AVG Antivirus 2015

Trusted by over 172 million users worldwide, AVG is perhaps most well-known for its free antivirus offering as it is considered one of the most functional and reliable free solutions currently available. For a nominal annual fee, however, users receive additional features not available in the free 2015 release. Referred to as AVG Antivirus Pro 2015, this product offers many features not typically found in comparably priced competitive solutions.

One of the most significant changes to AVG Antivirus for 2015 is the migration away from a user interface designed with a look and feel similar to the Windows 8 Metro UI. While the revamped interface will still be familiar to users of previous iterations of the product, new customers not quite sold on Metro UI won’t be disappointed with the newly designed interface AVG offers. Unfortunately, some of the same issues that plagued last year’s release are still present including a rather lengthy installation process requiring almost constant user input and difficulty installing AVG on a system already plagued with malware infection.

Overview:

One of the most significant changes to AVG Antivirus for 2015 is the migration away from a user interface designed with a look and feel similar to the Windows 8 Metro UI. While the revamped interface will still be familiar to users of previous iterations of the product, new customers not quite sold on Metro UI won’t be disappointed with the newly designed interface AVG offers. Unfortunately, some of the same issues that plagued last year’s release are still present including a rather lengthy installation process requiring almost constant user input and difficulty installing AVG on a system already plagued with malware infection.

Five large buttons greet the user when the AVG interface is opened – each representing one of the five major protections offered by the program: Computer, Web, Identity, Email and Firewall (unfortunately, Firewall protection is only available in the Internet Security Suite). Green circles indicate that protection is active and no issues require attention. A partial circle indicates that one or more components are inactive (or haven’t been configured yet).

New features:

For 2015, AVG has introduced a few new features to make this antivirus solution even more functional. One of the most notable changes this year is a complete overall of the core detection engine in both speed and accuracy. This also includes a new cloud-based detection engine designed to detect threats that may not have been included in the latest virus definition update. Improved detection of ransomware and all downloaded content rounds out the improvements to the AVG core engine.

As previously mentioned, AVG spent a lot of time revamping the UI for 2015. New graphics and easy-to-understand dialogs ensure that every user can manage the antivirus solution effectively while still providing many of the advanced features required by power users. A known security vulnerability in AVG 2014 allowing certain forms of malware to circumvent the protection of AVG has also been patched this year. File Shredder, a feature introduced with last year’s release, has been improved for 2015 and ensures that data is securely deleted and not recoverable by someone else.

AVG Identity Protection has also been improved. Real-time analysis of software behavior helps protect against zero-day threats and malicious programs designed to steal sensitive personal information including passwords and online banking information. For gamers, AVG has introduced Game Mode. Finally, AVG has improved the distribution of critical security updates by implementing a unified HTTP protocol between the update server and the application. Combined with the new cloud-based engine, users can be certain that they are always protected from the latest threats as they are discovered.

Performance:

Overall, AVG Antivirus 2015 receives very good ratings from independent testing labs; however, there is much room for improvement when compared with some of the other popular antivirus solutions on the market today. In fact, Dennis Technology Labs only certified AVG at C level (the lowest passing grade awarded by this testing facility).
In our own testing, AVG was able to eliminate approximately 72% of malware samples introduced to the system. This is considerably lower than some of the other products we tested this year but still usable for most PC users.

The Phishing protection included in this release is the same found in all three AVG products and falls below the standards of even the built-in phishing protection of both Chrome and Firefox Web browsers. While most security solutions divert the user away from the fraudulent site (displaying a warning page instead), AVG simply stops the browser from fully rendering the page – displaying a warning popup at the top of the page. Studies have shown that this method is not nearly as effective as the former technique and may fail to protect the user from malicious content adequately.

As a final note about AVG’s performance, the initial scan performed once AVG has been installed takes extraordinarily long compared with other products. AVG says this is part of the optimization process and results in shorter subsequent system scans. While this appears to be the case, installing AVG on an infected system and running the initial scan is a lengthy process that some users may not have the patience to complete.

Conclusion:

AVG is an excellent antivirus solution overall and provides many new features and improvements for 2015 that make it a worthy contender for your business. That said, the performance problems (in both speed and detection rates) leave something to be desired and could frustrate users accustomed to other products.

A clean interface, useful add-ons and the new cloud-based detection system combine to create a useful and reasonably effective antivirus solution at a competitive price point from one of the best companies in the industry.

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