AVG AntiVirus Free for Windows

User Reviews

• DO NOT INSTALL! Run SCREAMING! USE ANYTHING ELSE!

  rdwarnerFebruary 12, 2018

  Pros

  It's an antivirus product with a name that used to mean something positive.

  Cons

  Do you like popups? Do you like YOUR PERSONAL EMAILS BEING HIJACKED FOR MARKETING PURPOSES?! AVG Does all this (and probably more!) but I'm uninstalling today to put an end to the joke that was giving them a second chance. Seriously though, what are they thinking by adding a custom "AVG" signature to all emails I send. Unbelievable.

  Summary

  I used to use AVG free several years back and it was honestly pretty good. Lightweight, un-intrusive, everything you could want out of a civilian level antivirus product. Then they spammed popups for upgrading to the full version and it got pretty annoying so I went a different direction for a few years; I had heard they got bought out by a competitor but it was honestly really sad to see them change their business model. I decided to give them a shot after reading the CNET reviews but JESUS CHRIST: adding a signature to my personal outgoing emails in an attempt to market their software is the absolute opposite of a good marketing strategy. Created an account on CNET just to try to warn people to steer clear. Ranked .5 stars because I can't rank 0/5 stars.

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• Killed my Chrome!

  Youngfan75November 4, 2017

  Pros

  Free, that's about it

  Cons

  killed my Chrome, it would not work with AVG. Tried to delete and reinstall to NO help.

  Summary

  Would not recommend!

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• Avoid this malware/virus.

  ekertinAugust 11, 2017

  Pros

  Tried it, and didn't like it. It does work fairly well as long as you don't try to remove it.

  Cons

  I uninstalled Avast and tried AVG. I used it years ago, and don't remember why I stopped. I just don't care for the intrusive attitude of the software, though you have to deal with a certain amount with all freeware. When I uninstalled, well that's where the trouble starts. AVG won't uninstall. It no longer shows in my uninstall list (I use Iobit uninstaller), but it's there every time I boot up. I'm not a wiz Kid, but I come from the old DOS days, started with a TRS-80. I've seen some bad software over the years, but this one takes the cake. Any antivirus that actively intimidates by refusing to allow you to uninstall, is a virus itself. At the very least, malware. Don't bother going to their website for advice, that's a joke as well. Between Comodo and AVG. it's a close race as to which one is worse. Leave this one by the roadside folks.

  Summary

  AVG is nothing more than malware, and one step away from being ransomware.

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• bloatware loaded

  softanwerJuly 20, 2017

  Pros

  still a good antiviruse

  Cons

  bloatware. There were times my cpu monitor showed extended 100% usage. I have since removed AVG freeware from two of my laptops and switched to Avast freeware. I have no more high cpu usage and no more annoying AVG ads. Also, if you thought Norton was a pain to remove, I had to run my unistaller 3 times to get everything of AVG removed.

  Summary

  So far Avast has been doing well. When the time comes, I have 3 more computers I will be switching from AVG.

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• Very effective

  sheilaksmJune 28, 2017

  Pros

  Everyone has to give it a shot. It's lowkey, fast and offers tons of tools

  Cons

  AVG e-mail support is super rude

  Summary

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• Uninstalling it as I write this review.

  lowderjrJune 17, 2017

  Pros

  Better than nothing, I suppose.

  Cons

  I hate everything about it. Lots of annoying ads.

  Summary

  I never liked avast but there they went and turned AVG into avast. I hate the interface. I hate the overly complicated settings. I will probably stick with either Sophos Home or Bitdefender Free.

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• No longer good

  Hobie-18June 7, 2017

  Pros

  Good Anti-Virus and Anti Malware

  Cons

  Resource hog. Annoying pop ups to upgrade. No way to turn it off. Very hard to uninstall.

  Summary

  This used to be my anti-virus for all my families PCs. Latest version was running 24% of my CPU cycles on an i5. High memory usage as well even when idle. Extremely difficult to remove. In the process of user AVG removal tool now, after unintall failed. I'll run my ISPs provided anti virus before using AVG again.

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• NAG,NAG,NAG!

  bustertoadMay 31, 2017

  Pros

  It works at blocking what it suppose to block I assume.

  Cons

  It is constantly putting up pop-up screens for no reason that try to sell you something. I downloaded this program to stop this stuff from happening and what I get is worse than what I am trying to prevent. All efforts to turn it off or bypass the problems are useless. I want my antivirus program to be invisible not intrusive.

  Summary

  I am searching for an alternative.

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• Watch Out - May Cause Major Problems!

  avalantisMay 24, 2017

  Pros

  Absolutely None

  Cons

  - Slow download (AVG server congestion?) - Begins unstoppable scan upon install - Almost impossible to remove

  Summary

  I installed this on Windows Vista. First, it took almost 30 minutes to download. Then after it was finally installed, AVG Free immediately began scanning, preventing the PC from being used for anything else. The scan could not be stopped or paused NO MATTER WHAT. Task Manager had no effect - the only way I could stop this monstrosity was to uninstall it via windows Add/Remove programs WHILE IT WAS RUNNING. I was unable to completely remove the entire program; I tried AVG's own "AVG Remover tool" but it only removed part of it. Ultimately I had to remove it manually, then use CCleaner to get rid of the junk that this turkey scattered throughout the Window's Registry. The entire nightmare took hours! Save yourself the headache and look into another A/V. I ended up with Panda Free - not the most effective program, but at least it doesn't slow the machine down to a crawl and then commandeer it.

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• Is AVG actually a virus?????

  eterntyinanhour9May 16, 2017

  Pros

  This used to be good software, but now it's trash.

  Cons

  1.) email stopped working for a little while. I finally got it working and the first email I was able to send had "virus free- www.avg.com" in the signature. 2.) Disturbed, I call their support. The lady refused to help me because I hadn't paid for software. I explained that this software was tampering with my emails and this was beyond just a software issue but an absolute complaint. She then chose to respond to everything I said with, "I'm sorry. I can not help you if you aren't a paid customer. Go online to our help page." Over and over and over this was the response. 3.) I go to uninstall the program. It took a while to uninstall and then naturally, my computer restarted. To my unhappiness, AVG is still somehow on my computer. WHAT THE CRAP IS THIS???

  Summary

  Do not use this software. I don't know anything about the paid version, but the free version is acting like a virus itself. I will never use this software again.

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