Sunday, March 27, 2011

Download AVG AntiVirus 2011 - At number 6


AVG Anti-Virus 2011 offers a number of compelling features and the right technology to keep your PC protected. As one of the best antivirus software products reviewed, AVG offers a great solution that delivers advanced protection and simple use. AVG’s free antivirus software is one of the most downloaded files for computer security, but for the most benefit it’s definitely worth paying for the full version.

With innovative new features and improved performance, AVG 2011 is better than ever. The new social networking protection and LinkScanner up the ante with proactive web protection, cloud antivirus and a security network. And while there are a few antivirus software products that slightly surpass AVG in security and performance, AVG Anti-Virus is definitely among the best antivirus software available.

Scope of Protection:

AVG Anti-Virus is fully armed to protect your computer from threats from a number of angles. The software includes antivirus and antispyware protection, as well as complete online protection from harmful sites and downloads.

AVG protects from hackers, phishing scams, adware and malware that come through email or IM. AVG even scans outbound email to make sure you don’t accidentally pass a virus along to others. And of course the software protects from other forms of malware, including worms, keyloggers, Trojans and rootkits.

AVG Anti-Virus has also upped their arsenal for online protection, using advanced shields to protect you from threats wherever they come from. The AVG Online Shield includes web security from viruses, spyware and even phishing attacks, as well as protection from files shared through IM chat. Basically, AVG is equipped to protect you from malicious files regardless of how they are sent, downloaded or accessed.

Effectiveness:

AVG is perfectly adequate antivirus software, and is certainly effective. Their detection rates aren’t as impressive as some of the other antivirus software we reviewed, but the security software is by no means ineffective. Recent tests from AV-Comparatives, Virus Bulletin and others show that AVG uses one of the most effective antivirus scanners, and has pretty good performance. The one area where they struggle is in “overprotecting” at times, flagging safe files incorrectly (false positives).

AVG’s strength comes from the multiple layers and advanced technology they utilize. Their core scanning engine is great, but it’s also backed up by proactive heuristic detection, cloud security and the AVG Protection Network. The community network lets AVG take advantage of their user-base by collecting anonymous data to detect new threats and protect the entire community. Combined with proactive behavior analysis and realtime cloud antivirus protection, AVG Anti-Virus is robust and comprehensive.

Needless to say, you don’t need to worry about the effectiveness of AVG Anti-Virus.

Ease of Installation:

AVG Anti-Virus is easy to download and install. The installation is straightforward and doesn’t require a restart. And while it’s not the fastest, it’s relatively quick and performs an update immediately. After the antivirus software is installed you can pretty much sit back and let it do its business.

During the installation you have the option to download the AVG internet toolbar and make Yahoo your default search engine, so if you’re not interested make sure to uncheck the boxes. The AVG browser toolbar is pretty nice though, featuring at-a-glance webpage security status, new mail notifications, a variety of shortcuts and more.

Ease of Use:

AVG Anti-Virus is straightforward to use and simple to navigate. The streamlined user interface hasn’t dramatically changed for a couple of years (which isn’t a bad thing), but has been slightly updated, now including a one-click scan button and one-click fix button. Beginners and expert users will both appreciate the easy-to-use antivirus software with simple yet powerful controls. One thing that is noticeably missing from the scanning screen is a dynamic status bar to let you know how long that scan will take. Luckily most scans will occur in the background so you won’t care.

AVG utilizes optimized scanning to increase performance and overall efficiency. For starters, the antivirus software is designed to only scan files that have been changed, significantly speeding up scans by excluding known, trusted files. AVG Anti-Virus also utilizes smart scanning to optimize your resources. When you are working on your PC, AVG de-prioritizes active scans so they won’t slow you down. When the antivirus software notices that your computer isn’t active, it takes advantage of the opportunity to use the resources while you’re away. Adding even more flexibility, you can manage the resources used dynamically during the scan, using a slider to control the priority of the scan.

Another new feature specifically designed to make the antivirus software easy to use is the AVG desktop gadget. The small widget/gadget docks on your desktop and provides quick access to scan or update and a simple overview of your security status.

Features:

AVG Anti-Virus is loaded with features, including new tools that improve security and usability. Continuing from last year is the gamer mode, which allows you to enjoy full-screen games (or movies, presentations, etc.) without interruptions or popup announcements, and still maintain security.

AVG Anti-Virus even includes a PC system optimizer utility. The PC Analyzer scans your system and locates registry errors, junk files, disk errors and broken shortcuts. You can fix these issues, but note that you can only fix errors once for free. Subsequent use requires that you purchase AVG PC TuneUp.

Another great feature that only a few of the best antivirus software vendors have is internet link-scanning. AVG LinkScanner brings a whole new level of security to your online activities, and won't seriously impact your browsing speed. LinkScanner provides small color-coded security icons next to every search result from Google, Yahoo or Bing. These unobtrusive icons are provided in realtime and display an at-a-glance notice to let you know if each website is fine (green), bad (red) or should be approached with caution (orange). If you want more specific information, you can hover over any of the LinkScanner icons for more details.

New this year, AVG Anti-Virus also includes Social Networking Protection, an innovative tool that scans in real time any link shared on Facebook or MySpace.

Updates:

Keeping your protection up to date with AVG Anti-Virus is no problem. Regular definition updates are checked for automatically and can be set to perform every hour (every 4 hours is the default). AVG’s new cloud antivirus technology also helps maintain to-the-minute protection as new threats are identified and the solution delivered almost immediately.

Help & Support:

The support staff at AVG is anxious to help users with any problems they have with the antivirus software. In-program help is available with a user manual and links to additional resources online. The online support center has the usual FAQs section and knowledgebase. AVG offers email support for specific inquiries, but no phone support. More options and professional assistance with virus removal are available by paying for premium support.

Summary:

AVG Anti-Virus has a robust set of features and a broad scope of protection, making it one of the best antivirus software applications we reviewed. The 2011 edition brings new features that improve the solution, and it maintains the level of protection and ease of use we’ve come to expect from AVG. We particularly liked the addition of cloud antivirus technology and the progressive web protection from LinkScanner. While not quite the overall best antivirus software, we can definitely recommend AVG Anti-Virus 2011.
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