First impressions of AVG Internet security 8!

  01 Mar 2008 by ReviewSaurus | , , , , , , , ,

avg AVG has recently released the all new internet security and now hits the version 8 with this new release. I’ll now write down my experience with AVG Internet Security 8. Lets see how this new release fairs :

Installation : AVG internet security 8 is around 59 Mb large in size and the installation was fairly simple. They ask you if you would like to make Yahoo! as the default search provider and allows you install the AVG toolbar a new feature, which we’ll discuss further.

Features : AVG internet security 8 is one of the complete solution, I’ve seen so far. It comprises of anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, firewall, link scanner, anti-phishing. It has inbuilt support for Microsoft outlook for scanning incoming and outgoing emails.

AVG has proved it’s worth as a great anti-virus as it hardly misses any virus and has great scanning engine.

AVG toolbar is the new addition in this version, it comprises of Yahoo search, and McAfee Siteadvisor like feature of scanning the links and displaying if that site is safe to visit or not.

avg-internet

User Interface : AVG internet security 8 brings all the security products under one umbrella and has done a great job in making the interface pretty simple. All the features are accessible from the control center. But the strange thing is that it doesn’t scan for rootkits by default, you have to enable the setting in order to do so.

It would have been better if they would have provided the settings button in the left menu bar of the control center. It really doesn’t matter that much but it would have become more evident.

Overall review and ratings :

AVG is not a new name in the field of security and from many years they’ve been providing excellent products. AVG internet security 8 is no less than the old versions, only it has gone better in terms of features and that’s beneficial for the users only. AVG toolbar is an impressive addition and should be beneficial for the users.

I’ll give 5/5 to AVG internet security 8 for the excellent work.

43 Responses so far

  1. Madhur Kapoor March 1, 2008 6:10 pm

    Great review buddy but is it free ?

  2. Nirmal March 1, 2008 9:48 pm

    Madhur,
    Right now version 8 is not free, but I guess they would bring out a free version of 8. Nice review, I was also impressed with the new version.

  3. Rakshit March 1, 2008 9:56 pm

    Very well written. It seems to be worth trying and as Nirmal said, if it becomes free, I’ll surely going to use it.

  4. Craig March 1, 2008 10:34 pm

    Internet Security Suites from AVG have not been offered free, unfortunately. Just the anti-virus program. However, the suite is offered at a reasonable price compared to other security suites.

  5. Venkat March 2, 2008 2:04 pm

    This time they worked out their interface to perfection, the interface looks great.

  6. Super Sunday Links Episode 3 March 2, 2008 6:28 pm

    [...] ReviewSaurus gives his first impression on AVG Internet Security 8 [...]

  7. Jawwad March 2, 2008 7:37 pm

    It really looks nice but I will wait(prey) for the free version (8.0)

  8. Paul March 3, 2008 1:29 am

    There is a free 30 day trial of this security suite (which I will be downloading soon). The interface is a much needed upgrade, simpler to use and better looking.

  9. Saper May 2, 2008 8:37 am

    As of May 1, 2008 the free version of AVG 8 has been released for download
    Installs fine

  10. Sharon May 26, 2008 3:50 pm

    I downloaded the free version last night and it locked up my pc every time it did anything. Had to uninstall it and put 7.5 back on but don’t what I’ll do when they stop supplying updates for 7.

  11. GMF May 27, 2008 8:08 am

    I downloaded today free version 8 and cannot update it. The message I receive is General error, not enough free memory, write error. What do I need to do to correct this? Thanks.

  12. tko June 10, 2008 2:20 am

    I also get an error message when I try to update on free 8.0: “general error, not enough free memory, write error”. I don’t get it - I seem to have plenty of ram (”physical memory”), “available physical memory” and hard disc space. What’s going on?

  13. Mac June 12, 2008 10:38 am

    My error message was caused by primary drive inadvertantly connected to secondary channel.

  14. chedcaje June 16, 2008 9:28 pm

    @GMF

    i had the same problem setting the update manager to get settings from browser or automatic detection…

    the error was strange but i solved by setting correctly the parameters about the proxy (in my case adress username and password) instead.

    hope this helps

  15. Ben June 17, 2008 1:36 am

    I have the same problem when i try to update - “general error, not enough free memory, write error.” I don’t get it because everything seemed to work fine for a while and this has only recently started happening. I know I have plenty of ram and hard disc space. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it several times and this did not help, and, no where on the internet seems to have a solution! What’s going on?!??

  16. Greg June 18, 2008 12:15 am

    I am also having the AVG general error - Not enough memory write error message when AVG is trying to update. I have 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, so I do not think that is the problem. All other apps are working correctly, I have ran chkdsk and also done a defrag of the hard drive. Any ideas, AVG works just fine on my other PC.

  17. chedcaje June 18, 2008 7:13 pm

    how did you set the parameters for update connection?

    Tools -> Advanced Settings -> Update (and sub Menus) ?

  18. Jules June 19, 2008 2:36 am

    Same as Ben, I have the same problem when i try to update - “general error, not enough free memory, write error.� I don’t get it because everything seemed to work fine for a while and this has only recently started happening. I know I have plenty of ram and hard disc space. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it several times and this did not help.

    Just tried what chedcaje suggested in the proxy but probablly did it a little wrong as noy too IT offay. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. Hitesh June 19, 2008 10:41 am

    I got it working. I went to the update site of AVG http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-update and then I downloaded all the files listed in a folder. Clicked on Tools - Update From Directory on AVG Interface and pointed to the directory where I downloaded them and it identified the update updated it and now it works fine for me :-)

  20. DELL - Guru June 26, 2008 4:14 pm

    …Or you can disable your firewall, sometimes AVG program updates requires to write on protected windows system folders, and is automatically blocked by firewall settings. Temporarily disabling firewalls then retry updating again will solve this issue. Be sure to turn on the firewalls again.

  21. Holly June 27, 2008 2:29 am

    I find the toolbar brutal and invasive. It slowed my browsers to a crawl and stalls when I try to use Google instead of their preferred partner Yahoo. After a scan I had a false positive that was not a threat however a window kept popping up 3 times alerting me to the same threat - each time I had to keep clicking ignore. I’m sure there are some settings I could configure but I expected the next free version w/out the bells to continue to be user friendly and intuitive not less. It’s also become more bloated at 47megs - 7/5 was 30.

  22. Robert June 30, 2008 9:15 am

    Tried the download updates manually link http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download-update and that didn’t work - not enough memory (which is not true). Then I disabled my firewall temporarily and the whole update worked. C’mon - a better error than General - not enough memory is expected
    !

  23. angus July 1, 2008 5:12 pm

    I bought the internet security 8.0 It worked for two days and then I got the same problems: general error etc. I’ve been on to avg and the help they’ve given me untill now has only used up several hours of my time and still no joy. I expected better.

  24. arcking July 3, 2008 8:09 pm

    Same error here (not enough memory). I am going to go in search of a better solution. I have been using 8.0 since if was first available. Something has changed since this just started today. This SHOULDN’T happen. I have wasted hours today trying to get this working again. I’m off to search for something else and then delete this thing.

  25. A. N. July 4, 2008 9:18 am

    I have had the same error message but no resolution. I am changing. Goodbye AVG, hello Avast.

  26. tinyang July 5, 2008 1:44 am

    I’m having the same problem. Has anyone found any info? Please post back here if you do to help the rest of us..

  27. tinyang July 5, 2008 3:54 am

    http://freeforum.avg.com/read.php?12,135773,backpage=1,sv=

    This fixed this problem for me. HTH!

  28. Lana July 5, 2008 8:16 pm

    I also had the general error - not enough memory. I disabled my firewall and had to try three times to update. Then it worked. (I’ve got Windows Vista)

  29. Michael July 5, 2008 10:11 pm

    I was getting the same Write Error as everybody else. I had plenty of space! It seemed to have trouble updating while FireFox3 was open. It worked fine after FireFox closed.

  30. James July 7, 2008 6:40 pm

    Thanks Michael, it seems to be Firefox 3 that causes the problem. The problem only started after I installed it… and if you close firefox AVG updates fine. Cheers!

  31. Regine July 9, 2008 2:33 am

    Confirmed. I only managed to update AVG when I closed my Firefox 3 even with firewalls down. And by some strange reason trying to update AVG with Firefox 3 up would cause an error message from AVG and close Firefox 3. Kinda annoying. Hope they fix this in the future, but I got it updated so I am happy :)

  32. TheEmperor July 12, 2008 11:04 pm

    One way to solve the general error when updating is to go to Tools -> Advanced Settings -> Update and uncheck the box that says “Use DNS update”. This will generally solve the issue.

  33. Shane July 15, 2008 4:05 am

    I had the same error–general error-not enough memory. I used tinyang’s link and now works fine

    Thanks
    :)

  34. Louise Tyvol July 18, 2008 4:21 am

    I’m having same problem with “not enough memory. Will try suggestions listed above.

    Can’t AVG get this fixed?

  35. Jo July 28, 2008 2:59 pm

    Why do I have to install the AVG Update Manager each time I’m connected?
    Would appreciate any help.

  36. terry August 6, 2008 10:50 am

    Re AVG 8 Free. Can anyone help me please. I tried to download AVG onto a friends computer - She on WIndows XP and is a newer computer than mine, but when trying to install AVG 8 free it came up with an error message saying Windows 2000 not supported by AVG8. Haven’t had any trouble loading up till now ?? Thanks

  37. David Stacey August 6, 2008 1:49 pm

    Thanks for the comments!
    Just disable your firewall temporarily and it will work!

  38. Tim Whittle August 17, 2008 10:56 am

    None of the above solutions have worked. It being August now, and this problem’s been around for a while, it seems it is time to move on. Thanks for wasting so much of my time.

  39. Mark Greensall August 20, 2008 5:31 pm

    Hello, Have been using AVG Sec. Suite for 2 years, upgraded to the 8 version no probs. There have been two major upgrades since then and now my suite doesn’t recognise new programme upgrades. I had to mess around and finally upgraded to V.8.0.156 but now a new version is out (8.0.164) and again won’t recognise the new version. Also have problem when accessing ‘System tools’, I get an error message (Microsoft alert) ‘avgsystx.exe encountered an error and needs to close’. Now, I don’t know if this is related to the programme update problem or not. The anti virus and anti spyware updates without any probs. My pc is high spec and I use XP Pro. I have contacted tech. Supp’t. but they take weeks to answere, if at all. Any help would be appreciated.

  40. Heavenly Saint August 21, 2008 6:36 am

    Just want to share my experience installing AVG IS 8.0.164, my OS is Windows XP SP2, my browser is Firefox 3.0 and I didn’t have any problems that you guys mentioned. What I did first is disconnect internet connection then uninstall Avira Premium Security Suite and install AVG I.S. 8.0.164. After installation finished, reconnect internet connection, update that’s all.

  41. Mark Greensall August 21, 2008 12:12 pm

    Hi Heavenly Saint, If you did a ‘clean’ install from scratch then you shouldn’t have a problem. My problem started after I first upgraded from 7.5 version to the new 8 version. The first upgrade to the new suite went fine but after it’s first upgrade that was when I noticed the problem. The second big upgrade (8.0.156) wasn’t being acknowledged as available and I couldn’t download it from the site. I had to run a repair option from my original disc to get it but now the 164 v. is out again it doesn’t detect either so now I have an older v. plus an older database v. which won’t update.

  42. Pete Conway August 31, 2008 1:27 pm

    I have the ” not enough memory” for update and tried TheEmperor’s suggestion to no avail, I will try the link from tinyang as a last resort but to be honest this version (8) is too buggy for me I’m gonna drop it off altogether if the link don’t work, I had no problems with 7.5 and only had to install this because of a HD meltdown, but not being a techie I have no wish it spend hours trawling through QnA bug fixes, by the way you guys thanks for at least trying to help us dweebs out.

  43. Pete Conway August 31, 2008 2:29 pm

    Nah…I tried to clean install twice same old prob when updating…Goodbye AVG hello Avast.
    It’s been good while it was good!

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