For years I’ve recommended AVG as a good free antivirus software for my clients. And until recently, it has been just that.
Sadly, this is no longer the case.
In recent months AVG has begun inundating its users with annoying popups and offers to buy their paid services.
If you’re running AVG, you’ve probably seen this.
You may have even pulled out some of your hair by now.
For whatever reason, AVG has decided to annoy the heck out of their user base with these popups. I did a little research on this issue and found this AVG forum FILLED with unhappy users, which includes a very interesting post someone made a few days ago on April 5th, where it’s speculated that this recent change is actually part of a stock manipulation scheme. Is it true? Who knows… but interesting nonetheless.
So the bottom line is this; AVG is no longer my free antivirus recommendation. Bummer.
At this point, I’m recommending Avira, and I’ve also heard good things about Avast and Panda.
Now to be clear, this is who I recommend for FREE antivirus.
But if you really need more solid protection (ie: you do online banking, you use your credit card online, you have private data on your computer) then I suggest a more robust security package. Personally, I’ve been using BitDefender for years and I love it. I usually pay around $60 for their Internet Security package, which I can load onto three computers.
So the other day BitDefender sent me an offer for any of their security packages for 20 bucks! That was a deal I couldn’t pass up. If you want to get in on this deal, Here’s the Link
I’m not making any sort of commission or anything on this, I just happen to think it’s a great offer and I figured I’d pass it along to you.
And since we’re on the subject of computer security, now is a good time for me to point out that the free antivirus software that comes loaded on new computers (usually McAfee or Norton/Symantec), and even the PAID versions of these software, are ineffectual.
Yeah, I’m coming right out and saying McAfee and Norton stink. I’ve found more viruses on clients’ computers who were running even the PAID versions of these software than I can count. I’d literally feel safer running a FREE version of Avira than a PAID version of McAfee or Norton. I know it sounds crazy but these programs just don’t get the job done.
One final word and then I’ll wrap this up.
Regardless of what security suite you choose to use, I ALWAYS recommend installing at least Spybot (free), and optionally Malwarebytes (also free) to handle spyware, which can be just as troublesome as viruses. A note to BitDefender installers: you will need to reinstall Spybot AFTER you install BitDefender. Oh, and always make sure to remove any existing Antivirus programs before installing a new one – you never want to run two AV programs at the same time.
Talk to you soon!