AVG Anti Virus Free Download

Anti-Virus Guard (AVG)

It is a family of anti-virus and Internet security software for the Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and FreeBS Dcomputing platforms, developed by AVG Technologies, a publicly traded Dutch company formerly known as Grisoft

Versions for Windows desktop clients

AVG Technologies provides a number of products from the AVG range, suitable for Windows 2000 onwards. In addition to this, AVG Technologies also provides Linux, FreeBSD, and most recently Mac OS X versions of the software. AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 is available in free and commercial editions. AVG 9.0 has identity theft protection through a partnership with Intersections Inc., AVG 9.0 also adds white listing, behavioral protection and cloud operations to their signature-based blocking. The software adds the Resident Shield, firewall, and identity protection modules. The Link Scanner component has been improved to cut phishing threats further. Version 9 was the last version compatible with Windows 2000.

For desktop protection of PC's running Windows, the AVG solutions include:

·         AVG Internet Security is a full suite which brings together the AVG Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, Security Toolbar, Firewall, Anti-Spam, Identity Protection and System Tools protection components.

·         AVG Identity Protection provides protection against identity theft and unknown malware threats using behavioral monitoring.

·         AVG Anti-Virus Plus Firewall provides the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, Security Toolbar and Firewall protection components.

·         AVG Anti-Spyware was a rebranded version of ewido Anti-Spyware , that was integrated into AVG Anti-Virus as of version 8.0. A free version was also available, having now been merged into AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

·         AVG Anti-Rootkit was a free anti-Rootkit program that was discontinued as of late 2006. Like AVG Anti-Spyware, it has now been merged into AVG Anti-Virus

·         AVGADMIN is a remote administration tool, which allows the software to be managed centrally on networks.

·         AVG AntiVirus provides the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Link Scanner, Anti-Rootkit, Web Shield, and Security Toolbar protection components.

·         AVG Search a search engine by AVG which provides less risk in internet searching.

·         Like other security products, AVG disables Windows Defender.

·         AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition provides basic, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protection, plus the full AVG Link Scanner safe search and surf technology. There are some limitations with AVG AntiVirus Free Edition compared to the commercial versions of AVG products and other free antivirus. These limitations include:

·         Less protection – AVG AntiVirus Free Edition provides the same anti-virus and anti-spyware scanning engine as the commercial product; however, it lacked anti-rootkit protection until 2010. The older 7.5 Free Edition is perfectly capable of finding and disabling rootkits based on signatures, but cannot scan for rootkit-like activity. The 8.5 version of AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition version lacks any anti-rootkit capability. While there is no official protection for files from messaging sources, the Resident Shield component automatically scans files before they are opened or copied.

·         Infrequent updates – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition receives updates via a lower priority service. Priority updating via high-speed servers is only available for the commercial versions of AVG products.

·         No telephone or e-mail technical support – There is no telephone or e-mail technical support provided by AVG for users of AVG Free Edition products anywhere in the world. AVG Free Edition users have access to support via the self-help AVG Free Forum.

·         Less customization – Scheduling options in AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition are very limited (only one scheduled update per day). However, the AVG Resident Shield configuration allows exclusions. The on-demand/scheduled scanner allows advanced testing options such as heuristics and reporting of password-protected archives reporting. Process priority for on-demand/scheduled scans can be dynamically adjusted over three different configurations.

·         No server support – AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition cannot be installed on server operating systems (such as Windows Server 2003), nor can it be used for the scanning of network drives. Note, the newer AVG 2011 free edition can be installed on Server operating systems like Windows Server R2.

·         AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is only licensed for home and non-commercial use on a single computer.

AVG Free Edition has previously been responsible for popup ads advertising the non-free versions of AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Internet Security, which claim to provide more comprehensive levels of protection. AVG Anti-Virus 8.5 Free Edition users are now also subject to a daily pop-up advertising campaign for a "recommended upgrade" to AVG Internet Security. A "manager" on the AVG free version forum states that this advertisement appears once per day for one month each year.

AVG paid license version will intermittently display popup ads advertising additional AVG products such as AVG's Quick Tune product. This advertising cannot be disabled.

The AVG license agreement includes a clause (Section 9) authorizing AVG to collect, from your computer, any Non-Personally Identifiable Information they desire and to share it with their business partners anywhere in the world. It also authorizes AVG to track your computer usage.

All versions of the AVG products, excluding AVG Anti-Rootkit Free Edition (now discontinued), are compatible with the 64-bit edition of Windows.

Versions for servers

AVG Technologies also sells AVG anti-virus and Internet security solutions for web/file servers or email servers running either Linux, FreeBSD or Windows.

·         AVG Internet Security Business Edition provides centrally controlled protection for workstations and file servers, e-mail server and Microsoft SharePoint server protection, plus e-mail server based anti-spam protection.

·         AVG Anti-Virus Business Edition provides centrally controlled anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for workstations and file servers.

·         AVG File Server Edition provides anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for file servers.

·         AVG E-mail Server Edition provides anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for e-mail servers, plus e-mail server based anti-spam protection.