AVG Free No More?

[Rimmer]

A flash screen this morning informed me that my free AVG that I have been using for many years will nonger be free as from Jan 2007. Anybody else get this at all?

No big deal as there are other programs out there but maybe AVG is becoming a pay for program as the market for virus scanners increases.

[Tywais]

I also received that message and I believe it is referring to this from AVG website:

"This setup contains the free as well as the paid version of AVG Anti-Spyware. After the installation, a free 30-day trial version containing all the extensions of the full version will be activated. At the end of the trial, these extensions will be deactivated and the program will turn into a feature-limited freeware version. The purchased license code can be entered at any time."

[astral]

No adverse messages with my 7.1 Free version.

[Tywais]

No adverse messages with my 7.1 Free version.

Seems inconsistant, my home computer (on dialup) received the message but my office computer didn't. Exact same copy installed in both.

[Thaising]

Updated my free AVG version 7.5.430 yesterday, nothing is bring mention on the expiry date.

[RBWilson]

Have a look at:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

I interpret this to mean that the 7.1 version will expire and that you must upgrade to 7.5

[Tywais]

Have a look at:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

I interpret this to mean that the 7.1 version will expire and that you must upgrade to 7.5

Good link and that was the exact message I received. Downloading 7.5 now.

[higgy88]

In case you guys are interested, AVG recently bought out Ewido, a very good anti spyware remover which also comes in a free version but it did not support Win 98/ME. AVG's new version 7.5 looks like it will be a combination of both of these products, and it looks like you will get a choice of two free versions. The standard AVG free anti-virus, which will still support Win 98/ME, and the AVG anti-sypware, which will not. So if you are using both the AVG free anti-virus version 7.1 and the free Evido version 4.0 then it looks like you can get them both in one free package.

[briley]

You must upgrade to the new version 7.5 - the page you go to looks as if you can only get the paid for professional version but there is, lower down the page, the option for the free versions still.

[Rimmer]

I down loaded 7.5 has anyone installed it over the earlier version or is it best to un install the old version before putting 7.5 on?

[mouse]

I down loaded 7.5 has anyone installed it over the earlier version or is it best to un install the old version before putting 7.5 on?

I installed right over it and had no problems.

[RBWilson]

I down loaded 7.5 has anyone installed it over the earlier version or is it best to un install the old version before putting 7.5 on?

I installed over the old version, using the 'repair' option (recommended on their website). No problems.

[cdnvic]

Considering how poorly AVG performs in tests against other free antiviruses like Avast ans Antivir, why is anyone still using this pig?

[yeti]

I've read reviews for which AVG is the best free AV around, other saying it's crap... I'm running it because it's rather low on ressources and as protected me efficiently enough so far.

[Rimmer]

Considering how poorly AVG performs in tests against other free antiviruses like Avast ans Antivir, why is anyone still using this pig?

I've got AVG on one computer and Avast on the other, they both work, I have seen good and bad reviews on both, depends who's paying the piper.

[MikeWill]

It seems that some have confused the two programs: AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Anti-Spyware. An Anti-Virus is the original AVG program that exists for years. An Anti-Spyware was originally an Ewido product and after AVG bought Ewido, the result is the AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 ( refer to http://www.ewido.net ).

AVG Anti-Spyware current version is 7.5.0.50

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition current version is 7.5.432

Rimmer was refering to the Anti-Virus in his original post.

P.S. Per my experience the AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 ( a.k.a. Ewido) is an excellent product, I used it since Ewido v3. It detected (and removed) the spywares other programs were not able to detect. It also don't eat too much of the system resorces (much the same as the AVG Anti-Virus, which is not less good than other free programs).

[libya 115]

My only anti-viral software is AVG and I am happy with it, however, on my laptop, it has 'caught' about 10 virus in 5 years, yet on my desktop, it has never detected even one virus.

I browse similar pages, both on XP, how is it I have never (according to AVG) been infected on my desktop? It seems strange because the desktop is XP copy and the laptop genuine XP.

[astral]

I am running AVG and Avast side by side.

This morning AVG picked out a Trojan, that Avast had not noticed.

[cdnvic]

You shouldn't be relying on antivirus to detect trojans and spyware, that's not what they're built for. Read the benchmarking tests. AVG will in a majority of cases let through much more than the other two leading free AV's.

It's your security though, do as you wish.

[yeti]

You shouldn't be relying on antivirus to detect trojans and spyware, that's not what they're built for. Read the benchmarking tests. AVG will in a majority of cases let through much more than the other two leading free AV's.

It's your security though, do as you wish.

I have no doubts you can link to benchmark studies saying AVG sucks, and I have no doubts I can give link to tests saying it's great...

[cdnvic]

Like I said, it's your data. Enjoy

[silvero]

It's great to have the 'best' AV according to whatever test you choose to believe but they all (free & paid) will detect a very high %age of malware, and none will detect all.

How important is the difference between reputable AVs when compared to issues like:

- whether the OS is fully patched

- whether there is antispyware / firewall software active

- whether the user knows/cares what to do when the av/asw/firewall pops up a warning

- whether the computer is behind a NAT router

- user's surfing habits i.e. visiting pr0n sites, clicking 'yes' to every pop-up dialog box

- user's email habits - attachments etc

- what software the user uses/installs e.g cracks/keygens etc

The difference between these AVs might be interesting if you are running a busy mail server, but not for Joe average.

[RBWilson]

You shouldn't be relying on antivirus to detect trojans and spyware, that's not what they're built for. Read the benchmarking tests. AVG will in a majority of cases let through much more than the other two leading free AV's.

It's your security though, do as you wish.

I have no doubts you can link to benchmark studies saying AVG sucks, and I have no doubts I can give link to tests saying it's great...

Software comparisons are often subjective and biased'; inferior products today will often leap-frog the competition in a new release tomorrow - it is a moving target. For some positive comments about AVG, see:

http://www.freewaregenius.com/2006/11/09/avg-free-antivirus/

http://www.geekgirls.com/security_antivirus.htm

I have been running AVG on 4 systems for 2 years with zero problems.

[cdnvic]

IMO AVG is the Hotmail of AVs. A so-so default program that people grab without thinking too much into it or exploring alot of options. I have yet to see any real security experts recommend it, and I've heard so many bad things about it that I just don't think it's worth the risk. Why be loyal to something you have zero investment in?

[freeman]

Comparing AVG and AVAST, I believe cdnvic is right. Have a look at this comparison:

http://wiki.castlecops.com/AntiVirus_Comparison

It's your choice...

[friend2]

I recently built a BootCD with AntiVir free antivirus.

It picked up several malwarez that AVG missed.(resident scanner in that particular machine)

They were not "false positives" either.

All the suspected files uploaded to virustotal.com and confirmed "bad".

Seems like a good free scanner to me.

Offcourse, not using IE, and good browsing habits ain't that bad either to stay away

from infection.

[yeti]

Is building a Bootable CD a standard feature of AntiVir free edition? Coz I don't think I can do it with AVG, and Avast's BART is expensive (and no "free" licence around).

[hereforgood]

I have used AVG for years and found it to be fine not a problem

[friend2]

Is building a Bootable CD a standard feature of AntiVir free edition? Coz I don't think I can do it with AVG, and Avast's BART is expensive (and no "free" licence around).

Avast Bart PE is a waste of money.(I tried it to, not impressed).

Both AVG, (free not working, have to be Pro) and Antivir, can be put onto an Bart pe boot CD.

So not to get confused, Bart PE is freeware.

There are several nice packages on the net, that have some, or all the tools you'll ever need

to troubleshot/scan your harddrive for all kinds of issues.

2 good ones are:

http://ubcd4win.com/

and

http://www.reatogo.de/REATOGO.htm

All you need to build one of these boot cd's is the XP (sp2) installation CD, and any of

the boot cd maker programs from above.

The ubcd4win.com suite contains the following virus/malware scanners:

Trend Micro Sysclean

McAfee Stinger

DrWeb CureIt!

ClamWin

Avarst!VirusCleaner

* AV7Personal

*This one needs to be updated from the ubcd site to work, as the one in the main package is bad.

-------------------

Malware tools

Ad-Aware

CWShredder

EZPCFix

HijackThis

SpyBot S&D

WinSockXPFix

XBlock

If you wanna add AVG, or any other commercial software to the CD, that can be done with "plugins".

I suggest you read up in the respective sites forums about that if you're interested.

I be dead in the water without at least 1 of the tool cd's above

Remember, both these packages are freeware.

[yeti]

Ok, I hoped a bootable, up to date AntiVir CD could be created in 2 clicks.

Until now I've used the Ultimate Boot CD, but it's not easy to update virus definition with it, I may have a look to the Win version of it.

Thxs

Yeti