AVG Free Anti-Virus 2011 Version (10.0.1410) – Freeware Review

The Rating Scale Breakdown:

• 0  – 0.5 – Abysmal
• 1.0 – 1.5 – Terrible
• 2.0 – 2.5 – Poor
• 3.0 – 3.5 – Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 – Great
• 5.0 – Excellent

• Undetermined – Too soon to tell or lacking evidence to provide a solid answer
• Not Tested – Has yet to be requested or there is some limitations to prevent accurate test results

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Price: Free

A. Installation AVG – 3.5 “Average“ – Slower then AVG claims.

B. Un-installing AVG – 2.5 “Poor“ – Pretty slow and sloppy un-installer

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C. Stability Of Program –  4.0 “Great“ – We have received absolutely no e-mails about the lack of stability with AVG 2011 free and or paid (This time around).

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D. Has AVG Free Been Compromised By Hackers Or Virus – 5.0 “Excellent” – No issues reported thus far

E. Speed of Scan – 5.0 “Excellent “ – Very quick on most computers. And now you have the option to choose how much Memory/Ram you want each scheduled scan to take up.

F. Does AVG Free Do Automatic Updates By Itself Without Any Issue – 5.0 “ Excellent“ – Yes, and this time around there seems to be no stalling and or hanging. When we manually update AVG. As we have seen in older versions of AVG Free 2011.

G. Internet Browser Cookie Detection Rate And Removal Test – 2.5 “Average“ – You are way better off with something like SUPERAntiSpyware or CCleaner that is more dedicated to removal of Internet cookies. AVG Internet cookie detection rate is terrible even with the option active and checked off.

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1. Anti-Virus Detection Rate Test:

1A. Windows XP – 3.5 “Average“

1B. Windows Vista – 3.5 “Average“

1C. Windows 7 – 3.5 “Average“

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2. Anti-Spyware – 2.0 “Average“ – AVG still seems to miss very common and not so common spyware/adware. You are much better off with SUPERAntiSpyware or Spybot as your adware, spyware, malware protection.

3. One Click Fix – 4.5 “Great“ – I really like this idea. But I am not a fan, of the idea. That if I want to de-activated a service/component. Such as the Link Scanner, that AVG should still show as not being fully protected. But that just might be me.

4. Link Scanner – 4.0 “Great“ – Not a fan. But it can be very very useful to some.

5. Family Safety – 4.5 “Great“ – Cost $19.99 CAD per year for 3 computers to activate this just added feature -But it covers unlimited profiles. So you can have just one kid or 11 kids and your good. Provided it is only used with up to 3 PC’s

6. LiveKive – Not Tested – This feature has just been added to AVG Dashboard. But it cost money to activate. –See below for cost to activate feature–

*Cost $49.99 CAD for 25 GB of storage per year.

*Cost $79.99 CAD for Unlimited  storage per year.

7. AVG Security ToolBar – 3.5 “Average“ – This toolbar can cause crashes on a number of Internet browsers. And it is really hard to un-install. We also noticed it caused some strange behavior when dealing with WordPress.

8. AVG SideBar Gadget – 3.0 “Average“ – I don’t really see the point of it and it is super bulky and over sized. (Taking up way to much space) And + I already have my side bar full of way more useful widgets/gadgets.

9. Residential Shield Test – 3.5 “Average“ – I still find AVIRA and AVAST seems to grab the virus way before AVG free does. But there is indeed some major overall improvements here yet again.

10. E-Mail Scanner – 2.5 “Poor“ – I already have e-mail protection from another program. + I find it is way more difficult to set-up then it needs to be. 

11. Update Manager – 5.0 “Excellent “ – No issues here at all. And it even updates faster then past AVG versions, such as 8.5 and 9.0.

12. Anti-RootKit – 4.5 “Great“ – Very hit and miss. But can be very useful if there is a reason to believe you may have a deep rooted virus. Never hurts to run this every few weeks just to be on the safe side. And AVG has it as a completely separate dedicated scan option as well (Which makes it way quicker to run and it uses much less system resources.)

13. Identity Protection –  4.5 “Great“ – A very useful feature that lets you know when you maybe at risk for identity theft and or other important information maybe at risk. Such as with Peer 2 Peer file sharing programs and certain add-ons and or toolbars.

14. PC Analyzer – 0.5 “Abysmal“ – If you don’t mind that you only can fix your errors for free once then great. But if you are like me and you probably feel this options is both somewhat misleading and out right bait to buy this extremely expensive add-on. Then you are probably with me on my conclusion.

15. AVG Support – 1.0 “Terrible” – With only a free forum that is both hard to use and disorganized. I can’t recommend using it as it will just end up in pure frustration and often just un-installing AVG altogether. Or of course visiting a site like ours.  :)

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My Overall Score: 90/125

72 % = B

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My Final Verdict Part 1 : There has been very little improvement in this new version of AVG Free Anti-Virus 2011. So don’t expect to much in the way of improvements over the last version.

My Final Verdict Part 2 : As many of you know this version is now obsolete . But the funny thing is I enjoy this version quite a bit more then the new AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012. It has more features and the UI (User Interface) is more pleasant to look at and way easier to use.

**As per the norm it is highly recommend that you upgrade to the new AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012. As soon as possible to insure you have the best protection AVG has to offer.

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Here are 2 links to download AVG Free Anti-Virus 2011:

1. No longer available to download (AVG Main Site)

2. No longer available to download (Via download.com/Cnet)

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Till The Next Review,

Danny