AVG Anti-Virus Software Review

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Product Review

Review Provided by : Cnet

The biggest news with AVG Anti-Virus 8 is that it includes Linkscanner, a technology that actively blocks malicious content from Web sites that may have been hijacked or otherwise compromised. Also, antivirus, antispyware, and antirootkit preventions have been combined into one product. The new drive-by download protection combined with AVG's award winning effectiveness in blocking and removing antivirus and antispyware code is tempered only by its somewhat slow performance in CNET Labs benchmark tests. While individual applications loaded fast, scan and boot times trended toward the slow end.

Installation
We were able to download and install AVG Anti-Virus 8 on a Dell XPS machine running Windows XP SP2 with no difficulty and without rebooting. If you are upgrading from a previous version of AVG, you must uninstall that version first before installing version 8.0. AVG provides a fully functional 30-day trial. While installing, AVG asks one critical question: do you want to install the security toolbar? Since it's hard to say whether you want that, we recommend saying no. Although AVG recommends installation, we found that it installs a prominent search box with Yahoo as the default search engine, and little else. Even without the toolbar, we were still able to use the Linkscanner technology.

After installation, AVG walks you through seven steps:

• Screen one merely describes the wizard
• Screen two asks how often AVG should update itself
• Screen three asks if you want to report compromised Web sites to AVG
• Screen four asks if you want to use the Yahoo search as your Internet browser default (this is the second time you asked to adopt the Yahoo search engine; if you installed the security toolbar, you'll already have Yahoo on your browser via the toolbar)
• Screens five and six lets you to download updates
• The seventh step tells you that the seven-step process you've completed is just the first part.

We do not like the interface in AVG Anti-Virus 8. Although it is an improvement over the previous design, the right windowpane is too crowded with large icons. There are nine icons in all. Below each is a statement telling you if that feature is active. Clicking an icon will run either access additional information about that tool or run that specific scan.

The left windowpane includes only three options, Overview (the icon view in the right hand window), Computer Scanner, and Update Now. Computer Scanner has but one option, scan all. Update Now is equally opaque, mysteriously searching and downing something onto your PC.

A toolbar above these windows contains the advanced feature options.

Should you wish to remove AVG Anti-Virus 8, there is a removal option under All Programs. After a reboot, we found a handful of registry entries related to the free trial, and some empty directories in our system directory.

Features
The biggest addition to AVG Anti-Virus 8 is the inclusion of the Linkscanner technology, but the integration is less than optimal. Linkscanner, formerly from Exploit Prevention Labs, is known for its ability to block malicious content from Web sites.

For threat testing, we directed our browser to a site known to host malicious content. AVG Anti-Virus 8 did flag the site, however, our request for additional information about the threat produced a generic AVG virus encyclopedia page. With the standalone Linkscanner Pro package, it would tell us which exploit it found and it would produce a rich log archive so you can see which sites it said had malicious software. We couldn't find any of that within AVG Anti-virus 8.

We also tested the Linkscanner integration within AVG Anti-Virus 8 by visiting five current phishing Web sites listed on Phish Track. AVG reported none to be suspicious, although the default antiphishing protection in Firefox 2.0 did flag several sites.

Performance
AVG Anti-Virus 8 scored well in CNET Labs' performance tests and in third-party, independent antivirus testing using live viruses, although not always the top position. On the CNET iTunes test, AVG Anti-Virus 8 came in just 4 seconds above the test system at 272 seconds. On the CNET Microsoft Office test, AVG Anti-Virus 8 finished in 1,413 seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and media files, AVG Anti-Virus 8 completed it in 550 seconds. And in boot speed, AVG Anti-Virus 8 came in toward the slower end, with a fast 37.95 seconds.

In terms of protecting your PC, we refer readers to two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, gave AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 an Advanced rating (highest) for On Demand protection and Advanced Plus (highest) for heuristic protection, blocking 97 percent of the malicious code used in the test. Our second source of independent antivirus testing, CheckVir.com, ranked AVG Anti-Virus 7.5--the previous version--as one of five products to earn their Standard rating (highest) for identifying malicious software (the products were not tested for removal).

Support
AVG Technologies provides AVG Anti-Virus 8 customers with e-mail technical support within the program. Online, there are searchable FAQs with a handful of useful questions and answers, and there is a downloadable 124-page PDF users' manual that, unfortunately, lacks a comprehensive index. AVG doesn't provide telephone technical support , nor is there a free online user's forum for posting questions.

Conclusion
AVG Anti-Virus 8 is solid at finding and removing viruses and spyware as well as blocking Web threats. As for antiphishing, the product could be better at detecting newly active phishing sites. Also, we look for further improvements in performance, as well as more technical support options in future releases.