I often hear people with no real savvy computer skills asking “What is AVG?” People like my mom, my grandma... and the first thing they think of is the word average. Hmmm... so, this made me realize that something as important as AVG really needs to be defined for those who really don’t have a clue about computers, or computer antivirus protection. But maybe this little article can help them.

What is AVG?: To start with, AVG is computer software. And, in layman’s terms this software is responsible for giving out instructions and telling a computer what tasks to perform in order to ensure the computer is not harmed or at risk from outside threats of computer viruses, trojans and other malicious external threats.

What is AVG going to help me with?: Basically With AVG you can browse the web, shop online, conduct online banking, download files, socialize in chat rooms, network with other companies/people all over the world and send and receive email ALL without having to ever worry that your identity and personal information will be stolen or your computer corrupted.

What is AVG used with?: Now, let us talk about what is AVG itself. AVG is a term, which includes all Internet security and anti-virus software for the Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and FreeBSD computing platforms. A privately held Czech company develops AVG, which is AVG Technologies.

The AVG software contains all of the common functions that are available in modern Internet security and anti-virus programs. These functions include scans of sent and received emails, periodic scans, a virus vault in which infected files are held and the ability to repair virus-infected files.

What is AVG’s resource requirements?: Well, both AVG Internet Security and AVG Anti-Virus require approximately 256 MB of RAM for the computer. Again in layman’s terms, space inside your computer that can hold the size of the software in order for it to work efficiently and no slow down any of your normal day-to-day operations.

Is AVG important?: Yes, and all computer antivirus protection software is. AVG is important to protect your computer from any open attack by other computers. It prevents your personal data from being compromised by hackers. Every single day we surf the net we should not underestimate the chance that there are tens of thousands of people who are highly trained and one step ahead of us ready to hack into our computers. As astonishing as it sounds, most of us are not aware that our computers are in its most vulnerable state when we are using instant messaging. The files we receive from the file sharing feature of instant messaging can infect and contaminate our computers without our knowledge.

Understanding what is AVG and its purpose is crucial. When you get antivirus protection installed in your computer it will serve like your computer’s protective shield and help to alleviate any occurrence of malicious threats... and let’s face it, one of the biggest headaches for any of those “dummies” is having to deal with computer probems.