To keep your PC safe from malicious software, such as viruses and spyware, it is important for you to install and configure an antivirus software on it. Antivirus software works as an active shield to ensure that no malicious program is downloaded to your system. Today, a large number of free and paid (Norton and MacAfee) antivirus programs are available in the market to help you keep your PC protected from malware. In this article, we will discuss the features of AOL Active Virus Shield (AVS), which is a popular free antivirus tool.
AOL Active Virus Shield: Features
AOL Active Virus Shield antivirus tool effortlessly integrates with different Windows operating systems including Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. It is compatible with many other security and protection programs, such as firewall and anti-spyware programs, configured on your system. You can easily search for and download the AOL Active Virus Shield from the Internet and install it on your system. However, to prevent product incompatibilities, the program may prompt you to uninstall or disable any other antivirus program previously installed and configured on your system.
Active Virus Shield is a perfect combination of both traditional signature-based virus detection and the latest deep scanning technologies. Therefore, by using this software, you can not only scan and stop viruses from downloading to and infecting your PC, but also perform a deep scan of various executables on your system to check them for possible virus infection. This ensures that your computer is doubly protected against viruses and considerably reduces the chances virus infections on your PC.
Active Virus Shield makes it really simple for you to scan individual files, e-mails, and entire disks for virus infection and repair infected files. You can use the software to scan many different types of malware including, virus and spyware. The antivirus tool also enables you to scan joke programs for viruses. The best feature of the tool is that it offers real-time protection and easily integrates with your email software to scan incoming and outgoing mail for viruses.
When an antivirus scan runs on your system, it eats up a lot of system resources that slow down your computer. Due to this, many users avoid running virus scans regularly and put their PCs at higher risk of getting infected by viruses. You can save yourself from this situation, by configuring Active Virus Shield to scan only critical portions of your operating system. To ensure faster scans, you can also configure the software to scan only those files that were created or changed after the last scan. Whichever scanning method you choose, Active Virus Shield works as a watchman and continuously monitors your system and helps you in protecting your files.
In comparison to other anti virus software, Active Virus Shield is light and does not consume a lot of system memory during startup. The engine of AOL’s virus active shield is based on the engine of Kaspersky Personal Anti-Virus 6. This engine enables the tool to update virus definitions almost every hour and ensures that your PC is always up-to-date and ready to fight new viruses and spyware more effectively. The virus detection rate of AOL’s Active Shield is much better than other free antivirus software such as, AVG Free and Avast Home.
Due to an uncontrollable and constant increase in the number of various virus and spyware programs, it has become crucial for all PC users to install a reliable antivirus tool on their systems. AOL Active Virus Shield is a free and lightweight antivirus tool that you can easily download and configure on your system. High detection rate and user-friendly configuration features make this tool quite popular among users.
UPDATE:
AOL Active Virus Shield is no longer available for users. Instead AOL has partnered with McAfee and now offers a new tool with the name McAfee Virus Scan Plus-Special edition. This new tool is compatible with Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems and offers the following features:
- Virus protection to prevent and remove malware programs such as virus, Trojan, and worms.
- Spyware protection to shield unwanted spyware and adware programs from stealthily installing on your computer.
- Firewall to block undesired external intrusion to your computer.
- Automatic on-guard and update features to help you keep your PC safe against the latest malware.
This tool is offered free to users who have an AOL e-mail address. You can download the tool from the AOL Internet Security Central website.