AVG free or paid?

I'm sorting out a neighbour's laptop. The original Norton Security Suite that was included expired long ago and there's been nothing in the way of AV on there for three years! I have enabled the Windows Firewall (XP) and I see that there's an AVG AV program paid-for edition or a free one. What's the difference? He's happy to pay a subscription for a year's protection.
I installed SP3 and then 82 updates came through! Interestingly I scanned with Malwarebytes and there is absolutely nothing nasty on the machine - has he just been very lucky?

I have used the free version of AVG for many years on all my computers and never had a problem with it.

He has definitely been lucky! Is the person tech savvy at all? I find the free version of AVG is perfect for people who know not to click on links that say 'Free Screensaver' but you need the additional protection that the paid for version offers if you don't have this sound level of knowledge...

On an upshot I am a reseller of AVG and can offer better rates that on the website, so PM if interested.

P.S. Don't forget to run the nrt (norton removal tool) before installing and new security suite!

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Dec-11 11:16:17)

Tell him to go and open a Barclays Bank esavings account and he can have Kaspersky free every year via the internet banking portal.

Not bad just for opening an account for £1

AVG is now one of the least effective AV products. I'd avoid it in favour of MSE, Avira or Avast.

I don't find a need for anything other than Microsoft Security Essentials. It is an excellent product (particularly the latest incarnation now in beta).

AVG free is fine unless you really need your hand held; with that in mind your neighbour has been extraordinarily lucky. But AVG is getting sneaky now, installing toolbars with updates without asking. Can't really blame them, everthing costs one way or another and £30 a year is not excessive.

I have, FWIW, met very few people who like Norton. It carries an excessive overload and tries to be all things to all users. It is also very bossy and reports too many false negatives.

Yes, forgot to say that I totally zapped Norton from the system (although the shortcut was left on the desktop). What I said about three years' use with no updates and no infections is food for thought, although the owner is quite elderly and isn't a heavy user. I've downloaded the paid-for version (£25) from the AVG website and it's now running a scan as I write (nothing so far!). A word of warning - I got an email from them to say that the subscription would be automatically renewed after a year unless I click a link etc. to cancel. I have paid with my card and my neighbour was just going to bung me £25. He says he'll pay me every year and I'm not too bothered, but they should ask as part of the sign-up process if they are going to charge as an ongoing debit. This happened to me with McAffee until I complained.

Did you even tell your neighbour about the many free and superior products available?

Seconding this advice. It's also worth adding that not only do you get Kaspersky Internet Security, they also give you a key for Kaspersky Mobile Security.

And since Kaspersky normally relase their next version around May, you will be allowed to update to 2013 versions at no extra cost (though the original key periods will remain).

You don't even need to use the account.

This is the cheapest way to get comprehensive PC\handheld AV Security that i'm aware of, second only to getting something bundled with a new PC\Lappy etc

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Dec-11 12:15:03)

Well, he wanted the computer back asap and as it was a Sunday afternoon I didn't have the time to research fully. He originally asked me along to see if I could sort out those annoying messages that had been telling him (for years, presumably) that his computer 'might be at risk'. I knew enough to avoid Norton and McAffee for someone who's not very technical though! Scan now completed and reports no infections - incredible! £25 a year doesn't seem too bad and at least he's protected now.

Post deleted by 12eason

I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It does the job. It's free. It's easy to use. It works with XP, Vista and Win7. Simples.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/...

If you did all this yesterday then why post the question today?

I use the AVG free version and have had no issues for the last 2 years.

Am I not allowed to ask what the difference is? I did the download yesterday but activated it and scanned this morning. When I told him about the free or £25 versions he wanted to pay, as he's the old school 'nothing good is for free' category.

A brief product outline here > http://free.avg.com/gb-en/upgrade-free-antivirus

Free anti-virus packages generally work well. Paid-for versions may have bells and whistles such as privacy protection. I moved away from AVG (free) because they made it nag-ware and upgrades quietly defaulted to the paid-for version rather than the free version. I switched as soon as I discovered MSE and haven't looked back.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Tell him to go and open a Barclays Bank esavings account and he can have Kaspersky free every year via the internet banking portal.

Not bad just for opening an account for £1

And if you don't want a new bank account, there are 3 user one year licences for KIS available on Amazon for £6.

In reply to a post by AEP:

I don't find a need for anything other than Microsoft Security Essentials. It is an excellent product (particularly the latest incarnation now in beta).

My daughters XP got infected by a spambot.
MSE was useless.
In fact nothing I could find would help.
I had to re-load XP.

I find the free Spybot does as good job as anything else, but you do have to keep it up to date.
Regards,
Martin

the risk of trojans is hyped up somewhat, lucky but not very lucky I would say.

I use the internet usually for many hours a day and for several years, the amount of trojans my AV has popped up with I can count on one hand. I think all on email not a single one over www.

Just seems strange to ask after a decision had been made and acted upon. A free version could have been added to the machine with the option to purchase once the answers had been received.

I used AVG free a while back. Whenever I have to give an email address, I include some sort of identifier, I used avg@my_account_my_isp_domain and the address very soon became inundated with spam advertising all sorts of rubbish.

I've had similar problems with other companies but nothing as bad as this was.

Like others I now use MSE day to day.

Can't say I have ever noticed that. Although for registering with AVG I used my throwaway hotmail address rather than a uniquified variant of my main email address which I only use for contacts with whom I have a closer, ongoing relationship such as my bank.

Only once has a uniquified address been spammed and since I no longer have any dealings with the company who let the cat out of the bag then a simple rule to Junk anything addressed to that that variant does the job.

Edited by gomezz (Tue 06-Dec-11 16:07:26)

Perhaps he has not been lucky, but a good lad and kept away from porn sites!

MSE here too with the free version of MBAM which I run periodically