify.


Switching to advanced mode allows you almost full control over what AVG is doing and how it is handled. Everything from scheduled tasks to the buttons displayed can be modified to suit the individual’s needs.


When you swap to advanced mode, the layout and structure switches to a directory tree-style setup where the user must expand the trees in order to access the options and applications contained within each category.


While its performance was lacking, catching 77.5 percent of nasties, it’s free, functional, and easy to use. By catering for both the basic and advanced users AVG provides a more user friendly interface and gives all users the ability to effectively control and maintain their virus protection software.