If you have ever considered installing a free antivirus program then you will undoubtedly be familiar with the AVG brand and today I am reviewing the latest such program from the company: AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012.
The Good:
1. A feature packed free antivirus solution- 2. Offers very quick scanning
- 3. Low system resource usage.
The Bad:
1. AVG Secure Search installed by default- 2. AVG Toolbar installed by default
- 3. -
As ever, a feature packed antivirus program is on offer here and it is, for the most part, free to use for personal users.
Installation and first impression
AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 is a very quick and easy install. The installer that you will download is only 3.7 MB in size and the installation itself comes in at 56 MB.
Once you have the program up and running you will see the dashboard for the first time. You will notice that your antivirus database is in need of an update so go ahead and do that by pressing the Fix It button. You will then have a dashboard that looks like the one below:
Features
As you can see in the image above, AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 comes with many features including:
- Antivirus
- Email Protection
- PC Analyzer
- LinkScanner
- Anti-Rootkit
- Identity Protection
- Gaming Mode
System Requirements
AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 has the following minimum system requirements:
Processor: Intel Pentium 1.5 Ghz or faster
Memory: 512 MB of RAM or more
Hard Drive: 950 MB or more of free space
Operating System: 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows XP / Vista / 7
+ Plus Points
- Scores highly in independent malware blocking and removal tests
- Large range of features for a free antivirus program
- Fast scanning
- Low system resource usage, even on an older machine, as seen in the image below.
- Minus Points
- I couldn’t find any deal breakers here but there may be a couple of minor annoyances:
- During setup you are offered the chance of installing the AVG Security Toolbar and of setting AVG Secure Search as your default provider. Neither are a cause for concern but both would probably annoy me if I had forgotten to untick the check boxes which are set by default.
Conclusion
This is the first free 2012 antivirus program I have taken a look at but it sets the bar high and the competition will do well do attain the same level of usefulness and effectiveness in a program that can be had for nothing. AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 has scored well in independent tests by AV-Comparitives, even beating out some of it’s paid competition!
Its quick, it uses less system resources than many other such programs and its free. What is there not to like?
Download AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 now.
More reviews
While you are here why not check out my other reviews of the latest security programs:
- reviews of 2012 paid antivirus programs
- reviews of 2012 internet security programs
- reviews of 2012 free antivirus programs
You May Also Be Interested In :
Article by Lee Munson
Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.
Lee has written 2880 awesome articles for us at Security FAQs
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
AVG IS THE BEST TO USE
hai lee, why i cant download that software. when i click ‘download’,google cant found that server, he said 404 error,we not found, where is the problem, ? please if you can help.
Hi
Hmmm… the link still works for me :/
Try this one instead: http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download
I hate, no, detest, toolbars. Most programs give you the option not to install them but if I forget, or have one forced on me, then I am not a happy
I can totally agree with that!
I’ve had AVG for two years (paid) and had the free AVG for four years before that. The free AVG was great–no problems. Then, I purchased the AVG software…it took me two years to find out that the high CPU usage came from AVG and of course, was causing my computer to slow down. On top of all that, google chrome, netflix silverlight plug-in and others were crashing constantly. Every single day, I could use the computer for a few minutes then, it would slow to the point it would take me 15 minutes to get a browser page up. I checked with AVG and they wanted me to call one of their techs and pay them to fix it…then I found several sites on the web with users having the exact same issues as mine. So, AVG was going to charge me to “fix” something that is a known problem with AVG–greed run amok–I’ve moved to Vipre.
Hi Linda
Has using Vipre solved the slow down issues completely?
i have this antivirus need for my computer
a good antivirus and best one.
AVG 2012:
“Pros”
good detection(not the best among freebies)
nearly light on resoursces(comparing to the heavy weights)
good features(it lacks features compared to avast)
“Cons”
some hang-ups seen while runing
updatin is not that good
delayed start up
“Summary”
I had been using the program and I was happy(not thoruoghly)
then,they banned users from my country(Iran) and it could not get updates
In my opinion,banning people of some country becuause of Governmental policy is not humane(ridiculous idea from an average company)
I simply uninstalled it and run the Security Essential 4 beta and then I found how light and perfect a simple security program can be
Link Scanner-only partially functional. Tried to fix.No results.
mostly people use avg free for protection and when i get my first pc i install avg free 7.5 which was latest version of avg free at that time.
Its definitely a popular choice amongst free AV but I think MSE is gaining a decent market share now too.
I like AVG,, most of all cause its free.
I dont like toolbars so i left that off, the link scanner is okay, at least it works when doing searches.
I hate, no, detest, toolbars. Most programs give you the option not to install them but if I forget, or have one forced on me, then I am not a happy bunny!
I agree that is a rather strong selling point!
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