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AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012 Version (2012.0.1901) – Freeware Review

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 09:15 PM PST

The Rating Scale Breakdown:

0 – 0.5 – Abysmal
1.0 – 1.5 – Terrible
2.0 – 2.5 – Poor
3.0 – 3.5 – Average
4.0 – 4.5 – Great
5.0 – Excellent

Undetermined – Too soon to tell or lacking evidence to provide a solid answer

Not Tested – Has yet to be requested or there is some limitations to prevent accurate test results

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Price: Free

A. Installation AVG – 4.0 "Great" – Slower then AVG claims.

B. Un-installing AVG – 3.5 "Average" – A little faster then AVG 2011

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C. Stability Of Program - 5.0 "Excellent" – We have received absolutely no e-mails about the lack of stability.

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D. Has AVG Free Been Compromised By Hackers Or Virus – 5.0 "Excellent" – No issues reported thus far.

E. Speed of Scan – 5.0 "Excellent" – Very quick on most computers. And now you have the option to choose how much Memory/Ram you want each scheduled scan to take up.

F. Does AVG Free Do Automatic Updates By Itself Without Any Issue – 5.0 "Excellent" – Yes, and this time around there seems to be no stalling and or hanging. When we manually update AVG. As we have seen in older versions of AVG.

G. Internet Browser Cookie Detection Rate And Removal Test – 2.5 "Poor" - You are way better off with something like SUPERAntiSpyware or CCleaner that is more dedicated to removal of Internet cookies. AVG Internet cookie detection rate is terrible even with the option active and checked off.

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1. Anti-Virus Detection Rate Test:

1A. Windows XP – 4.0 "Great"

1B. Windows Vista – 4.0 "Great"

1C. Windows 7 -4.0 "Great"

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2. Anti-Spyware - 2.0 "Poor" – AVG still seems to miss very common and not so common spyware/adware. You are much better off with SUPERAntiSpyware or Spybot as your adware, spyware, malware protection.

3. One Click Fix – 5.0 "Excellent" – I love this idea and is saves a lot of the headaches. When I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with my AVG.

4. Link Scanner - 4.5 "Great" - Not a fan. But it can be very very useful to some.

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5. Family Safety – 4.5 "Great" – Cost $19.99 CAD per year for 3 computers to activate this just added feature -But it covers unlimited profiles. So you can have just one kid or 11 kids and your good. Provided it is only used with up to 3 PC's

6. LiveKive – Not Tested – This feature has just been added to AVG Dashboard. But it cost money to activate. -See below for cost to activate feature-

*Cost $49.99 CAD for 25 GB of storage per year.

*Cost $79.99 CAD for Unlimited storage per year.

*** DISCLAIMER: Both 5 & 6 are not included in our overall score. As they are not included and cost extra.

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7. AVG Security ToolBar - 4.0 "Great" - This toolbar in the past versions have caused crashes. But thus far no such issues to report.

8. AVG SideBar Gadget – 3.5 "Average" – Much better then AVG 2011 as it appears a little less bulky. It does cause problems when you already have your side bar full of way more useful widgets/gadgets already.

9. Residential Shield Test -3.5 "Average" – I still find AVIRA and AVAST seems to grab the virus way before AVG. But there is indeed some major overall improvements here yet again.

10. E-Mail Scanner - 3.5 "Average" - This is option great if you can figure out how to set it up.

11. Updating - 5.0 "Excellent" – No issues here at all. And AVG even seems to be a little bit faster then past versions of AVG. Barely even noticeable to most users.

12. Anti-RootKit – 4.5 "Great" – Very hit and miss. But can be very useful if there is a reason to believe you may have a deep rooted virus. Never hurts to run this every few weeks just to be on the safe side. And AVG has it as a completely separate dedicated scan option as well (Which makes it way quicker to run and it uses much less system resources.)

13. Identity Protection - 4.5 "Great" – A very useful feature that lets you know when you maybe at risk for identity theft and or other important information maybe at risk. Such as with Peer 2 Peer file sharing programs, certain add-ons and some toolbars.

14. PC Analyzer – 0.5 "Abysmal" - If you don't mind that you only can fix your errors for free once then great. But if you are like me and you probably feel this options is both somewhat misleading and out right bait to buy this extremely expensive add-on. Then you are probably with me on my conclusion.

15. AVG Support – 1.0 "Terrible" – With only a free forum that is both hard to use and very disorganized to boot. I can't recommend using it as it will just end up in a fit of pure frustration and often just un-installing AVG altogether. Or of course you could visiting a site like ours.

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My Overall Score: 92.5/120

77 % = B +

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My Final Verdict -Part 1- The main difference in AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012. Is the minimalist (less detailed) UI (User Interface). For most AVG users will be just fine with this UI change. But I find it very frustrating as it seems that AVG decided to move all of the technical information. Such as AVG's version codes over to AVG's "Help" section.

My Final Verdict -Part 2- I also noticed it looks like AVG stripped down many of it's features that were present in last years AVG Free 2011. But actually I am happy to say. That is not the case. AVG instead for some reason decided hide both the main interface icons and said options in a more user unfriendly manner.

You maybe asking me Kirbe "Where did AVG put those options ?" Well I'm glade you asked. They hide them in the "Tools tab" under "Advanced setting". So there you go. They appear to have vanished, but instead they are very well hidden from most basic AVG users.

**As per the norm it is highly recommend that you upgrade to the new AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012. As soon as possible if you are still using one of AVG older versions. So you can insure you have the best protection AVG has to offer.

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Here are 2 links to download AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012:

1. http://free.avg.com/ww-en/download-free-antivirus (AVG Main Site)

2. http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition-2012/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?tag=rb_content;main (Via download.com/Cnet)

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Return To The Main Reviews Page

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Till The Next Review,

Kirbe

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 12:15 AM and is filed under Adware/Spyware Programs, Anti-Virus Programs, AVG Free News, Download.com, Freeware, General PC Care/Use, Malware Program, News, Other Software, Reviews, Security News, Tech News, Technology, Tips & Tricks, Window's 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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