AVG Online Shield is a type of a real-time resident protection. It consists of two features - Web protection and Instant Messaging protection.

Web protection scans the downloaded files even before these are downloaded to your computer. This is done by scanning communication on all portst.

Instant Messaging protection verifies the files sending via instant messaging are virus free. Currently AVG supports the ICQ, MSN and Yahoo! protocols.

You can change settings of Online Shield component following way:

• Please open the AVG program.
• Double-click on the Online Shield component.
• Click the highlighted link that will take you to the Advanced settings of this component.

1. Web protection
Following settings may be changed in the Web Protection branch:

• Check archives - Does Online Shield check the archive files (e.g. ZIP)?
• Report Potentially Unwanted Programs and Spyware threats - Does Online Shield detect the Potentially Unwanted Programs and Spyware infection?
• Report enhanced set of Potentially Unwanted Programs - Does Online Shield detect programs that are harmless but can be misused later or harmless programs that may be unwanted?
• Use heuristic analysis - Does Online Shield use the heuristic analysis?
• Enable thorough scanning - activates paranoid scan mode that includes very detailed scanning (this mode is quite demanding on system resources and might slow the computer down)
• Maximum part size of a file to be scanned - What is the maximal size of the file that will be checked by Online Shield?

2. Instant Messaging
You can select what Instant Messaging application, that are supported, will be protected by Online Shield component and blacklist/whitelist for them:

• ICQ
• MSN
• Yahoo

In case you want to disable Online Shield component, please proceed as follows:

• Open the AVG program.
• Double-click on the Online Shield component.
• Un-tick the "Enable Online Shield" option.
• To confirm the settings please click on the "Save changes" button.

Due to a problem in Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, you may receive an error message when trying to run these applications along with AVG software:

• MS Flight Simulator
• VATSIM
• SquawkBox
• Asheron's Call

This situation is described on the following Microsoft support webpage:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961775

The solution is to install hotfix provided by Microsoft on the following webpage:
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=961775

Please note that the hotfix is only intended for customers having described issues. In case of further issues with the mentioned hotfix, please contact Microsoft technical support.

If AVG Online Shield reports an error state "Partially functional", it is possible that some of its features have been disabled. Proceed as follows to fully enable Online Shield:

• Open the AVG program.
• Doubleclick the Online Shield component.
• Make sure that all available items are enabled (all three checkboxes are selected).
• Click the "Save changes" button.

If Online Shield reports an error state and all options are enabled, there might be a problem with writing into C:\Windows\Temp folder. Please restart your computer, launch your web browser and open several websites. If the issue persists and Online Shield reports error state, please report us the issue using the AVG Diagnostics tool (self-extracting archive, detailed instructions will be displayed on your screen).

If you want to exclude some web pages from AVG Online Shield component scanning, follow the steps mentioned below:

• Launch AVG program
• From top menu "Tools" select "Advanced settings..." option
• Select "Online Shield -> Web protection" branch in left navigation tree

In the "Exclude host/IP/domain" text field located at bottom right hand part of this dialog, you can define servers that should not be scanned by the web protection.

You can enter an:

• IP address
• IP address with mask (e.g. 192.168.0.0/16)
• Domain name
• Domain name with mask (e.g. www.avg.com/example)
• Domain name with wildcard (e.g. *.avg.com or www.*.com/example) – please note that only one wildcard is allowed in a URL

If entering multiple items, place each on a new line.

Note: Excluding some frequently visited websites from the web protection can speed up downloading the website content, however, make sure that you only exclude those websites that
are absolutely trustworthy and safe!