text: i use avg free edition anti virus. i scan in safe mode. avg resident shield is not active in safe mode. is ok?   that's perfectly ok, resident shield are the part of avg that scans every file (or some suspectible files only depending on your config) for virus before you open them, avg runs perfectly well without it running. however it's advised not to turn the resident shield off except when needed to do so since it might make your system more vulnerable to virus attack.  >scan in reg mode  antivirus software are best run in safe mode, however for daily check that might be too much of a mess.