AVG Version 8

[RJ Johnston]

I've installed the newest version, 8.0, of AVG Grisoft Antivirus software. The free version now has anti-spyware.

All my programs are still working, but there seems to be a slight slowdown when starting programs and going to the internet. I let it scan my computer for viruses everyday, which takes over three hours. I'm not too aware that the scan is running.

http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-avg ... ee-edition

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

The biggest problem that I found with version 8 was the links scanner which seemed to slow down any 'googling' .
I turned that feature off and now all is OK.

[Ken Jarstad]

I'm glad you opened this topic, Robert. I removed AVG version 8 about two weeks ago because it caused odd problems during boot, probably due to enhanced boot scanning. All computer activity slowed down and then - the machine would hang on shutdown!

I have always liked AVG - until now. It never got in the way of video editing. My wife's laptop runs version 8 with a slight noticeable slowdown but no problems. I think we need dual-core processors now just to support the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware apps!

I installed Avast! - also freeware and it ssems to work fine for now on my PC.

I also tried Threatfire. It worked fine for awhile and then got crossed up with another application. It would pop up an alert that something had changed when I went to uninstall an app. Then uninstall would fail - and Threatfire would hang!

[RJ Johnston]

There are some components in AVG 8 that I don't think were in AVG 7.5. For example, Resident Shield. I just disabled that. The only things that were running on 7.5 were Email scanner. Then I would run a scan on an individual files I downloaded, and maybe once in a while I would do a complete virus scan of all files. I bet if I disable all this other stuff I will be back to 7.5.

[jackfalbey]

Slightly OT, Threatfire works fine on my old PC and laptop, both running Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite. On my new workstation Threatfire had bad conflicts and lock-ups, with Avast Free Anti-Virus and Zone Alarm Free Firewall on that machine. Go figure.

[RJ Johnston]

I disabled two of the components of AVG 8 that I mentioned I didn't think were in AVG 7.5 and now my machine is back to performing the way it did with AVG 7.5. Mainly it's the Resident Shield and Link Scanner that were causing slowdowns.

[Ken Jarstad]

IIRC, Resident Shield was in previous versions - a major and necessary feature in any anti-virus prog. Besides the Link Scanner v8 has added anti-spyware. I probably won't try it again until I have the horsepower to run it.

[Chuck Engels]

I have run into the same issue RJ. Turned off Link Scan and Resident Shield and it runs better, problem is that AVG reports that these modules are reporting errors now - there is no error, I turned them off! Also, now Windows reports that my computer is not protected, due to the errors reported by AVG, go figure. I guess not all great things last forever, we have had a really great run with AVG.

The full/paid version might work differently, maybe they are trying to push people over to the paid version now.

[RJ Johnston]

I'm quite happy with the way I've got AVG configured, warnings and all.

[Ken Jarstad]

My wife complained about her laptop having slow response so I removed AVG v8 and installed Avast. She is much happier now.

BTW, you cannot disable the various components in AVG Free version.

[Chuck Engels]

I am able to disable the components Ken.