Customer Reviews

AVG Anti-Virus V8.5 - 2 Year Subscription [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I have been through the lot! THIS IS THE BEST ANTI-VIRUS I HAVE EVER HAD - and it comes with THE MOST EFFECTIVE ANTI-SPYWARE today!

For years I sweared by NORTON - until two years ago it got so heavy and demanding it slowed my computer to a crawl. Then I gave McAFEE a try which, although lighter, pestered me with pop-up messages. When that license expired I gave KASPERSKY Internet Security a try: real secure feeling and detailed settings control; however, a number of internet applications, although given full internet access, were slowed to a trickle.

A couple of months ago I downloaded the AVG AV & ANTI-SPYWARE as a 30-day trial. I liked it so much, I gave their INTERNET SECURITY a try too!
Yes, THIS IS THE ONE!

Light, heuristically effective (it even found a malware that KASPESKY failed to locate - and KASPERSKY has the best reputation on cleaning out everything!), no conflicts, email integration (although not with ThunderBird yet, a minor glitch), excellent AI and quiet.
This is legendary AntiVirus that blew the whistle on BIOSHOCK's RootKit!

It may seem a bit pricey, yet keep in mind that it comes with a 2 YEAR license, not the usual 12 months that most other Security applications come with.

If you already have a Firewall solution (no, I don't mean the one Windows comes with, that is a joke - the best free one is ZONE ALARM) THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED. If, however, you want a comprehensive Security solution, try AVG INTERNET SECURITY instead.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

UPDATE [April 26, 2008]: AVG offered the FREE option to upgrade to v8.0 for the remainder of the license to every customer that had bought v7.5. Now, THIS is a company that knows how to built customer loyalty!

Something happened to the folks at Grisoft. They were the poster child for respectful software development, rational performance, and customer awareness. I guess they hired someone who decided they would become a "security software company". The result is that AVG 8 is by far the most disastrous product they have put out EVER.

It consumes more system resources than even the terrible McAfee and Symantec. I've been a paid subscriber of the family package to AVG for years, and when the AVG 8 "upgrade" appeared, I enthusiastically loaded and then the trouble started. AVG now requires almost the entire computer just to run itself. Internet download speeds dropped (I have verizon Fios) from 20Mbps to 5 and upload speeds from 4 Mbps to 200Kbps (yes, you read that right). Web pages take minutes to load, file copy operations are amazingly SLOW (I thought it was Vista, but its NOT!!)

Basically, I have written AVG off as another clueless group who wants to add value, but with no awareness of the damage they do in the process.

This has become what one person referred to as "elephantware", and I agree. I've been through many of these products, and they each become more important than the actual computer it seems. Now AVG has gone the way of the dodo

On the pro side, it has the best update and scheduler that I've seen, and it does indeed deal with most viruses. It also has a new pretty icon.... but thats all thats positive I can say.

I've rolled my whole family back to AVG 7.5, and am now evaluating a bunch of other products. Back to the drawing board

I had Norton Antivirus 2005, which I'd renewed yearly every January. Was perfectly happy with it, until around October 2007 when I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd been infected with spyware that Norton hadn't intercepted because whenever I was online my computer just seemed to crawl more sluggishly than before. So after several hours of research for better Virus/Spyware packages, scrolling relentlessly thru customer & tech reviews on Amazon, CNet, etc (and feeling so frustrated in finding no anti-virus solution that met with resounding acclaim) I finally selected this software and purchased it through Amazon.

Before installing this, I uninstalled Norton. (Scary moments there, feeling a little naked!)

But after installing this and booting up, it found 77 pieces of spyware, and I knew I'd done a smart thing by choosing this software, and every interaction with AVG has proved that.

I had a problem initially because I installed it in late January 2008 but the software license was telling me it would expire in October 2009 (2 years after I purchased it, instead of 2 years after I installed it). But I emailed their support and got an answer the very next day, apologizing for the mistake, and giving me a new code which was ridiculously simple to install, following the instructions they gave me.

After I installed, I was perturbed that it would run a full system scan every time I booted up...which slowed my 5-year-old laptop to a near standstill. I emailed them with a "please help!" message and again had an answer the very next day, with a solution that worked.

Since that time, I've been very happy with AVG. It takes about 10 minutes to download & install the latest virus updates every time I connect my ancient laptop to my wireless DSL, but then it runs quietly in the background.

Granted, Norton had good customer service too. But successive versions (2006, 2007) of Norton got decreasingly good expert & consumer reviews. So AVG, for the price, is the better solution...especially since it eliminates spyware.

My laptop specs:
Dell Inspiron 2650
Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz
384 MB RAM
Windows XP Home

I purchased AVG antivirus for our small business server. When I had an issue installing the program and my server was at serious risk, I went to their web site to look for a phone number. You guessed it, no such luck. The problem was urgent enough that I searched for a physical address on the Grisoft web site and then called 411 information in that town, trying to reach somebody at Grisoft - anybody - who could help us out.

Again, no such luck. Grisoft doesn't even list its phone number in their local directory.

I found many reviews that liked this program, however, their lack of customer support just wipes out any benefits.

I like this anti-malware product, although if you are in the habit of turning your computer off at night, you will find that startup is slow, and is exponentially worse the longer you leave it off. However, I suspect that this is common with all other anti-malware products. Beyond that, it's a great product. The interface is clean and user-friendly and it does not have those OBNOXIOUS pop-up windows that Norton 360 does. I also use this product at work and it was recommended by my IT consultant.

I recently purchased this item and found it to be very satisfactory for my needs. I'm 83 years old and what you might call Computer Illiterate. I found this software easy to Load and scanned my system finding no problems. I gave this program 4 stars ,will probably up that evaluation later on if it continues to preform as it has since installing it on my system. I am well pleased with this product and would recommend it to anyone looking for Virus Protection.

This replaced a Norton resource hog I'd been using in various versions since 2003. On installation, AVG gave me a warning message about "known conflicts" with a software product installed on my machine. Problem: I never had that software on this machine. But I ignored the message and AVG installed and worked without a hitch. Annoyance: if your 'net connection isn't plugged up when you boot Windows, you get "update failed" messages from AVG. Seems AVG should be programmed to know your network card isn't connected, but it's easy enough to fix by just running the update yourself (which is faster anyway). On its first run, AVG found bad guys Norton hadn't noticed for years. When you're using internet search engines and try to link to unknown/dangerous sites, you get accurate AVG warnings about attempts by the site to secretly install junk onto your system -- a very helpful feature, and much better than other security software that notices junk only after it's been installed. If your PC is idle for a long spell, AVG hunts in the background; it even found old nuisances in Windows' hidden restore files, where bad guys like to hide copies of themselves. It's sometimes confusing when AVG refers to bad guys with "generic" names that don't really identify the culprit, but that's better than not finding them at all. My system starts and runs noticeably faster, too. Highly recommended.

I used AVG anti-virus freeware for several years and found it effective. When the company gave notice that they would not be updating the free version, I paid $59.99 Canadian plus $12.00 for a backup CD to upgrade.

I couldn't get it installed and after several tries, I guessed that Zone Alarm Firewall might be the problem, and I deleted it. If I'd had to wait for AVG - I'd have been running without virus protection for a week. That was the response time to my problem.

Recently, AVG warned there was a virus on a blog entry of mine. I checked and there was no listing for the threat AVG detected. By the time I'd found the license number and copied it (typing it was near impossible to get right), the page had timed out. I had no way to exit other than to reboot my computer. I managed to figure out that my hit counter was infected - and I deleted it. Dumb luck - and shouldn't $72.00 a year get you better technical support than dumb luck and managing to figure it out yourself? How about a phone number? A response the same day? How can you trust a company that makes it so difficult to reach them?

I won't renew next year. And I'll be reading reviews of customer service before I buy again.

The AVG Anti Virus & Spyware software recently purchased was a very good buy. It also seems to be working well on our home computers and not difficult to install. Also seems easy to use so far and warns you right up front if there is a problem with choices on how to heal it. I like the product very much as it is easier to use than the last program we had.

I have used Norton for years. When it expired several months ago, I tried the AVG free version available on their web site. I used it for about 4 months and found it to be okay. Based on that, I decided to get a version I had to pay for. I looked around and found the best price on Amazon and it's for a 2 year subscription.

I have had no problems with it after using it for about 2 months. It was easy to install and has not conflicted with anything on my computer. No start up problems. Nothing. I would highly recommend it. Good value for the money.