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AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 Free review

FREE

Manufacturer: AVG

Our Rating: We rate this 4 out of 5 User Rating: Our users rate this 3 out of 10

By | 22 May 08

Of all the free antivirus packages you can download (and there are a few), AVG Anti-Virus Free has to be the doyen of the lot.

Of all the free antivirus packages you can download (and there are a few), AVG Anti-Virus Free has to be the doyen of the lot.

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And for good reason – it is a pretty good AV package, not the very best perhaps but pretty good. The release of the free version of the current edition of AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 came a couple of months after the commercial version.

See also:

AVG Internet Security 8.0 review

As before, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 is based on the same core AV technology as the retail version but minus a few bells and whistles, so it is to all intents and purposes the same as the retail product. Which makes it a pretty good AV choice, even ignoring the great price tag.

So what don't you get for your no money? Well, no support for a start, though the support offered by AVG Technologies for paid editions is limited to online only, so maybe this is no great loss.

AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.0 is just an AV product and not an internet security bundle so you won't find a firewall or antispam module, though, as before, the package integrates with your email client to stop mail-borne malware.

However, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 does include the new LinkScanner feature, this marks dodgy sites returned by a search engine hunt.

Finally, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 only updates once and not four times daily. You can download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition from free.grisoft.com.

Visit Security Advisor for the latest internet threat news, and internet security product reviews

AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 Free Expert Verdict »
Post Review

Reviewed by HelloBanana on Tuesday 28 July 2009

3 star rating

Duration of ownership: 1 days

Strengths:
Good antivirus/antispyware.

Weaknesses:
No Anti-Rootkit. Limited. Nagware.

Overall Evaluation:
Not bad but should have an anti-rootkit feature.

Reviewed by Jim Bell on Tuesday 27 May 2008

5 star rating

Duration of ownership: 1 months

Strengths:
- 'Set and forget'. - "same core AV technology as the retail version". - Works very well on the 3 machines I currently run it off. - Includes anti-spyware technology. - Smallish footprint.

Weaknesses:
- Reports of slowdown when using linkscanner.

Overall Evaluation:
Can't really beat this for a free product - clean user interface & not nagging you to upgrade every 5 minutes like some applications.

Reviewed by ProReviewer on Monday 26 May 2008

1 star rating

Duration of ownership: 3 weeks

Strengths:
Works if your system is similar enough to one that avg technologies happened to test with. Else you may be unable to scan or update your virus database.

Weaknesses:
Read forums at http://freeforum.avg.com/ before installing avg free 8.0. Tales of terror from unsuspecting users who have lost all their emails without warning, or can't get it running at all.

Overall Evaluation:
AVG Free 8.0 should not have been released until the dozens of bugs, some of them severely disastrous, have been fixed. The real test of a product comes when experienced customers get their hands on it. Their feed back in the above mentioned forum indicates a high level of risk to any system you might install this product on. Please, go read the comments yourself at http://freeforum.avg.com/

Intel Pentium 300 MHz
30MB free hard drive space (for installation)
256MB RAM
Windows 2000/XP/Vista
  • Ease of Use: We give this item 7 of 10 for ease of use
  • Features: We give this item 8 of 10 for features
  • Overall: We give this item 8 of 10 overall

Even if it wasn't free, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 Free would be a good antivirus product.

There are currently no price comparisons for this product.
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