AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012

CNET Editors' note: The Download Now link will download an installer file to your desktop. Remain online and double-click the installer to proceed with the actual download.
To learn more about AVG products and to ask questions and receive answers from AVG company representatives, please visit CNET's dedicated AVG Forum.

CNET Editors' review

by: Seth Rosenblatt on August 31, 2011

The bottom line: AVG Free 2012's renewed focus on performance keeps scans zippy, but struggles with slowing down your boot time and too many false positives.
Review:
The never-ending mantra chanted by security suite vendors sounds a lot like "faster scans, easier to use, better performance," and AVG has released a new version that it says accomplishes all three. Certainly, the scans are faster.

Interface
The changes to AVG's interface in the 2011 version were minor but actually improved usability quite a bit. This year, the tweaks are even less pronounced. There's not much different besides redoing the icons in the main interface so they're easier on your eyes.

AVG Free's slightly tweaked interface for 2012.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

There's a one-click Fix button for automatically repairing security breaches that appears at the top along with a yellow X when your system safety has been compromised. It disappears when your system gets a clean bill of health.
Joining the one-click Update button on the side nav is a one-click Scan Now button. There's a clean look to the nav, as well, with bigger fonts and timestamps for the most recent scan and most recent update.
AVG has placed icons for its security components in a central pane. Double-click on one to access more information and basic configuration settings for each specific tool. Advanced settings are available under Tools on the menu bar at the top of the window.
The new interface changes are small, no doubt, but they do make AVG easier to use.
Features and support
AVG 2012 includes a couple of solid changes to make you safer. The first is a patent-pending technique for identifying one of the most obnoxious threats to ever reach your computer: the fake antivirus. If you're unfamiliar, these programs purport to be an antivirus, or a Web-based antivirus scan. Once they install on your computer, the only way to get rid of the infection is to "buy" their license. They're also related to the ransomware infections, which don't even bother with the effort to pretend to be an antivirus. AVG 2012 will block both of them.
The LinkScanner tool has been improved to watch out for more dynamic code, which is essential in the security game because threats are mutating at such a rapid rate. Meanwhile, premium users get the new AVG Accelerator option, which optimizes your Internet connection to speed up downloads and rendering. It currently works on two sites: YouTube, and you can see its impact when pausing and unpausing videos; and Download.com binary downloads. The accelerator protocol was developed internally at AVG.
AVG now includes a monitoring tool that automatically warns you when Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer consumes too much memory. Called AVG Advisor and in all of the AVG suites, it opens a small pop-up and asks you if you'd like to restart your browser. There's no way to "force" it to activate, although if you open up a couple dozen tabs, wait a few minutes, and then open another dozen or so, it ought to kick in.
Changes made last year are still relevant. The software offers what it calls "smart scanning," which leverages AVG's behavioral detection network to scan known safe files once, and only rescan them if it detects changes. As with its competitors, AVG's network is made up of its user base anonymously contributing data up to the cloud. You can choose to opt out of contributing your data when you install, or from the options menu. AVG says opting out won't negatively affect your security.
The smart scanning tech also gives you a built-in system resource manager that prioritizes scans. If a scan is scheduled to begin while the computer is in use, it will automatically restrict the scan so that it runs slower but doesn't interfere with the computer's other tasks. When it detects the computer idling, it will then allocate more power to the scan. The feature comes with a slider so you can customize how sensitive it is.
The desktop gadget for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users that lets them initiate scans and updates with one click, without having to open the full interface. It also contains links to AVG's Twitter and Facebook pages, which the company uses to bolster its support for the free version.
The PC Analyzer scans your system for Registry and disk errors. It includes a disk defragmenter and a broken-shortcut cleaner, as well. Although the feature is restricted in full to paid users, if you have the free version, the PC Analyzer comes with a one-time offer to clean all errors it finds. It provides a link to download the separate PC Analyzer tool, once the scan is completed. This is an interesting twist on the idea of letting users detect but not repair errors, and it provides more functionality while not affecting the basic security of your computer. However, it's likely that some users will shy away from the extra download.
Other features are restricted to users of AVG's paid upgrades. The paid upgrade version of AVG Anti-Virus 2012 distinguishes itself by offering chat link shield, a download scan for files sent via instant message that looks at all ports, not just port 80, and telephone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The PC Analyzer option mentioned earlier is also included, and comes without restrictions. New in 2012 to premium users is the new AVG Accelerator option, which optimizes your Internet connection to speed up downloads and rendering. It currently works on two sites: YouTube, and you can see its impact when pausing and unpausing videos; and Download.com binary downloads. The accelerator protocol was developed internally at AVG.
AVG Internet Security 2012 includes all that AVG Anti-Virus 2012 offers, and adds in a firewall and antispam protections.
Performance
AVG claims some major performance enhancements in the 2012 versions. Specifically, the company says that it has reduced by 40 percent the size on your hard drive of the virus signature database. That database is a major component of how the program recognizes threats. AVG also stated that the number of running processes that run suite has been reduced from 16 to 11, that it uses 20 percent less memory overall than previous versions, and that it ought to impact your computer's boot time less.
CNET Labs' benchmarks found that, on the whole, it is a faster program than last year's. However, we can't directly compare this year's results to last year's because we upgraded our testing computer from Windows 7 x64 to Windows 7 x64 with Service Pack 1. We can report that AVG's boot time impact was slower than average, ranging from 2 seconds slower than the average suite from AVG Free to 18 seconds slower than average for AVG Anti-Virus. AVG Internet Security was a few seconds slower than AVG Free. This is not unusual for AVG, as it historically has a big impact on startup, but that doesn't mean we don't want to see it get faster.

Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012

Download Now CNET Secure Download

=========================================================================

Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 12.0.0.898

Avira AntiVir Personal seems to be the right choice for all those who are searching for a solution with decent performance and regular updates, just to be sure infections stay away from their precious data.

The developers over at Avira have always offered a well-organized interface, and their latest antivirus solution makes no exception to this rule. Fortunately, although it's supposed to fight against viruses, the application comes with a handy user interface that lets you configure it with ease.

Avira only offers a bunch of settings, so advanced users should have no problem to deal with them, although beginners should too find the whole application quite easy to use.

The installation process is not that pleasant though. If you have Windows Defender installed, Avira advises you to remove it before continuing the installation. We chose “No” because it would make much more sense to use Avira together with Windows Defender, and not as a single solution.

Continuing the installation brings you to another important moment: you must decide whether you wish to install a toolbar, which is actually the reason why the app is marked as ad-supported.

Scanning is the kind of process that requires minimal interaction from the user. Choose the hard-disk you want to scan and let Avira do its magic. Scanning is not too fast though, and you may have to wait a little while to get rid of the worms. The speed of the scanning process obviously depends on the amount of data stored on your computer, so more files means more time.

Avira promises to protect your computer against viruses, worms and Trojans AntiDialer protection as well as against dialers and rootkits, spyware and adware. In addition, there are dedicated tools to provide mail and web protection, plus a separate firewall to make sure you're going to stay on the safe side.

In the end, Avira's antivirus solution seems just right for those who want nothing more than a software capable of blocking viruses and Trojan horses. The interface is more than decent, but a faster scanning process would be great. Still, what you pay is what you get, and Avira is clearly a smart pick.

Downloads: 34,183,734	View global page Tell us about an update

User Rating:
Rated by:

Very Good (4.2/5)
35613 user(s)


Developer: License / Price: Size / OS: Last Updated: Category:	Avira GmbH \| More programs Ad-supported / $0 82.9 MB / Windows XP / Vista / XP X64 / Vista64 / 7 / 7 x64 February 15th, 2012, 16:12 UTC [view history] C: \ Antivirus