Until now, if anyone asked me for my free antivirus recommendation, then I’d happily direct them to www.avast.com but now it’s different. Previously, among free antivirus software, Avast! ruled the roost. But now, both Avast! and AVG have released their latest versions. Avast! Home 4.8 and AVG Free 8.0. I myself have tested both of them, so I can truly tell you which is better.
AVG has completely revamped it’s user interface. The old one was a dull, boring and totally uninspiring one. But the new one is slick and rather cool- looking. It’s based on a light blue colour theme. Avast! retains the old media player- like interface, and to be honest, I’m bored of it now. You can download skins for it though. In my opinion, AVG’s interface is much better and more like that of a professional antivirus.
In terms of features, there are quite a lot from both. AVG again, has new things on offer. The new version has an antivirus, antispyware, e-mail scanner, linkscanner and resident shield. It allows you to configure the various aspects of each of the components. You can, for example, add extensions which you want the resident shield to scan. You can also configure the way scans take place, for e.g- you can configure the type of scan- fast, slow or automatic. There are a lot more settings that can be configured by an advanced user. Even the default settings will do fine for a newbie. Avast doesnt have too many new features. All the old features remain, and are improved, that’s all.
In terms of resources, AVG consumes more than Avast! but isn’t very noticeable unless you have a snail for a PC. The size of the setup file is shocking- close to 46 MB! This makes it very inconvinient to download using dial- up connections. Once installed on your hard drive, however, it takes no more than 32 MB.
Overall, Avast! 4.8 is just an update to the previous version, where AVG Free 8.0 feels like a whole new antivirus program. Highly recommended by me.
Download AVG Free 8.0
*shishir007.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/my-antivirus-recommendation-avg-free-80/
AVG has completely revamped it’s user interface. The old one was a dull, boring and totally uninspiring one. But the new one is slick and rather cool- looking. It’s based on a light blue colour theme. Avast! retains the old media player- like interface, and to be honest, I’m bored of it now. You can download skins for it though. In my opinion, AVG’s interface is much better and more like that of a professional antivirus.
In terms of features, there are quite a lot from both. AVG again, has new things on offer. The new version has an antivirus, antispyware, e-mail scanner, linkscanner and resident shield. It allows you to configure the various aspects of each of the components. You can, for example, add extensions which you want the resident shield to scan. You can also configure the way scans take place, for e.g- you can configure the type of scan- fast, slow or automatic. There are a lot more settings that can be configured by an advanced user. Even the default settings will do fine for a newbie. Avast doesnt have too many new features. All the old features remain, and are improved, that’s all.
In terms of resources, AVG consumes more than Avast! but isn’t very noticeable unless you have a snail for a PC. The size of the setup file is shocking- close to 46 MB! This makes it very inconvinient to download using dial- up connections. Once installed on your hard drive, however, it takes no more than 32 MB.
Overall, Avast! 4.8 is just an update to the previous version, where AVG Free 8.0 feels like a whole new antivirus program. Highly recommended by me.
Download AVG Free 8.0
*shishir007.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/my-antivirus-recommendation-avg-free-80/
Not that I hadn't made the correct settings; yet. But that was 1.5 year ago. and I don't know how it is now.
