AVG LinkScanner Free Edition 2012 v12.0.2176

The web is packed with dangerous sites, each ready to serve up malware just as soon as you access an infected page. Your antivirus tool might block the attempt, of course - but why take the risk? Install AVG LinkScanner and it'll alert you to dangerous pages before you even reach them.

To try the program out, launch your browser (it works with Internet Explorer or Firefox), go to Google, and search for a term like "warez" or "cracks". When the results come back you'll see that some have a green tick icon, showing that LinkScanner believes they're safe. But others will be highlighted with warning exclamation marks, showing there may be a risk from following them. (Hover your mouse cursor over the icon for a full explanation.)

This sounds much like many other antiphishing tools, but LinkScanner is different. It doesn't rely entirely on site blacklists, that quickly go out of date, or the opinion of human site reviewers. Instead, as the name suggests, LinkScanner is actually scanning each link in real time to look for threats, so will pick up many infections even if they only appeared a few seconds ago.

And yet, because the program restricts itself to web page scanning, it won't interfere with other antivirus tools. You can run LinkScanner alongside your existing antivirus suite, and gain the benefits of using two malware detection engines.

A simple and effective extra layer of browsing security