free edition 9, you already get faster scan and boot times compared to previous versions, obvious antivirus protection, a LinkScanner, e-mail scanning and the new feature of the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Being a smaller application, the free edition does not feature such a wide range of tools or utilities as AVG Antivirus 9, however it makes up for it by offering neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed.
In contrast, the complete AVG Antivirus 9 protects you from hackers, phishing scams, adware, and malware (worms, Trojans, and rootkits) that can come through email or instant messaging. It has a firewall and even scans outbound emails to make sure you don't accidentally pass a virus along to others. It's an adequately effective system and you shouldn't notice any major lag or slowdown from the software, especially if you schedule the intensive scans to run while the system is otherwise idle.
There are two main features that make AVG Antivirus 9 stand out in a crowd: the LinkScanner and the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Only a few of the current antivirus solutions include integrated internet browser link-scanning and AVG's LinkScanner is beneficial because it helps determine the safety of links displayed whilst browsing online on a search engine.
The other unique feature is AVG's cooperation with Identity Guard to offer identity theft protection; so if your personal information is compromised, Identity Guard will help you recover and restore your identity (online and off).

AVG Antivirus 9: What we liked

• The interface is nearly unchanged from their previous version, and generally it's easy to use.
• For the most part, it is an install-and-forget security solution that won't obviously tax your system when scanning or when running in the background.
• It has unique features like the Identity theft recovery unit and LinkScanner.
• Regular definition updates are checked for automatically, and can be set to perform every hour (every 4 hours is the default).

AVG Antivirus 9: What we didn't like

• A dynamic status bar/progress meter for regular scans would be useful.
• When compared to higher priced competition, AVG is not the fastest or the most effective. It was one of the slower security solutions tested by AV Comparatives, showing only 6.8MB/sec scanning (compared to 17MB/sec from Norton and Avast).

AVG Antivirus 9 Support

There is no phone support, however the online help centre has the usual FAQ section and knowledgebase, and AVG also offers email support.

About AVG

AVG is a wholly owned Australian company that distributes the AVG Technologies (formerly Grisoft) range of antivirus and internet security products to the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific markets.

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