Version 6.0 of the popular IT security software from Avast is due to launch at next month's RSA Security event in San Francisco, but the firm says its AutoSandbox feature is the first free AV application to offer virtualisation technology as standard.
According to Ondrej Vlcek, CIO with the Czech-headquartered ITsec vendor, Avast is sufficiently committed to being free, providing all of its users with virtualisation technology free of charge.
"It is not always certain that an item is 100% clean but with AutoSandbox virtualisation, we've created a safe space between the known good and bad content which will make life safer for all Avast users - whether they are using our free or paid-for products", he explained.
The AutoSandbox facility is billed as allowing users to create a virtual computer inside their physical machine.
The Avast CIO says that, if they encounter malware while browsing the internet or running an infected application, the virtual computer will shut down, leaving their real computer unharmed and running.
"Most viruses are spread through executable commands and scripts are the entry point. By isolating the binary in a virtual computer, the real machine stays clean", he explained.
AutoSandbox, he went on to say, makes virtualisation an easy one-click choice.
"Virtualisation has the potential to significantly increase user safety, but people have been slow to adopt this technology, even when it's a part of their anti-virus package", said Vlcek.
"AutoSandbox shifts virtualisation from being an `IT geek' specialty to an automatic, easily accessible safety feature for all Avast users", he added.