AVG Antivirus Review

AVG Antivirus has been an up and coming virus scanner for many years. Its free version is one of the most downloaded files on the Internet in the Computer Security sector. The new interface is clean and intuitive while still remaining useful.

AVG went through a re-write of their virus scanning engine and included two of their stand alone products with AVG Antivirus as well. AVG Antispyware and AVG Antirootkit were both integrated with the virus scanner. Also revamped is the way AVG Antivirus uses the hardware within your computer. It has been changed to make better use of the multiple cores which are common in todays computers. This should speed up scanning as well as reduce slowdowns.

Ease of Use:

Though AVG Antivirus is mostly a hands-off program, there may be some instances when you may need to configure some advanced options. For 99% of the population though, the default options will be more than sufficient.
The menus within AVG Antivirus are very simple and offer all the options and information needed to keep your system safe from Internet threats.

Effectiveness:

AVG Antivirus is one of the most complete programs we have found to date. It includes many new options to make it one of the most effective virus scanners on the market. It is still plagued by horrible slowdowns at times. Even things so simple as just typing an IM can be stopped for several seconds for some reason. If you can get passed the occasional slowdowns of your computer, the scanning functionality of AVG Antivirus 8 is top of the line. With the rewrite of the scanning engine, AVG includes multi-processor support. That dual core processor you bought is actually going to start getting a workout now. AVG also includes support for Windows Vista and the 64 bit versions of Windows XP and Vista.

Updates:

AVG Checks for updates every 4 hours by default. You can change this to any interval you wish. The updates section of AVG Antivirus also shows you which virus database version you have, as well as when the last update was. It also tells you when the next update is scheduled. All of this information is also displayed on the main menu screen so that you always have the information at your fingertips.

Feature Set:

AVG Technologies, formerly Grisoft, has gone above and beyond with the new release of AVG Antivirus. Included with the virus scanner, are a rootkit scanner, spyware scanner, an on-access scanner called Resident Shield, email scanner and a link scanning browser plug-in. There is also a portion of AVG Antivirus called Web Shield. Web Shield is a chopped down firewall application that scans standard web ports for any threats encountered while browsing the web. It also includes protection for MSN Messenger and ICQ.

Ease of Installation:

Installing AVG Antivirus 8 was easy and only took about 10 minutes including downloading the additional updates required after installation finished. We had no issues or errors during the install.

Help/Support:

With the name change from Grisoft to AVG Technologies, the support site was updated and saw many improvements over the old design. Support offerings included with AVG Antivirus 8 are a FAQs, email support, phone-based technical support, as well as an inclusive support section within the program itself.

Summary:

Version 8 of AVG Antivirus is a definite improvement over version 7.5. The scanning features have been sped up and the new interface is a clean and modern take on a time-tested product.
Including a link scanner and integrating AVG Antispyware and AVG AntiRootkit provides an even more effective product. An unfortunate problem that has plagued AVG products for quite some time has not been eliminated, even though AVG did a complete rewrite of the virus scanning engine. The on-access scanner still tends to slow down computers to the point where they are not usable at times. This isn't a constant factor and has been improved significantly, but you will notice it when it happens. Beyond the slowdown issue, AVG Antivirus 8 is a complete product that will help keep your computer clean and safe.