PC Software Adviser

With new variants of malicious software keep mutating and developing in a very rapid rate, it is absolutely a must for you to equip yourself with a powerful internet security software before you go online. Fortunately, AVG not only offers a great classic protection for you with their AVG Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware 8.5, but also expands it with new breakthrough technologies and fit it all in one package in AVG Internet Security 8.5. Below are our reviews on certain key points that should be looked for when finding the best antivirus and internet security.

Surprisingly, with all the capabilities offered by AVG Internet Security 8.5, this security software is very quiet when taking system resource. Checked with task manager, AVG Internet Security 8.5 only takes around 100MB and another 100MB with its IDP console. But according to AVG, each of them will take up around 256MB of physical memory space. Well apparently that amount was reached when you run a full system scanning. And regarding CPU resources, we tested this software on Intel Celeron 2GHz, and it performs well without any noticeable hiccup. We can do our activity like browsing internet with three web browsers, open email client, writing with Microsoft Office 2007, playing music with Windows Media Player 11, open three dictionaries, and sometimes momentarily open a heavy-weight application like photo managers and digital encyclopedia while AVG Internet Security 8.5 kept running in the background. Thus, this security suite has absolutely small requirement for computer resource if we compare it with the other top notch internet security software.

• Two New Breakthrough Technologies in Internet Security Software
1. AVG Identity Protection

AVG Internet Security 8.5 brings a new behavioral analysis technology in its Identity Protection module. It analyzes if all the programs are operating the way they should. If it spots something suspicious that could indicate an attempted ID theft attack, it shuts that activity down, preventing any possible theft from happening. This inclusion is specifically focused on helping to prevent thieves from stealing passwords, bank account details, credit card numbers, and other digital valuables.

The IDP technology works by learning the behavior and characteristics of malicious software and using that knowledge to create protection against it. It means this technology can stand alone without “signature updates” to stay updated. Signature update is a pattern file that an antivirus usually download to update its database of malicious software so that it can recognize and clean specific threats. But now with this technology, AVG Internet Security 8.5 almost eliminates this need. So now you have a program that is really learning and improving its protection continuously, ensuring you are always protected against new and unknown threat. Well it's sound very promising though it is quite difficult to be proven in actual practices. Anyway, we are quite interested in knowing how this technology developed in the future.

This technology a must for internet security software in the new age because “Tens of thousands of new virus samples arrive in security companies’ labs every day,” says AVG Technologies CTO Karel Obluk. “It is simply not feasible for traditional signature-based anti-virus to keep up with this level of activity from the bad guys. So while it’s important to continue to use anti-virus to protect against the known viruses that are out there ‘in the wild’, it’s vital for users to have an additional protective layer against the unknown.”

2. AVG LinkScanner

AVG LinkScanner further enhances users’ protection against unknown online threats by analyzing web pages in real time for hidden threats and exploits such as drive-by downloads. Unlike other safe-surf products which rely on historical data acquired by periodically scanning sites across the Internet based on a variety of criteria, LinkScanner Active Safe-Surf bases its safety ratings on real-time analysis of individual web pages, ensuring an accurate assessment of a page’s current status.

We tested it by deliberately visiting five web sites that has known for its security threats, and surprisingly AVG LinkScanner warns all five of them before we even enter the page. But we decide to penetrate further into the pages within the sites. And since then, on every link we follow, LinkScanner always gives us a warning. Not only that, instantly AVG resident shield informs us of dozens of pop-ups those websites try to open. We even try further to download some file that is guaranteed can do nasty things to your system, but instantly AVG intercept it. When downloading compressed file, it has the opportunity to enter our system, but then again AVG intercepts it as soon as we open it.

So imagine these multi layered protection. No matter how persistent you are on confronting internest risk, AVG Internet Security 8.5 will watch over you.

• User Interface

If there is one feature in AVG Internet Security 8.5 that falls short is that its graphical user interface. It is not like it is the worse GUI we have seen in an antivirus and internet security product. In fact it is quite fine. But it is just that in the age where almost major applications offer clean and smooth interface, vivid colors, simplified menus, plus interactive icons, AVG Internet Security 8.5 looks pale in comparison. The window pane is also too crowded with 12 large icons. And although this interface is an improvement over the previous design, we think AVG should go back to the design room.

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