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Description: AVG Anti-Virus 8
The good: AVG Anti-Virus 8 includes anti-drive-by download protection along with antirootkit, antivirus, and anstipyware protection.
The bottom line: AVG Anti-Virus 8 is solid at finding and removing viruses and spyware as well as blocking Web threats, but could be lighter on system resources and provide more technical support options.
Features
The biggest addition to AVG Anti-Virus 8 is the inclusion of the Linkscanner technology, but the integration is less than optimal. Linkscanner, formerly from Exploit Prevention Labs, is known for its ability to block malicious content from Web sites.
For threat testing, we directed our browser to a site known to host malicious content. AVG Anti-Virus 8 did flag the site, however, our request for additional information about the threat produced a generic AVG virus encyclopedia page. With the standalone Linkscanner Pro package, it would tell us which exploit it found and it would produce a rich log archive so you can see which sites it said had malicious software. We couldn't find any of that within AVG Anti-virus 8.
We also tested the Linkscanner integration within AVG Anti-Virus 8 by visiting five current phishing Web sites listed on Phish Track. AVG reported none to be suspicious, although the default antiphishing protection in Firefox 2.0 did flag several sites.
Performance
AVG Anti-Virus 8 scored well in CNET Labs' performance tests and in third-party, independent antivirus testing using live viruses, although not always the top position. On the CNET iTunes test, AVG Anti-Virus 8 came in just 4 seconds above the test system at 272 seconds. On the CNET Microsoft Office test, AVG Anti-Virus 8 finished in 1,413 seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and media files, AVG Anti-Virus 8 completed it in 550 seconds. And in boot speed, AVG Anti-Virus 8 came in toward the slower end, with a fast 37.95 seconds.
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