AVG Launches Free Protection Against Online Threats

AVG Technologies is launching AVG LinkScanner as a free standalone product to protect users against random, invisible online threats.

Everyday two million web pages are poisoned by hidden threats and 60 percent of those threats shut down or move to a different destination on the web making real-time link scanning crucial. Any type of site can be affected and if a user simply visits one of these poisoned web pages they don’t even need to click on anything to get into real trouble, to lose their credit card details, their ID or other valuable information or files. Regular anti-virus software alone cannot protect against this type of threat.

AVG LinkScanner gives users an additional real-time layer of protection apart from their existing security software. It works by looking at the web page behind a link or a web address typed into a browser and analyzing whether it harbors a threat. If it does, then AVG LinkScanner stops the user from downloading that page.  This means that Windows XP and Vista users can now know whether it is safe to click on a link when they click on it.

AVG LinkScanner also applies this targeted analysis of web pages to search results from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Whenever users search using these search engines, they will see safety rankings for all ‘organic’ search results. In addition, the AVG LinkScanner will scan your bookmarks as well as links contained in instant messages and emails before you open them to ensure they are safe.

AVG LinkScanner’s ability to analyze web links in real time enables AVG to deliver more accurate and relevant protection than other safe-surfing solutions. AVG LinkScanner analyzes individual pages on a web site to generate a rating for those pages.

“The Web has become the primary distribution mechanism for viruses (and other malware), drive-by downloads and other stealthy web threats which represent vast majority of attacks,” said AVG Technologies CTO Karel Obluk. “So we’ve evolved our product range to put greater emphasis on combating this more insidious and dangerous form of attack. AVG LinkScanner is at the front line of this additional protective layer. It’s our goal, by making this layer freely available, to give users the confidence to always feel safe when they go online.”

AVG’s “neighborhood watch” approach to AVG LinkScanner research also increases the product’s ability to provide relevant protection to users – putting the protection where users actually go and when they go there, rather than trying to map and secure the entire Internet.

The software is free for use on any personal home computer for non-commercial purposes. It can be downloaded from http://linkscanner.avg.com . Support is available through a free online forum hosted by AVG at http://freeforum.avg.com

AVG LinkScanner runs under all current versions of Windows XP and Vista, both 32- and 64-bit. The software is compatible with all major security software and with Internet Explorer 6 or later and Firefox 2 or later browsers and is available in English.

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