In this review I try to load 10 malicious urls on a PC protected with the latest version of AVG free (version 8.5). Personally I thought the results were pretty good, however there is one BIG hole in AVG free, and you’ll see that in this video.
AVG Free protects you against spyware, adware, viruses and trojans. AVG free also scans websites in real-time for malicious code and places colored icons next to search results (green check marks are good and red x’s are bad).
In case you didn’t know AVG free is the most downloaded antivirus on the internet today. Grisoft has the ability to rule the free antivirus world, however they need to give in and add some really good anti-rootkit technology.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KUQ3usc090
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Another nice review.
Sound/video quality is very good.
You should always make prevention reviews like this, and always get more links with “malware” if any link fails. (So you have a complete “10″ just like you did in this review… if you keep doing so your reviews should be more acurrate and more fair for all products that are tested).
AVG 8.5 COULD be a good AV… But the lack of a “rootkit” guard is something that makes the program useless.
I can pay for the full “professional” version… but then again there is always a better and cheaper option.
Avira has now got anti spyware (adware is a form of spyware) so AVG should have anti rootkit, maybe in version 9.
AVG sucks, it just sucks :/ It’s not recommended AV these days since it’s missing prevention against rootkits! On this test it seemed to handle malwares quite well, but I’ve seen lots of HjT-logs (I’m talking over 100 logs) where it has just missed lots of malwares that any other programs would have been handeled without any problems! Also it’s removal capabilities aren’t exactly best of AV-products. And like seen on test, against rootkits…
So do not use AVG until it gets shield against rootkits! Instead use Avast! or Avira if you would like to use free programs
I’m Quite Surprised that AVG did this much, they clearly say that they dont stop rootkits in the free version, so you cant blame them for that. Apart from that it did well.
Nice review. As always! So, I’ll stick with AntiVir?
avg does what it says but i wouldn’t install it, avira 9 has better prevention and detection
@Marcos N Pesic – thanks Marcos! Yeah, the lack of rootkit protection sorta makes it a waste. I’m just keeping my clients on Avira.
@elliotcroft – I hope they do or their rep is going to suffer some serious damage
@atanos – I see the same sorta situation daily. So many of my new clients run AVG and are extremely infected. When I take a look at their PC AVG has been partly destroyed by some piece of malware.
Does it suck? mmmmm….without rootkit protection, yes.
@Cloud_Shadow – I was really surprised too. I normally encounter highly infected PC’s running AVG as their only protection.
@ComputerHelpGuy1 – thanks bro! Yeah, I’m still with Avira (2 years now).
@927 – Agreed.
but shouden’t there be a reason to buy paid packet? if rootkit is included in the free edition, there is one reason less to buy a paid version. They need to make money too ya know^^
OK. I was disappointed how you performed this prevention review.
First, I still don’t understand why you never show a review with an upgraded version of Internet Explorer. We’re now on version 8. You still use 6. Versions 7 and 8, already offer great navive protection against many forms of malware.
People, aware of how malware evolved and also browsers, including IE, should let other people know they should update and upgrade their software.
Now, why didn’t you change the settings of AVG?
I don’t think its fair to say AVG 8 Free sucks, just because it fails rootkit protection.
As a free AV is great. And, as you well said people can get rootkit protection from other tools. So, no big loss.
Now, would it be fair to test other antimalware tools against exploits, knowing they can’t stop them? No. Would it mean they suck? No. They just don’t protect you against those threats. Simple.
On the other hand, even AVG 8 Free protects against exploits.
@treko – I’m not testing browser security. When I do, you’ll see me using IE8, Firefox or Chrome. I fully realize that these browsers block A LOT of malware now and it sorta interferes with my test of the current anti-malware at hand.
The AVG review was an “out of box” review. This type of review mimics the actions of how an average user installs and uses an antivirus (i.e. – they usually never change any settings out of fear)
What free rootkit blocker/protection are you referring to?
@robin – True, however they make quite a bit on the corporate software because of their good name.
It’s funny though. It detected the rootkits with signatures but did not bother to remove it. If they are detected, they can be just as well cleaned. Lame. Both, AVIRA and avast! have full AntiRootkit functionality for ages. But AVG is still insisting their crappy way. At least they’ve added spyware detection before AVIRA. But still.
RejZor, I agree with you, that AVG should include anti-rootkit protection in their free version, but then, people would have no reason to buy the paid version, now would they? That’s the difference between the paid and free versions.
But, you talk about about avast! and Avira. I’m wondering if those two would protect their users against exploits?
For a very long time, Avira free version didn’t have anti-spyware protection. Now, would it be fair to have tested Avira, before anti-spyware protection was included, against spyware? No. The same way it wasn’t fair to test AVG 8 free against rootkits, when it was known from start it wouldn’t protect against such.
Would it be fair to test both avast! and Avira against exploits? For what I see at their official sites, they don’t offer that sort of protection. For what I can see, not even their paid versions do.
So, should someone make a test with avast! Avira and AVG, free versions, against exploits, and see which stands out?
Again, it would be great to have anti-rootkit protection, but, I guess people want everything for free and not pay for it.
If you want a house, you have to pay for one already built, or spend money to build one. If you want a car, pay for it. If you want a computer, pay for it. Etc.
Don’t expect everything to be free.
I rather use AVG 8 Free as it is, without anti-rootkit protection, and offering anti-exploit protection. I can get anti-rootkit protection from other tools. In what comes to anti-exploit tools, that’s not the case.
Regards
hey i hve this AVG 8, so does this remove the trojan viruses and worms? im sorry i really dont hve any ideas abt it, plus my pc is laggish, im really hving a trouble abt it, can u please help me? thank you so much
Hopefully the guys at avg software are working anti rootkit for avg 9.0 if not im gonna switch
AVG 8.5 created several problems for me:
1. Without my permission, on Internet Explorer they automatically hid my toolbar and replaced it with their own AVG/Yahoo “security” toolbar. To access my own toolbar I had to click the top of the screen with my cursor. As soon as I moved my cursor away from the top of the screen, my toolbar disappeared and only the AVG/Yahoo toolbar appeared there.
2. They also automatically hid my task bar. It went blank. To access it, I had to click the minimize button, and, on the next non Internet Explorer screen page, I saw my task bar. This was very cumbersome and time-consuming to deal with–each time having to minimize one screen to get to another one that wasn’t Internet Explorer.
3. After I uninstalled AVG, the fallout was that they had left eight infections in my computer and had disabled my MSN firewall, both of which problems I solved. But it left my computer at great risk.
BEWARE OF AVG FREE 8.5 VERSION!!!
Numerous AVG 8.5 users have encountered and complained about this problem. See Google under “AVG Toolbar disappeared–how can I retrieve it? AVG DOES NOT tell you how to restore it. It took me many hours to figure it out.
It took me hours to remove the automatic hides and restore my Internet Explorer page to what it originally was. I WILL NEVER USE AVG AGAIN!!! They never should have foisted their own AVG/Yahoo toolbar on my computer to cause me to use Yahoo as my choice search engine.