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Similar to the common cold, computer viruses spread like crazy. Having a anti-virus program is vital to any computer, either at home or at work. Most systems ship with Norton, but more and more people are switching it out for Avast! Anti-virus. Avast is a free anti-virus program that provides all the real-time protection your computer could need.
Avast runs several types of virus shields, which can be adjusted from low to high security with the simple slide of a meter. It comes with six shields – the file system shield, mail shield, web shield, P2P shield, script shield, the network shield and finally the behavior shield.
Aside from shielding every aspect of your computer, it also protects itself so that viruses can’t overwrite or delete it. Avast keeps itself up to date, but you can pick when and how it updates itself. It gets almost daily updates to stay ahead of new viruses on the web. Avast also tackles one of the biggest complaints about Norton and other anti-virus software – it takes very little of your computer’s processing power to run. No extra lag when you boot up – only the unobtrusive automatic updates.
If you run a small business, it can be pricy to pay for multiple copies of Norton – whereas Avast is free. If you choose to update to Avast Pro, it is a one-time charge unlike the subscription based Norton. You will get more for your money – but best of all, better protection from viruses.
