AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011
In 1992 a couple of young Czech entrepreneurs introduced their "Anti Virus Guard" security utility. Today, almost 20 years later, AVG is an international success, offering a free antivirus utility used by millions and a full line of commercial security products. The current free release, AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011 (free, direct), now includes all of the virus-fighting features found in the company's full suite. In fact, it includes features not commonly found in commercial standalone antivirus tools, let alone free ones.
AVG Anti-Virus Free's user interface, which started off blocky and overly colorful, has evolved through the years. Big buttons let the user launch a scan, check for updates, or peruse the security overview. The overview displays status of all the security modules—ten of them—but their grayscale icons are easy on the eye.
To fit all the component icons, the program's main window has to be quite large. A banner across the bottom promoting the upgrade to AVG's full security suite makes it even larger. I'd like to see related components combined to make the main window less busy.
Specifications
TypePersonalFreeYesOS CompatibilityWindows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7Tech SupportForum More
Very Good Lab Results
In the past it's been hard to relate independent lab results to AVG's free antivirus because the labs invariably test the full commercial product. Now that there's no difference in protection AVG shines. It received Platinum anti-malware certification from West Coast Labs, an honor also achieved by Kaspersky and Webroot but not by any other free product. ICSA Labs certifies AVG for virus detection, and it received the VB100% award in all ten of the last ten tests by Virus Bulletin.
AV-Comparatives regularly tests products for on-demand malware removal and proactive (non-signature) malware blocking. AVG rated ADVANCED, the second-highest rating, in the most recent on-demand and proactive tests. It's doing quite well in their ongoing dynamic protection test, too. August's test results are in, and AVG's suite blocked 99 percent of threats, as did those Avira, Panda and Trend Micro.
AV-Test.org ran a months-long whole-product test last year in which Norton, Kaspersky, and PC Tools took the top three positions for virus detection and for successful virus blocking. AVG's detection score was right behind the top three, but its score for successful blocking was notably lower, a result that jibes with my own tests.
A more recent report from AV-Test rated products on virus repair, usability, and overall protection. AVG scored 4 of 6 possible points for repair, 5 for usability, and 5.5 overall. F-Secure, Kaspersky, Norton and Panda managed even higher scores, but here again no free products did.
Fast Virus Scanning
As often happens, AVG's installer gagged on problems deliberately created by one test system's malware. I tried the free AVG Rescue CD, but it didn't remove the obstacle. Next I went for live-chat remote access support (after confirming that indeed this would be available to a normal user). It took a couple hours, but the technician managed to break the logjam and get AVG installed. That's darn good considering that the same problem required several days of back-and-forth with PC Tools.
Current antivirus products average about 27 minutes for a full scan of my standard clean test system. AVG managed that first scan in less than 18 minutes, over half of which was devoted to "first time optimization." The optimization certainly worked; a repeat scan finished in under a minute.
Before I could launch full scans on the infested systems, I had to wade through quite a few real-time warnings about active malware.
That's good; a security product should wipe out active threats immediately.
In some cases AVG warned to close all other programs and went into a mini-scan cleanup mode like F-Secure Internet Security 2011 ($59.99 direct for three licenses, 3 stars), but it took less than a minute. Other times multiple security components worked to wipe out the same threat, leaving the latecomer erroneously saying it failed. That's better than claiming success and being wrong, but the company would do well to have the components communicate better.
After running all my tests, I noticed that the product's rootkit scan runs as a separate component. My AVG contacts verified the need to scan separately for rootkits. It didn't find anything that the regular full scan missed. At least it was quick!
AVG detected 85 percent of the malware threats, better than the average but behind Norton AntiVirus 2011 ($39.99 direct, 4.5 stars), Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 ($50.95 direct for three licenses, 3.5 stars) and PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2011 ($39.95 direct for three licenses, 4 stars) all of which detected 89 percent. AVG's overall score of 6.5 points is also a bit above average but well below 7.8 reached by Spyware Doctor and 7.9 from Norton.
On the other hand, AVG compares well with other free products. Panda Cloud Anti-Virus 1.1 (Free, 4 stars) detected 86 percent but scored just 5.9 points for actual cleanup. Though Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.46 (Free, 3.5 stars) detected just 80 percent, its removal was effective enough to give it 7.3 points, the top removal score among free products.
Spyware Doctor and Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 ($49.99 direct for three licenses, 4.5 stars) detected 93 percent of samples in a separate test using commercial keyloggers; AVG had the next best detection rate with 86 percent. Perfect removal would have earned 8.6 points, so its score of 4.9 indicates it did a poor job removing what it detected. It left behind executable files for most of them and two were still running after AVG claimed to have removed them.
Like quite a few other products AVG detected 100 percent of the rootkit samples, but here again it fell down at the removal step, scoring just 5.7 of 10 possible points. As with the keyloggers, it left behind lots of executable files; two of the threats were still running with rootkit technology active. Spyware Doctor topped this test with 9.1 points while Webroot reached 8.0.
In the scareware test Malwarebytes handily beat AVG, with 8.1 points to AVG's 6.3. For details on how I test malware removal and derive these scores see see How We Test Anti-malware
AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011 malware removal chart
One thing to note; most of the comparable apps here are not free. Of the current free products only AVG and Malwarebytes have a top score in any malware removal category and only AVG is above average in every category
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370108,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ziffdavis%2Fpcmag+%28PCMag.com%3A+New+Product+Reviews%29
In 1992 a couple of young Czech entrepreneurs introduced their "Anti Virus Guard" security utility. Today, almost 20 years later, AVG is an international success, offering a free antivirus utility used by millions and a full line of commercial security products. The current free release, AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011 (free, direct), now includes all of the virus-fighting features found in the company's full suite. In fact, it includes features not commonly found in commercial standalone antivirus tools, let alone free ones.
AVG Anti-Virus Free's user interface, which started off blocky and overly colorful, has evolved through the years. Big buttons let the user launch a scan, check for updates, or peruse the security overview. The overview displays status of all the security modules—ten of them—but their grayscale icons are easy on the eye.
To fit all the component icons, the program's main window has to be quite large. A banner across the bottom promoting the upgrade to AVG's full security suite makes it even larger. I'd like to see related components combined to make the main window less busy.
Specifications
TypePersonalFreeYesOS CompatibilityWindows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7Tech SupportForum More
Very Good Lab Results
In the past it's been hard to relate independent lab results to AVG's free antivirus because the labs invariably test the full commercial product. Now that there's no difference in protection AVG shines. It received Platinum anti-malware certification from West Coast Labs, an honor also achieved by Kaspersky and Webroot but not by any other free product. ICSA Labs certifies AVG for virus detection, and it received the VB100% award in all ten of the last ten tests by Virus Bulletin.
AV-Comparatives regularly tests products for on-demand malware removal and proactive (non-signature) malware blocking. AVG rated ADVANCED, the second-highest rating, in the most recent on-demand and proactive tests. It's doing quite well in their ongoing dynamic protection test, too. August's test results are in, and AVG's suite blocked 99 percent of threats, as did those Avira, Panda and Trend Micro.
AV-Test.org ran a months-long whole-product test last year in which Norton, Kaspersky, and PC Tools took the top three positions for virus detection and for successful virus blocking. AVG's detection score was right behind the top three, but its score for successful blocking was notably lower, a result that jibes with my own tests.
A more recent report from AV-Test rated products on virus repair, usability, and overall protection. AVG scored 4 of 6 possible points for repair, 5 for usability, and 5.5 overall. F-Secure, Kaspersky, Norton and Panda managed even higher scores, but here again no free products did.
Fast Virus Scanning
As often happens, AVG's installer gagged on problems deliberately created by one test system's malware. I tried the free AVG Rescue CD, but it didn't remove the obstacle. Next I went for live-chat remote access support (after confirming that indeed this would be available to a normal user). It took a couple hours, but the technician managed to break the logjam and get AVG installed. That's darn good considering that the same problem required several days of back-and-forth with PC Tools.
Current antivirus products average about 27 minutes for a full scan of my standard clean test system. AVG managed that first scan in less than 18 minutes, over half of which was devoted to "first time optimization." The optimization certainly worked; a repeat scan finished in under a minute.
Before I could launch full scans on the infested systems, I had to wade through quite a few real-time warnings about active malware.
That's good; a security product should wipe out active threats immediately.
In some cases AVG warned to close all other programs and went into a mini-scan cleanup mode like F-Secure Internet Security 2011 ($59.99 direct for three licenses, 3 stars), but it took less than a minute. Other times multiple security components worked to wipe out the same threat, leaving the latecomer erroneously saying it failed. That's better than claiming success and being wrong, but the company would do well to have the components communicate better.
After running all my tests, I noticed that the product's rootkit scan runs as a separate component. My AVG contacts verified the need to scan separately for rootkits. It didn't find anything that the regular full scan missed. At least it was quick!
AVG detected 85 percent of the malware threats, better than the average but behind Norton AntiVirus 2011 ($39.99 direct, 4.5 stars), Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 ($50.95 direct for three licenses, 3.5 stars) and PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2011 ($39.95 direct for three licenses, 4 stars) all of which detected 89 percent. AVG's overall score of 6.5 points is also a bit above average but well below 7.8 reached by Spyware Doctor and 7.9 from Norton.
On the other hand, AVG compares well with other free products. Panda Cloud Anti-Virus 1.1 (Free, 4 stars) detected 86 percent but scored just 5.9 points for actual cleanup. Though Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.46 (Free, 3.5 stars) detected just 80 percent, its removal was effective enough to give it 7.3 points, the top removal score among free products.
Spyware Doctor and Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 ($49.99 direct for three licenses, 4.5 stars) detected 93 percent of samples in a separate test using commercial keyloggers; AVG had the next best detection rate with 86 percent. Perfect removal would have earned 8.6 points, so its score of 4.9 indicates it did a poor job removing what it detected. It left behind executable files for most of them and two were still running after AVG claimed to have removed them.
Like quite a few other products AVG detected 100 percent of the rootkit samples, but here again it fell down at the removal step, scoring just 5.7 of 10 possible points. As with the keyloggers, it left behind lots of executable files; two of the threats were still running with rootkit technology active. Spyware Doctor topped this test with 9.1 points while Webroot reached 8.0.
In the scareware test Malwarebytes handily beat AVG, with 8.1 points to AVG's 6.3. For details on how I test malware removal and derive these scores see see How We Test Anti-malware
AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011 malware removal chart
One thing to note; most of the comparable apps here are not free. Of the current free products only AVG and Malwarebytes have a top score in any malware removal category and only AVG is above average in every category
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370108,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ziffdavis%2Fpcmag+%28PCMag.com%3A+New+Product+Reviews%29
