AVG 9.0 virus scanner released

Version 9.0 of AVG's product family promises to be faster, safer, simpler, and less expensive than ever before. To increase speed, the vendor integrated a combined anti-virus/anti-spyware scanner that marks all files as safe or unsafe during the first scan. Files marked as safe are then skipped until the file storage structure changes. AV-Test.org confirmed these faster speeds in their tests.

AVG's Internet Security had a signature-based detection rate of 97.64 per cent for known viruses, worms, and trojans on Windows XP. The tool issued a warning 94 per cent of the time for adware and spyware. There was not a single false alarm for a scan of more than 600,000 clean files. In 24 of 25 attempts, infected PCs were successfully disinfected, though the scanner did not always get rid of all traces – for instance, a manipulated hosts-file was left behind.

The scanner only made one mistake and overlooked one invisibility cloak when looking for and removing 25 root kits. Using behavioural detection, AVG was able to find and remedy 80 percent of contaminants not detected by heuristics or signatures – a very good result according to AV-Test.org. LinkScanner, which blocks infected websites, also worked very well, issuing a warning 90 per cent of the time.

The firewall in the suite has been completely revised and confronts users with far fewer prompts; the vendor says that the firewall uses a database that helps it decide whether an application should be allowed to communicate with another system component or whether communication should be blocked. AVG's Identity Protection, which is only integrated in the suite, is expected to work with other protective components better.

AVG AntiVirus 9.0 is already on sale and costs £27.99 with a one-year license. The price of a one-year license for AVG Internet Security 9.0 is £39.99. AVG Free 9.0 will be made available in mid-October at no charge.

(djwm)