IT Professionals

I Now Need An Open Source/Free Alternative To AVG

Posted by on Jun 4, 2008 | 19 Comments

Gnomie Josh Blatchford writes:

Hi, Chris!

It’s Josh here (I occasionally drop by the chat room with the name of firew). I have been a proud AVG user for about four years now and today I had what thought seemed to be a nice surprise: AVG 8.0! My current 7.5 gave me this link and, following it, I became disappointed with Grisoft.

I was warned that, after May 31st, there would no longer be any free updates for 7.5. This is a big disappointment for AVG and Open Source users like me.

What do I do now? I can either pay for the new 8.0 and keep paying £40 a year, I can go with the mainstream products (but never again going with Norton), or I can find another free program.

My main issue is that what I love about AVG is it doesn’t hog the system. I can’t have another anti-virus program that does this! Have you tested out any alternative anti-virus software that you could recommend?

  • Travis

    I read a very positive review for Avast. Free for home use, good detection record, and apparently not a system hog.

    http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

    I intend to try it out…..

  • http://www.joeywendt.com Joey

    avast! all the way. Doesn’t hog resources and works great at preventing infections and removing them if your system was infected before installing. Boot-time with just a few clicks to scan for and remove infections that run in memory.

    http://www.avast.com

  • Todd

    Why not use AVG Free 8.0?

    Here’s the link: http://www.avg.co.uk/uk.product-avg-anti-virus-free-edition#tba2

  • Naldo

    http://free.grisoft.com/

    Free version 8

  • Daniel

    Something wrong with the Free Edition of AVG 8.0?

    http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

  • Clayton Siem

    I am running AVG 8.0, coming from v7.5…it was free for me…

    Are you sure you did not read the website incorrectly?

  • Gary

    My problem is that AVG 8 doesn’t work in windows 98.or so I’ve heard. What anti-virus still works in that op sys?

  • http://www.z-systems.net Steve Simpson

    there is still a free version of the 8.0 antivirus; they do not tell you that on those webpages that 7.5 sends you to

    http://free.grisoft.com/

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/nonstopgeek/ Kat

    Most of us don’t recommend AVG anymore. It is too bloated, and the detection rates aren’t as good as they used to be. Version 8 has a free version, however… it has constant annoying popups trying to get you to buy the full version.

    Take a look at Avast or AntiVir! Both free and good products.

  • Adrin

    You know this was coming. Switch to Linux. LOL

    Seriously have you looked a clamwin? I used AVG for a short time. The third time it delete an application CYGWIN and others, I removed it and never looked back.

  • Andrew

    I’ve always found Avast to be a pig of an AV platform, especially given it doesn’t install nicely…

    very system resource heavy also…

    AntiVir, we found misses a lot of malicious code.

    AVG Free – first 7.0/7.5, and now 8.0 has, and will be what we recommend to our non-corporate clients, as it just works!

  • marcel

    Lately i’ve become a huge fan of the comodo products.
    They have the best firewall, for free and also antivirus en some other very useful stuff. http://antivirus.comodo.com/index.html
    btw I’m not related to them.

  • Tim

    First of Gary, please drop that os!!! Windows 98 has far more of a security risk all by itself, much less keeping AV up to date!!! I’m assuming most of the apps you have on that machine are past due as well (most apps require 2000 or newer – the NT platform)
    I’m not going to scream linux for you, but if licensing cost is your issue – try out the newest version of ubuntu. Once installed get Wine (sudo apt-get install wine) and chances are any apps you are using on 98 that you must have will run under wine.

    And to the AV crowd of modern OS’s – AntiVir is great for personal use. There are several ways to mitigate the daily popup as well – just search for avnotify.exe

  • Tim

    Oh, and if you really want a open-source AV… check out moonsecure. It is still young, but has great potential. I wouldn’t use it quite yet, but if you are Trying to stay opensource – then you can take this route.

  • AlG

    AVG 8 is still free. I’ve been using it since release. Go to
    http://free.grisoft.com/

  • David

    YES my friends………………………….

    THERE are 2 VERSIONS of AVG8 ……. PAID and FREE.
    HE read it WRONG. THERE are ONLY 2 CHANGES.
    1. The 7.? will NOT be updated on Virus Sigs., YOU will have to get the 8.? if you want the Virus Signature Updates.
    2. People using Windows “prior” to XP will not be able to USE the new Version. (and YES there are companies and individuals who still use 98). For THOSE people, they will have to TRY to find a different AV program.

  • David

    OK……….Tim ….. PLEASE don’t BASH people for Using 98.
    People SEEM to forget …….. POOR people USE the NET also.

    Poor PEOPLE get their PC’s from Yard Sales or some OTHER low-cost ways. THEY “normally” don’t have the MONEY or REQUIREMENTS to upgrade to XP.

    IT is the SAME with CARS, INSURANCE, and other THINGS.
    POOR people can NOT do THE thing Middle to High CLASS Monetarily Secure PEOPLE can do.

    Don’t FEEL sorry for them… just ACKNOWLEDGE their existence.

  • Kevin

    Hahahaha david, he recommended ubuntu, which is free. anyone can afford ubuntu….

  • Chris

    And not to mention ubuntu also runs great on older machines. You dont need ‘top-of-the-line’ to run ubuntu effectively :)