AVG 8.0 Free released, now with protection from spyware

Filed under: Security, Windows, Freeware

AVG 8.0 Free released, now with protection from spyware

by Brad Linder Apr 24th 2008

A few months ago, Grisoft updated its AVG anti-virus suite to version 8 and bundled linkscanning, anti-spyware, and anti-rootkit software to boot. Now Grisoft's popular freeware anti-virus application is getting some of the same features. AVG Free 8 is out, and not only does it protect your system from viruses, but you get spyware detection as well.

AVG Free 8 doesn't have all of the features you get in the commercial version of the application. There's no rootkit protection or linkscanner. And there's no email or instant messaging integration. For those features you'll have to shell out $35 or $55 for the standard or "internet security" versions. But as freeware antivirus applications go, AVG is packed with features like real-time protection, daily updates, and complete system scans at regularly scheduled intervals.

Update: As several readers have pointed out in the comments, when you install AVG Free 8, you will likely find a bunch of advanced features like linkscanning and email protection. The AVG web site has a comparison chart showing that these features are included in the commercial version but not the free version. It's not clear if Grisoft is including free trials of these functions or if the chart is wrong.

Tags: anti-spyware, anti-virus, antivirus, avg, avg-8, avg-free, avg-free-8, security

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Ari said 10:04AM on 4-24-2008

So AGV 8 loses email scanning that 7 has? That's a bummer... maybe it's time to look elsewhere for my next AV program.

Monkey said 10:42AM on 4-24-2008

The article is wrong; email scanning is still present in AVG 8 free edition.

Steve Portigal said 10:45AM on 4-24-2008

The install process of the free version shows the Email Scanner as a component that gets installed....

Brad Linder said 10:44AM on 4-24-2008

Yeah, honestly I installed this update and I seem to have all the features of AVG pro. I'm not sure if that's because I had previously installed AVG pro when Grisoft was offering it for free, or if this is some sort of limited time promotional thing. But the product comparison page suggests that AVG Free has limited functionality so I felt it safest to mention that in the post.

Mysterius said 10:40PM on 4-24-2008

I just got a pop-up telling me that AVG's now offering free upgrades to 8.0 for 7.5 customers. Apparently the installer will automatically detect the license key (though I'm not sure if it's just the special installer or all installers). Maybe that is what happened after all, then?

Here's the upgrade site: http://campaign.grisoft.com/ww.special-upgrade-7-8-avw-paid78cnv/

Matt said 11:20AM on 4-24-2008

i use Avast! currently and don't seem to have much issue with it.

Do people who have tried both AVG and Avast! prefer one over the other?

rayser said 12:02PM on 4-24-2008

I am happy and "secure" with Avast free edition it has email scanning if you want: www.avast.com

Jason said 12:04PM on 4-24-2008

From what I know / read, Avira Antivir is a better free AV then either of them. How the new 8 version of AVG stands up remains to be seen, though.

Steve said 12:23PM on 4-24-2008

Avira free sucks because it throws a giant nag screen up in your face every time it updates. I won't put up with any company that does that.

Jason said 12:45PM on 4-24-2008

Odd, mine doesn't have nag screens ever. :) On any of the systems I install Avira on.

If you're too lazy to spend two minutes taking care of that one problem, then I guess lesser AV protection is right up your alley. Me, I'll take the best free AV I can get my hands on, even though it obviously sucks as you say.

Steve said 10:00PM on 4-24-2008

Oh good for you. You know how to illegally crack software, aren't you special. I'll stick with a free anti-virus that really is free myself. Anyway Avira is FAR from the best, lmao.

Superevil said 4:21PM on 4-24-2008

Does it still tell me all my keygens and what not ALL contain trojans?

Hany Hanna said 9:59PM on 4-24-2008

AVG has too many false positives. It keeps disabling my "The World Browser."

Mysterius said 10:41PM on 4-24-2008

I just got a pop-up telling me that AVG's now offering free upgrades to 8.0 for 7.5 customers. Apparently the installer will automatically detect the license key. Maybe that is what happened after all, then?

Abhishek said 7:27AM on 4-25-2008

I used to use avg but switched to avira later. That big nag screen is bad, agreed. Also, everytime my comp boots, I get a message saying avgnt.exe cannot start, this file is missing. What do i do? Abhishek http://www.dibugs.com

Eric H said 8:32AM on 4-25-2008

I definitely prefer avast over avg, avg is a resource hog.

Steve Portigal said 6:06PM on 4-26-2008

I did this upgrade and found my system performance going waaay down. And getting back to a properly working version of 7.5 does not seem easy; I've got the common problem where the resident shield doesn't load consistently. I should have left well enough alone!

Kevin said 7:09AM on 4-27-2008

I was really happy with AVG 7.5 and even had the Professional version thanks to the tip here on the brief giveaway late last here. I 'upgraded' to 8.0 and was happy with the slick new interface, but everything was very slow. Browsing on any sites with a tiny bit of javascript or ajax (gmail notably) would hang for 5 to 10 seconds with every link click.

I went to grisoft's site and the most popular FAQ question is for Vista users experiencing slowdown. They suggest you add a particular windows update, which I ended up downloading. But after trying to install it, it told me the update was already ON my computer, so that wasn't the problem at all.

I emailed customer service yesterday and was going to wait until getting a response before uninstalling, but I finally had it today and went back to Avast. Everything is fine and fast once again. I may go back to AVG once these issues are worked out because I like that the Anti-Spyware module was integrated into the new version.

Another really bothersome thing with AVG 8.0 is that if you turn off the annoying LinkScanner, the system tray icon is permanently grayed out with a small exclamation point, which is VERY annoying. I told them about this too in the email so hopefully they'll make it where the warning icon will go away after 10 minutes or so.

Garry Lacey said 8:08PM on 4-28-2008

You can turn off the status of any module in the preferences, at least if its the pro version, can't remember if the free version allows this. This way whether a module like email scanner or malware checking is enabled or not, it wont alarm you about it in the system tray or in the programs main interface.

Personally I hated AVG8. I'll stick with V7 for now.

maco said 11:35AM on 4-27-2008

Grisoft does make a free AVG Rootkit detector. The only difference is that it's not bundled in this case.

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