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AVG Internet Security 8.5

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:24:48 +0000

Regular readers will no doubt be aware of the fact that I recommend AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition over popular paid for rivals time and time again. Ignoring the obvious “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” scepticism that I usually encounter whenever I mention this application I’m usually also asked about the features absent; most notably a firewall.

Fortunately AVG are aware that their free anti-virus package doesn’t cover the needs of all users so they have also produced a security suite going by the name of AVG Internet Security. To save recapping I am simply going to focus on the differences between the two applications so if you’ve missed my review of the free edition it can be located at www.computerarticles.co.uk.

Potentially the most important issue, it’s worth noting that the free edition of AVG Anti-Virus is not licensed for business use or for use on multiple machines; if you were planning to use the product at work or on more than one computer then upgrading is the only legal option.

Other than this, AVG Internet Security offers the following additional features:

Firewall – A firewall inspects all network traffic between your computer and the Internet in order to block unauthorised access to your machine. The firewall in AVG Internet Security is designed to be a more secure alternative to the solution bundled with Windows.

Spam Filter – The integrated Anti-Spam filter prevents unwanted e-mails from reaching your inbox while also protecting you against phishing attacks. The anti-spam feature in itself will be invaluable to most users; especially those that have no use for certain male oriented medical products.

Anti-Rootkit Scanner – A rootkit is a piece of software designed to obscure the fact that a computer system has been compromised from both the user and anti-virus software. The intention is that files can be altered and processes executed without triggering a conventional anti-virus scanner, including AVG free edition.

Identity Theft Protection – Following their takeover of Sana Security at the beginning of this year, AVG have started integrating their software algorithms designed to detect unusual malware prompted behaviour designed to siphon off passwords, bank account details, credit card numbers and so on.

There are also a few other bits and pieces chucked in, including Instant Messaging protection, free technical support and a safe download manager making it a pretty comprehensive package.

There are however a couple of drawbacks. First and foremost it is larger, and therefore more resource hungry than the free edition which is unfortunate as one of the things I loved most about the free edition was how it was substantially smaller and faster than the biggest players on the market such as Norton and McAfee. While it is still ahead of these alternatives it is still a shame to see it lose any ground on this front.

Secondly, and most obviously, Internet Security is not free. You can buy the two year, three user license on the AVG website for £83.18 or alternatively (if the Herald Express will allow me a shameless plug) we are selling it retail boxed in our Torquay Road and new Newton Abbot store for £32.99.

Whether Internet Security is the right solution for you depends on your particular needs; I will reiterate that the free edition (http://free.avg.com) is a more than capable anti-virus checker but if you desire the extra features and don’t mind the slight sacrificing of speed then the paid for suite may represent a better option.

AVG 7.0

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:23:58 +0000

Regular readers of my column will know of my continued support of the free version of the online AVG virus checker. Whilst it is by no means perfect I do prefer it to other virus checkers I have tried on the market mainly due to the fact that it is a small, unobtrusive product which does the job extremely well.

I am not a big fan of huge programs such as Norton Internet Security as although they do their job well they always seem to interfere with the running of the PC a little too much with their bulky software.

I like things to be kept simple and hence hate to see Windows XP machines with the inbuilt firewall software turned on along with a dozen other products sat in the background running secondary firewalls, spam prevention, anti-virus protection, parental controls, privacy control software and so on. There really is no need especially when you consider that all these programs cost money which could be saved and spent on something a little more useful.

In the past I have seen speedy machines fall to their knees after having had the entire Mcafee suite installed and this really isn’t necessary! The reason for this little criticism about some users’ security arrangements has been bought about by the news that AVG Anti-virus 7 Free Edition has been recently released to supersede the AVG 6 Free Edition I have been recommending in the past.

There are several improvements in this new software to the scanning engine, user interface and e-mail scanner but nothing too dramatic. Having said that it is certainly worth existing users downloading the new software especially when you consider that support for AVG 6 will be discontinued shortly.

A question I am asked over and over again is how do they make such a supposedly good virus checker if it is free of charge, especially if it contains no spyware or advertising? Who pays for it? The answer is simply that the authors make money from professional users who wish to deploy AVG across networks or file severs and those home users who require more features than the free edition. Providing the free edition to home users is a good way to spread the word about the software and provides a perfect way for devising improvements due to feedback from existing users.

Assuming that you are using Windows XP, I would personally work on the following configuration to obtain the ideal balance between security and speed.

- Install Windows XP Service pack 2 or obtain the free CD by visiting www.microsoft.com

- Ensure the inbuilt Windows XP firewall is active and that your system is set to update itself automatically with the latest Windows updates.

- Uninstall any out of date Anti-Virus software and download AVG Free Edition from www.grisoft.com and ensure that it is set to update automatically.

- Download Spybot Search & Destroy from security.kolla.de, choose to update the program and then set it to scan for Spyware and help immunise you against further infection.

The best news about all of these security features is that they won’t cost you a penny and although you obviously don’t have to take my advice I believe that people make a big deal about securing their computers online and confusion in the market has lead to people buying products they don’t require and worst of all slowing their machines down. By using a touch of commonsense and following the four steps above you can ensure that your Windows XP machine is safe online without costing you a penny and without any nasty side effects. Just trust me!

Anti Spy ware and Virus Checking

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 17:26:41 +0000

With all the Christmas and New Year celebrations and work that has resulted due to Christmas sales, I’m struggling to get everything tied up and so I thought it would be nice this week if I were to reprint an article I wrote months ago which many of my readers found particularly helpful but also many of you also missed. This essential piece of software mentioned below really should be downloaded and installed by everybody reading this article along with the free version of the AVG Anti-virus checker which I’ve also been recommending in the past year.

Quite a common complaint submitted by readers is intrusive software which often installs itself onto their systems with no easy way to remove it. Quite often the software contains questionable content such as pornographic links and it can be quite concerning if the computer is shared with other members of the family as there is often no way to delete the links that have been created. I managed to find a nice piece of software called ‘Spybot Search & Destroy’ removes any such questionable software and tries to prevent it from re-returning.

Once you’ve started the program you should scan your system for spyware & adware which takes a couple of minutes to complete and the program then displays a list of the problems that it found on your system along with the option to automatically repair them. It’s surprising how much rubbish many of you will have running in the background constantly as I keep a regularly clean out junk applications and the program managed to detect at least a dozen or so rouge applications installed on my hard drive. By removing them you can free up valuable system resources and also make your computer slightly more pleasant to use and an important point to note is that the software does make a backup as it goes along so if you find that certain programs won’t work anymore then you can always restore your system to how it was previously. Once you’ve cleaned out all the rubbish which has then the program has the option to immunise your system which installs preventative measures to help prevent rouge software from installing itself again.

If you head to http://security.kolla.de/ then the file is 3.5Mg in size so even on a 56k connection it should only take 10 minutes or so to download and the best news is that it’s completely free of charge although the author does ask for a donation if you find it helpful and the free AVG virus checker should be downloaded from www.grisoft.com. To conclude, one of the most annoying areas of the modern Internet is the large number of programmers on the Internet who believe that it is acceptable to install useless software on to your computer without your permission and without any easy way to uninstall just so they can make some quick money. Much of this software exposes you to constant pop up advertising without your permission or tracks your browsing habits so I personally believe that any program which tries to kerb this abuse has to be worth installing.