Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado
So, here I go… attacking another well-known player in the Antivirus market, and this time it’s a favorite among IT golden-boys everywhere.
Today, I’m going to talk about AVG Free.
AVG is one of those companies you just love to like.
First of all, they offer a decent free product.
Second, they are one of the “underdogs” of the antivirus market (not Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro).
Third, they aren’t Symantec, which immediately gives them a couple of points in my book… I mean, who else but Symantec can make a program so messy that they had to create an uninstaller to aid in the removal of their own product [ aka Norton Removal Tool ]??? I won’t even get into the mess that SEP (Symantic Endpoint Protection) creates, even after you have removed it!
Despite the reasons to like AVG Free, I have a number of complaints with it. Unfortunately, they are major gripes.
The cons of AVG Free:
- AVG Free isn’t that great at detection and removal
- AVG Free, since it carries the name “Antivirus” gives you a false sense of security
- AVG Free doesn’t update automatically
- AVG Free slows down your system… I’m talking about the new version 8.0 and above
The trouble is… I really want to like AVG Free… I really do!
Many of my own home systems had AVG Free installed until very recently. Of course, I have other forms of protection in place too, that most people do not have – such as a hardware firewall, OpenDNS Filtering, and a few others… but that’s another story for another time.
The fact is, surfing the web these days is dangerous… not just for your computer, but also for your privacy and possibly your very identity.
Web sites have viruses.
Let me repeat that… WEB SITES HAVE VIRUSES.
ANY web site can harbor a virus… not just pornographic web sites. Not just the sites you go to get cheat codes, game cracks, key generators, and cutesy little widgets to put on your myspace profile.
Viruses can be hiding in banner ads, or infect a website unbeknown to the web site owner.
A story I tell my clients sometimes is the how thousands of innocent web site visitors were affected by a virus that infected many very high profile web sites, such as the Kelly Blue Book web site. You can read more about that here, at the Washington Post online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6746-2004Jun25.html
AVG Free is just NOT good enough for today’s Internet threats. Period.
In addition to not giving you adequate protection, many users don’t know enough about antivirus and antispyware programs to make well-informed decisions on the matter. They just see the word antivirus, and they think, “Oh yeah, that’s what I need.” They download it, install it, and then think they are safe from all harm.
If they think they can save some money and get the same protection, but for FREE… what do you think they are going to do? Of course… they are going to download the free product.
Before you make the decision on whether or not to go with a FREE product to protect your computer, or a $50 or so per year product, consider your choice wisely. It helps to look at this another way…
If you HAD to go into a dangerous foreign country, who would you choose to be your body guard?
Would you want the paunchy, out of shape, middle-aged guy, who used to work mall security and has a license to carry a concealed weapon? He’s a friend of a friend, and he’ll work for free.
Or, would you want the six foot two, ex-navy-seal-turned-mercenary who is an expert in hand to hand combat?
In case you are still deciding, you want the second guy.
Trust me.
You want the guy who’s not going to be playing around. He’s not going to be your buddy or send you flowers. He’s going to keep his eyes pealed, his ears to the ground, and his knife sharp. He will to keep you safe… but, he’s NOT going to do it for free. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and time to acquire and hone these specialized and valuable skills and he expects to be compensated accordingly.
The same can be said for antivirus applications.
Are you really going to get the top-notch product for free? Not even close.
No… for free, you are going to get the mall cop, and he won’t be armed with anything but pepper spray and a whistle.
Let’s switch gears here, and talk about performance…
When it comes to your computer’s speed, why sacrifice it when you don’t have to?
AVG Free (and even it’s paid version) will slow down a computer a bit. There are website that talk about how to disable certain web/surf filters in AVG in order to reclaim some of their computing power… but, why would you want to put yourself at even MORE risk by turning off these filters?
So, please, please, please stay away from AVG Free.
The AVG Professional Version may slow down your computer, but at least you get some great protection!
There are a lot of products out there that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. If you spread the cost out over the course of a year, you are talking about $0.07 to $0.10 per day.
Kaspersky Antivirus, for example costs $59 for a year, but if you purchase two years in advance, the price drops to $36 per year. Although I think that Kaspersky Internet Security is a bit bloated and expensive, the Antivirus product is sleek, fast, and is very affordable (it’s what I use on the computer I’m on right now).
Same thing goes with Avast Professional Edition. Avast charges $57 for a two year license. That is an investment of less than $29 per year. Very nice, considering how highly rated this product is. Not only does it blow the doors off of anything by AVG Free, but it’s cheap too! Quality protection for about $0.07 per day.
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#1 by Jason Pike on August 29th, 2009
Good article.
I like AVG Free, but I know what you mean. It is sort of slow, and doesn’t catch everything. But, it’s free! Luckily I know how to remove viruses when I get them.
For those who don’t know how to remove viruses I also suggest something better, like Kaspersky or NOD32.
Friends don’t let friends install Symantec!
#2 by Caig on August 31st, 2009
Looks like someone’s setup a few affiliate accounts and then wrote a load of crap to sell it. Explain how these AV’s you mention remove or even prevent backdoor installing of Personal Antivirus and other rogue software. It’s the user who clicks next,next,next and lets it in. No AV is able to prevent or remove these, why pay for something that is not 100% and takes overnight to scan. Use AVG Free for real time scanning (resident shield) and get Combofix, Malwarebytes and Superanitspyware all free and you will have no infection trouble and your cash.
#3 by Bradley Chapple on August 31st, 2009
Thanks for commenting Caig. I appreciate your feedback, even if it’s a disagreement.
I stand behind my disapproval of AVG Free. I’m not going to go into the details of how Kaspersky and Avast will prevent the infection of a virus infection. This post is intended to be simple advice for basic users who don’t want to become computer experts… Most of my clients don’t want to learn the minutia of computer security – they just want focus on what they do best, and let the IT experts help keep them out of trouble.
You sound very knowledgeable. But, I just want to remind you that by definition, a backdoor typically doesn’t require any user interaction. It works similar to a trojan in which the infiltrator has direct access to the files on the computer without the user’s knowledge or interaction.
You are correct in stating that no antivirus will protect someone 100%. Look at the latest report from http://www.av-comparitives.org, and you will clearly see that AVG Standard Edition only has a 93% detection and removal rate.
It is important to note here that AVG Free (according to AVG) does not protect you as well as AVG Standard… and it only scored 93%! The test didn’t include AVG Free, but I can only assume it would not score as high as the version of AVG (Standard Edition) that you would actually pay money for.
On the same tests Kaspersky scored 97.1% and Avast scored 98.2%. I’d rather pay a paltry sum for a higher level of protection, especially since a few percentage points could add protection from thousands of viruses and spyware applications.
As for ComboFix, Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware… those are all good programs.
But, ComboFix isn’t intended to be an antivirus application and should only to used by a professional. Running it can render your computer inoperable (which is why it encourages the installation of the Recovery Console).
Malwarebytes is also a great program, but in many cases today’s malware will keep it from installing, updating or running. Also, it is not as effective as it once was. There is a lot that it won’t catch. Plus, only the pay version of Malwarebytes actually has scheduled scanning and proactive protection.
The same thing applies to SuperAntispyware – it’s decent, but many rogue programs won’t even let it install or run if the system is already infected. Not only that, but it loads a start up service and tray icon, which slows down the system when it boots.
Again thanks for your opinion, but I feel the need to offer you a word of advice about your “soft-skills”… Although you are hiding behind the anonymity of the web, you should try to engage with people a little more before calling what they wrote “a load of crap”. True, I’m not the best writer, to be sure… but as a busy IT professional, it takes me a long time to plan and outline, write a rough draft, edit, revise and polish… all before I post.
#4 by Lam on September 1st, 2009
Hi,
I enjoyed your article “AVG Free is not Fee”. It was well thought out and written.
I’m a long-time user of Norton at home, and my company uses Symantec Endpoint Security. As a user, i have not had serious problems with my AV or my system in the past few years, but that could be becos my IT folks are good. Do agree that Norton Removal Tool is a real joke. I just wanted to get your informed opinion of Norton and Symantec Endpoint Protection. How good are they? Are they worth the money? I continue to pay for them as they have served me well. Just wanted to get a second opinion from someone who sees a lot of this stuff from perhaps the rough side of town with a different perspective. (One of the other readers made a rather harsh comment “Friends don’t let friends install Symantec”. Do you share his sentiment, and why?)
Regards,
Eric Lam
#5 by Bradley Chapple on September 2nd, 2009
Sorry about the delay in responding, Eric.
Everything that I say here is only my opinion, based on what I’ve seen over the years. In my life, I have worked on (literally) thousands of computers and computer networks with my own 2 hands… and that’s AFTER I worked over-the-phone tech support for several years. Some may disagree with what I say here, but I feel that I’ve been doing this long enough to have a good idea of what’s good and what’s crap.
We see at least 5 or 6 computers per month that have Norton Antivirus installed and completely up to date… and is riddled with viruses and spyware.
Symantec, I feel, has rested on it’s laurels long enough to become lazy. I feel that they no longer need to compete on the basis of quality, since they now have a captive audience.
In case you haven’t purchased a new computer recently, let me save you the surprise and tell you that Symantec’s Norton Antivirus is going to come preinstalled on the computer. Most people, either not knowing any better or just not wanting to do their own research will probably just keep the trial edition on their computer. Once the trial is over, they will usually just opt to purchase a valid license to continue using the product.
THAT is how I see Symantec making it’s money. Is a dishonest? Nope. Is it good business? Definitely! Is it good for the customer? Not really.
I don’t believe that Norton Antivirus is absolutely horrible at detecting and removing viruses, but I do believe that there are far BETTER products out there. NOD32, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, AVIRA are all better in my opinion.
As for Symantec Endpoint Protection, the problem with SEP is not installing it and using it. The problem is primarily with UNninstalling it! It leaves a bunch of junk in the registry that breaks A LOT of stuff. I remember fighting for hours with a seemingly VPN setup on a Windows 2003 SBS box that recently had SEP installed and then uninstalled by their previous technician. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting, I checked the registry and found numerous places in which SEP had redirected services to the SEP folder (which no longer existed). I was eventually able to fix everything, but what a nightmare!