AVG antivirus review: a problematic paid tier

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After the recent massive CrowdStrike outage, it’s clear that cybersecurity is more important than ever. You need the best antivirus software to protect your personal and financial data from hackers and scammers.

AVG offers free and paid antivirus software to help alert you to threats and strengthen weak security. I researched AVG’s antivirus plans and tested the top-tier AVG Ultimate to find out how well it works, and which version is best for you.

Tiers and pricing

AVG has a simple pricing structure with only three antivirus plans. The free version blocks viruses and even includes ransomware protection.

AVG is one of the best free antivirus apps available. However, it only works on one device and lacks some other important security and privacy features.

To get alerts about Wi-Fi security issues as well as protection from fake websites and email phishing, you need to upgrade to AVG Internet Security. For one computer, it costs $47 for the first year and $78 to renew.

Like many other antivirus solutions, renewal price is higher than the price you pay when you start. It’s only a little more — $60 and $100 in the second year — to cover up to 10 devices with AVG Internet Security.

AVG Ultimate’s best security plan starts at $60 for 10 devices, just like Internet Security. When you renew, the subscription the price jumps to $140.

Ultimate comes with an app that helps clean up your computer, TuneUp, and two privacy-focused apps, Secure VPN and AntiTrack.

It makes sense to start with AVG Ultimate instead of AVG Internet Security since the starting price is the same. Just mark your calendar and give yourself enough time to decide whether the extra features are worth another $40 each year. Otherwise, you can downgrade to the less expensive plan.

Design

AVG AntiVirus Free had one of the simplest setups I’ve ever done, and they’re all fairly easy. What stood out was the eye-catching color palette and in-app guidance.

The app told me my computer, web, and email were already protected. An eye-catching blue window highlighted the button that starts a system scan. The app identified two potential issues and gave me a single button to resolve both. The second step confirmed that I had no malware.

In the final scan, AVG AntiVirus Free found five other vulnerabilities in my stock Windows 11 installation. Again, one click could clear those up, but only if I subscribed. I entered my activation code to upgrade to AVG Ultimate.

That unlocks several AVG apps, including AntiTrack, TuneUp, Secure VPN, and the upgraded Internet Security antivirus. More security adds more complexity. I went through each app, setting up the recommended protections.

In just a few minutes, AVG blocked unwanted tracking, cleared unnecessary files, and hid my location. The only thing missing was a browser extension. I opened the menu at the top right and found that option.

That’s when I noticed a problem: My internet stopped working. Switching off the VPN didn’t help. I dug around and found the problem was AVG’s anti-tracking. Disabling that feature fixed my internet issue and provided me with the question I could use to test customer support.

Features

As a leading antivirus software solution, independent security labs regularly test AVG AntiVirus to check how well it protects against the latest malware. AVG scored six out of six in AV-Test evaluations for the last two years and earned 5.5 or better since April 2017.

While that’s not as good as the records of Norton or Bitdefender, it’s reliable enough in recent years to gives me confidence that AVG will keep my data safe from hackers.

As expected, AVG blocked malware in my spot testing with the faux viruses at Wicar.org. Since the browser extension wasn’t part of normal setup, I disabled it to see if that would cause a problem. The AVG app blocked malware even after I disabled the AVG Online Security browser extension.

I set the VPN to Norway and checked for EV charging stations near me. The search revealed several options in the Innlandet county, a sign that Google didn’t know my real location.

I’d already set up automatic browser and computer cleanup with the AntiTrack and TuneUp apps. Overall, the performance seemed good, and I was satisfied that my computer was clear of malware and safe from future threats.

Support

As an AVG subscriber, I can chat with a live agent or call to get support 24 hours a day, every day. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the chat page to load. I filled in the form with name, email, question, and subscription type, then completed the captcha. I was stuck on the loading page forever.

I tried several times over the course of a day with no success. I finally settled for a phone call. There were a few brief questions, and then I was connected in about a minute. I asked about the trouble I had with the anti-track feature.

The support agent guided me to repair the app and try it again. It worked partially but still blocked many websites. I also removed and reinstalled the app, but internet problems persisted. AVG was ready to remotely connect to my computer to help diagnose the problem, but the wait would be 20 to 30 minutes. I opted to just leave anti-tracking off.

Even though my problem remained, AVG phone support was great and willing to dive deeper into the problem. However, live chat didn’t work at all, which is my preferred method.

Privacy and security

AVG’s end user license agreement says it uses and shares your data only to provide the services you want. The only exception is if you upload content to the Mobile Threat Intelligence Platform (MTIP).

MTIP is used by security researchers, not consumers, so you don’t have to worry about getting spammed by third-party advertisers after using AVG antivirus software.

A more concerning detail is customer data breaches and AVG has had issues in the past. In 2019, Google removed the AVG browser extension for spying on Chrome users.

That was five years ago, and the AVG Online Security extension is available in the Chrome Web Store, indicating AVG removed the offending code. You must decide for yourself if you trust AVG with your browser history after this incident.

AVG is a good free antivirus app

It’s hard to beat AVG AntiVirus Free. It provides good, reliable malware protection at no cost. If you don’t need a VPN or already have a premium VPN bundled with a password manager like Dashlane.

The subscription versions of AVG are affordable but have a big increase when you renew. While that’s not unusual, it means you have to question how much extra value you get from subscribing.

Norton 360 Deluxe costs less than AVG Ultimate and includes a password manager, encrypted cloud storage, dark web monitoring, and parental controls.

Malwarebytes has consistent pricing and a better privacy record. There are plenty of other choices. The anti-tracking internet problem, live chat failure, and a history of spying, detract from the strong malware protection performance.

I’d recommend checking other top antivirus software if you’re considering a subscription. Still, AVG’s free app is well-rated and doesn’t suffer from the complaints I have about the paid version.