I’ve read comments on the net from people running AVG Free (Antivirus Gold) on their machines. I myself used AVG Free until I became a computer technician and saw what little it really did.

AVG Free’s biggest draw is that it’s a free antivirus program, which is why I get so many machines with AVG Free installed come into the computer repair shop where I work. These machines often have a nasty infection that AVG Free cannot remove.

For a test, I installed AVG Free on a clean computer and infected it with a fake MP3 that installed the trojan Zlob and Windows Antivirus 2008. AVG Free caught the infection as soon as I ran it and deleted the offending file; however the infection was able to put two shortcuts on the desktop before AVG Free removed it. Double-clicking these shortcuts took me to a website that performed a fake scan and prompted me to install Windows Antivirus 2008.

For the next part of the test, I put AVG Free on a machine that I had already infected with the fake MP3. AVG Free was able to find the infected files, but it could only delete a few of them. The infection simply replaced the missing files and so AVG Free was on a never ending loop. This is why I get so many machines that have AVG Free on it where I work. People trust their computer with it, but then find it cannot remove the infection.

Not being able to remove files is not unique to AVG Free. Every antispyware/antivirus product can have issues removing infections, which is why you get customer support when you pay for anti-spyware/antivirus software. Customer support is vital if you are unable to get an infection off your PC as the anti-spyware/antivirus company will help you through the process of removing the infection.

AVG Free does not have free customer support unless you purchase AVG Pro or AVG Internet Security. These products have additional features not available in AVG Free that will make it better at defending your computer.

AVG Free is good if you have a secondary computer at home that you aren’t dependent on. AVG Free does provide some basic protection, but it’s unreliable. For your primary computer, getting a paid antivirus/anti-spyware product is highly recommended.