"It has the award-winning, reliable protection of the Kaspersky Labs antivirus engine, it's light-weight (consuming far fewer resources than other AV programs), it has a command-line interface for use by other programs, and it provides continual, free updates."

 As for myself, I've never been a fan of AOL's software offerings. Historically, AOL software has been designed for utter novices who have very simple computer setups. AOL's software could be the kiss of death on anything other than newly installed systems. For years, for example, I knew of no single piece of software that screwed up as many Windows 98/2000 and networking setups as did AOL's.

 And then there's AOL's marketing, ranging from carpet-bombing the planet with diskettes and CDs, to problems of not honouring user requests to discontinue the service, to last summer's public posting of the search data of 658,000 AOL subscribers, to — well, you get the idea. To say I'm not a fan of AOL is a total understatement, and I'm not alone. Earlier this year, for example, PC World Magazine named AOL the #1 Worst Tech Product of All Time!

 It's true that AOL Active Virus Shield is not the same as the AOL software itself. But make no mistake, AOL Active Virus Shield is a marketing tool in the classic AOL tradition.

If you read through its license agreement, you'll see that by using the tool, you automatically opt in to receive marketing e-mail from AOL and its business partners (i.e., advertisers). Yes, AOL also says, "You will be given the option in each marketing e-mail to opt-out of further marketing offers." But you have to take on faith that its opt-out mechanism will work.

 Even if the "new" AOL is totally on the up and up (and I truly hope it is), its long, checkered history makes me highly suspicious of anything they do and any promises they make. It will be a long, long time (if ever) before I trust AOL again.

 If you feel differently, then by all means read the license terms, and if all sounds good to you, sign up. But remember that you can get the real, unaltered Kaspersky AV with a 30-day free trial(The cost is only £30 a year if you keep it.), and a far superior Anti-Virus such as NOD32 for £35. And, as I mentioned in another article, there also are good, free antivirus tools (such as AVG Anti Virus) that don't cost a penny, and that come without any of AOL's historical baggage. By all means, use AOL Active Virus Shield if you want to, but I won't be joining you on that one!