Avast! claims to offer a total protection for your computer with anti-virus, anti-spyware, resident protection, instant messaging (IM), peer-to-peer (P2P), network and web shields. As you figured out, the firewall feature is broken into IM, P2P, network and web shield modules.
Avast! is a 29.8 MB download and easy to install with the usual Next – Next – Finish routine. During the installation, you will see a “Configuration” window, which will ask you if you will go with the Typical, Custom or Minimum installation. The default is “Typical” and I recommend you to go with this one; basically leave it as it is and carry out with the “Next.”
The good thing I noticed is that the program, if your computer is connected to the Internet, connects to its website and checks if there is anything new, such as new malware definitions. If it finds one, it downloads and installs automatically. Finally it asks you to reboot.
After you reboot, the program asks you for registration. I recommend you to go with the registration process, where you will enter a few details including your e-mail and the activation code (license key) will be sent to your e-mail box. Double click the program icon on your desktop and enter the license key to unlock the program. If you do not go through this process, the program will function as 59-day evaluation copy.
I was happy to see that during the start-up the program checks the memory to see if any malware has placed itself there and running. You will notice this as a slower start-up but this is something you can safely ignore.
I can safely say that the installation of Avast! was easy, clutter-free and not confusing for the end users.
When you open up Avast!’s main window, you will hardly tell if it is an anti-malware or a multimedia program. I do not know if you liked the interface but the first thing I did was to switch the skin. Then I pushed the program for an update although the default update mode was automatic. It found updates of about 2.4 Megabyte, downloaded and installed without a problem. Good one, but I shouldn't force the program to update.
Avast! has the anti-virus and anti-malware engines running at “resident” mode. Resident mode is where the computer is protected real-time, meaning that you do not need to scan your computer manually for malware. The contrary is “on demand” mode, which is the default mode for the most free antivirus programs. Congratulations to Avast! to include resident protection in their free release.