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: $74.99 CAD / For Unlimited Devices
A. Installing AVG – 4.0 “Great” – There is no doubt that AVG has improved in this area. But saying that we had very mixed results with some of our team getting AVG Internet Security installed the first go around. While other team members took 3 or 4 times to install AVG Internet Security 2016.
B. Un-installing AVG – 4.5 “Great” – AVG Free Anti-Virus 2015 is a lot cleaner un-installer this time around. Much better compared to previous versions of AVG going back 5 or 6 years.
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C. Stability Of Program – 5.0 “Excellent“ – The UI (User Interface) seems to have been completely fixed in AVG 2014. Along with the jenkey manual update option.
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D. Has AVG Free Been Compromised By Hackers Or Virus – 4.0 “Great” – No reports of AVG being compromised.
E. Speed of Scan – 5.0 “Excellent“ – Very quick on most computers.
F. Updating – 5.0 “Excellent“ – Automatic and manual updating is great. No more issues here compared to AVG 2014 manual update lag spikes.
G. Does AVG Free Do Automatic Updates By Itself Without Any Issue – 5.0 “Excellent“ – Yes, you can now with, no doubt. But leave the manual update option alone unless you want to invite stability related issues.
H. Internet Browser Cookie Detection Rate And Removal Test – 2.0 “Poor“– 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 – 4.0 “Great”
1B. Windows Vista – 4.0 “Great”
1C. Windows 7 – 4.0 “Great”
1D. Windows 8.1 – 4.0 “Great”
1E. Windows 10 – 4.0 “Great”
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2. Residential Shield Test – 4.0 “Great“ – I still find SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware seems to grab the virus way before AVG does.
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Computers Protection
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3A. Anti-Virus Scanner – 4.0 “Great” – AVG has finally beaten their just average score. And that should tell you a lot.
3B. Anti-Rootkit Scanner – 4.0 “Great” – Great option. Works well.
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Web Browsing Protection
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4A. Link Scanner – 4.5 “Great“ – Not a fan. But it can be very useful to some.
4B. Online Shield – 2.5 “Poor” – Completely in-effective and worthless.
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Identity Protection
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5A. Identity Protection – 2.0 “Poor” – Completely in-effective and worthless.
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E-mail Protection
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6A. E-mail Scanner – 3.0 “Average” – Utterly baseline and average. I found no use for it.
6B. Anti-Spam – 3.0 “Average” – Utterly baseline and average. Not even worth the setup.
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Firewall
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7. Firewall – 5.0 “Excellent“ – By no means perfect. But way better then your standalone Windows built in Firewall
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Extra Features
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8. File Shredder – 4.0 “Great” – I found this addition to be very useful. But lacking the multiple layer shredding options that Spybot – Search & Destroy or even Advance System Care 7 has.
9. PC Analyzer (AKA. PC TuneUp) – 0.5 “Abysmal“- If you don’t mind that this option just reports errors on your computer and does not even allow you to correct said error. Even once as was the case in the past.
Then your probably are like me and you probably feel this options is both somewhat misleading and out right bait to buy this expensive $39.99 CAD/USD add-on. Then you are probably with me on my conclusion. That it should not be there in the first place. Try giving us features that are fully functional and at least somewhat useful like the shredder option.
10. Tech Buddy Support – 0.0 “Abysmal” – This is just a cash grab. Completely worthless as well as falsely advertised and overally misleading to the end user.
11. AVG Direct Support – 0.5 “Abysmal” – With only a free forum and a phone number to call for support.
You will often find yourself ether being told to go to the free forum or they will recommend you go to further specialized support team via Tech Buddy. Which like I said above is an epic MONEY GRAB. Completely worthless as well as falsely advertised as well as overally misleading.
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My Overall Score: 91/130
70 % = B –
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My Final Verdict – AVG Free Anti-Virus 2016 takes the same approach. That AVG 2015 took with regards to the UI (User-Interface) and streamlined interface. It is very simple and easy to navigate. Just the way that an anti-virus program should be.
**As per the norm it is highly recommend that you upgrade to the newest version of AVG Internet Security 2016 when available and or prompted.
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Till The Next Review,
Remy “Se7en”
The Computer Savvy Weblog 