Avast! is an antivirus application that is free for non-commercial use, and offers adequate protection for the average home user.

Consisting of three components, it covers the most common areas of infection and provides regular updates to ensure that its protection is current.

The On Access Scanner scans all files being opened, read and written in real time. It also includes a behaviour blocker for analysing and preventing any unusual behaviour that may originate from a virus.

If you think a virus has infected your PC, simply run the On Demand Scanner selecting exactly which drive(s) and files to scan.

Its Email Scanner integrates directly with many email clients, and checks incoming and outgoing messages for infection. It takes a heuristic approach to virus prevention, learning from experience.

It also comes with a Virus Chest for storing infected or suspicious files.