Review: AVG Anti-Virus 8.5

I have been using AVG Anti-Virus for years.  My initial draw to the program, besides the FREE price tag for home users, was the minimal system resources that it required.

Prior to switching to AVG I was an avid user of the Norton suite of products.  I had used Norton for a few years and never had an issue with it, but Norton sucked up so much of my system resources it wasn’t even funny.  Nowadays, that probably wouldn’t make a difference since most newer computers have 2-4Gb of memory and a dual-core processor, but in the days of 256-512Mb of memory and single-core Pentium III and Pentium IV processors, system resources were more important.  But the fact is that there are still a lot of computer users out there using older computers with that 256-512Mb of memory range.

I have had experience with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (which I still recommend for home users) and AVG Anti-Virus Network Edition which I have used in the educational and business sectors.  The network edition of the software provides AVG Admin which is a software package that provides a central datacenter for managing updates and settings on client machines.  The datacenter can run on the Firebird Database (included) for installs of up to about 150 workstations, MSSQL Server 2005 Express Edition (free from Microsoft) for installs of up to about 1,000 workstations, as well as a full blown MSSQL server for installs over 1,000 workstations.

With the previous versions of the AVG Anti-Virus software (pre version 8.0), the amount of system resources that AVG took up was minimal.  Which was great for situations where you were dealing with computers that were 3-5 years old and didn’t have dual-core processors and an abundance of memory.  While AVG Anti-Virus 8.5 still (in my opinion) doesn’t seem to use as many resources as its Norton counter parts, it certainly uses more that its previous versions have.

It also includes some features that I think were un-needed.  For example, the AVG Security Toolbar.  In AVG’s defense the toolbar is completely optional during the install so they don’t force it on you.  There is also a new feature called Link Scanner, which works while you are searching the Internet and alerts you of sites that are potentially dangerous.  While I have actually found this feature useful, I find it annoying that you cannot disable this feature without making your AVG install constantly tell you that you are not fully protected.

Overall, AVG Anti-Virus 8.5 is still a solid solution and the free edition for home users is unbeatable.  But, on the other hand, I do feel that version 8+ was a step in the direction of an overbearing anti-virus solution like most of its main stream competitors.