Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 4/17/2009

Question
Carolyn, I just recently downloaded the trial version of AVG Internet Security. I have a dial-up connection and it took all night for it to download and install..while I was asleep. When I awoke, my computer was shut down.

I can't find an AVG icon on my desktop, on my toolbar or anywhere else. I'm using Windows Vista and Internet Explorer.

I'm just a basic middle aged home computer user.

How do I check to see if I actually do have AVG installed?

Any help you can provide will be appreciated. Jim

Answer
AVG isn't installed. After a successful download, you should have found an AVG icon on your desktop and you would have to double click on the icon to begin installation. Because there is no icon, the download failed and AVG is not installed.

What worries me about your situation is that it sounds like your computer might be infected with a virus, worm or other form of malware that prevented you from downloading AVG. If you have been accessing the Internet without any Internet security suite (it should include anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-adware and a better firewall than Vista offers), your computer is probably already heavily infested with many dangerous forms of malware. Many of these dangerous programs are able to destroy antivirus programs, and can infect antivirus programs while you are downloading them, so it may well be impossible to install AVG even if you could get a friend to download it for you.

You might possibly be able to save your computer by yourself, but first, before things get any worse, be sure to save all your data. Then, I STRONGLY recommend that you buy an Internet security suite that comes on a CD so you don't have to worry about its program files being infected with malware.

If your new Internet security suite encounters problems trying to clean up your computer, I strongly recommend that you take it to a computer repair shop and ask them to "nuke" it. (Be sure to save all your data first as they will entirely wipe out all data on your hard drive.) The repair shop should be able to restore your computer to the original factory settings, install your Internet security suite from your CD, and then download and install all security upgrades needed for Vista. Make certain they agree in advance to do all this so your computer doesn't get infected while you are trying to get all your updates from home over your slow dialup connection.

Hope this solves your problem.