Review by Sam M. Tannenbaum

I’ve long promoted AVG’s free products to friends who asked my opinions. I’ve tried them myself, and they provide an acceptable level of service- great news, considering the price. However, after a terrible experience with a well-known security product several years ago (see my other reviews for details), I swore off all security programs, deciding instead to be vigilant with my machines and my internet activities as a better way to protect my machines. Recently, though, I’ve tried several new products, and haven’t had any major issues with any of them (though there have been some minor frustrations- see below). AVG Internet Security 2011 is the best I’ve seen, though, by far.

After test-driving Norton 360 on my ‘junk’ machine, and being frustrated with the way it tends to make decisions FOR the user, instead of giving the user options on how to handle potential threats, I was hoping to find a product that would be equally vigilant in detecting potential issues without taking the machine over. AVG Internet Security 2011 does just that. As you may know, some programs register ‘false-positives’ with security software- they are safe programs, but they exhibit some characteristics that trigger suspicion. That’s fine- if my security software thinks there may be a threat, I want to know about it. However, some security software (like Norton) take the initiative of deleting or quarantining automatically, and this can be very frustrating. AVG engages the user at every juncture, presenting options to clean, delete, or make exemptions for such software. This is very helpful.

More generally, AVG runs silently, it doesn’t use up a lot of resources, and its notification system is great- notices are displayed as corner pop-ups that don’t distract, but are easy to review if desired. I never really had any issues before I got AVG, and haven’t had any since, but it’s great to know I’m protected without having to sacrifice performance or worry about the program doing something I don’t want it to without my knowledge.

In brief, AVG Internet Security 2011 is a sound investment, and the fact that customer service is available makes it a worthwhile upgrade from the free versions. Highly recommended for anyone looking for effective, non-intrusive security for their PC.