Avast Vs AVG
June 15th, 2010
Choosing not to have an antivirus program is not an option anymore. As the Internet has grown, so has the threat of computer viruses, worms and trojans grown exponentially. Having a regularly updated antivirus software program on your computer is vitally important in this scenario if you want your data and privacy to be secure on the Internet. Two of the popular antivirus software programs are Avast and AVG. If your search has narrowed down to these two programs, the Avast vs AVG comparison made here may just help you make a choice.
What one looks for in a computer security or antivirus program is reliability, regular updates, cover for multiple security threats and speed of performance without too much taxation of system resources. The kind of security one needs, also varies according to your personal Internet usage pattern. One should see to it that every form of online communication, which can provide an entry to security threats is covered by a security software and backed by a strong firewall. Let us see how Avast and AVG fare when compared according to these criteria which are programs that you frequently stumble upon while searching for free to download antispyware and antivirus software.
What is the Difference Between Avast and AVG?
Avast and AVG are two of the most downloaded security software programs on the Internet as they both come with a freely downloadable version. Let us make a clear comparison between Avast and AVG based on two main factors, which are security features offered by them and performance. I only compare the free versions of AVG and Avast in this article which feature among the top five best free antivirus software.
Avast Vs AVG: Features
First thing that one notices while checking out the features of these security programs is the installation. AVG comes with some additional third party bundled toolbar software which is optional as part of the installation. You need to go for a custom installation if you do not want the link scanner feature to be activated. Post installation, AVG will pester you with a pop up window while it downloads security updates. AVG does not need a system restart for the program to be operational and does not need your email id for generating a license key as that is done automatically. As opposed to AVG installation, Avast requires you to enter your email id for the license key and activation. Also, you need to restart the computer for the software to be functional. However, Avast does not pester you with pop-ups and neither does it dish out any bundled software.
If you make a comparison between the user interfaces offered by both programs, AVG has a better interface which offers an easy access to most of its features, while the usage appeal of Avast’s user interface is not that great. It is a different kind of an interface, which you may take time to get used to.
Let us make an Avast vs AVG comparison based on the security features they offer. While AVG is free for personal and business use, Avast is free only for personal use and not commercial use. Both offer antivirus, anti-spyware, anti dialer, anti phishing, signature based and heuristics based on demand scanning, email protection and real time protection. Avast offers some more extra features which includes the behavior blocker, p2p protection, intelligent scanner, network shield and chat protection. As you can see, Avast is the clear winner when it comes to comprehensive security features comparison.
Both programs get updated through small incremental update files which are downloaded considerably fast compared to large updates. AVG is the faster one when it comes to performing updates. If you are looking for the best antivirus for Windows 7, then you need not worry as it has an inbuilt windows defender software which functions quite well. Additionally you could opt for any of AVG or Avast programs.
Avast Vs AVG: Performance
After that brief comparison of features in the two programs, let us compare the performance of both these programs. Avast offers a quick full, as well as customized scan. AVG only offers a full system scan or customizable scan facility. Both programs offer ‘Right Click and Scan’ facility. AVG uses up more memory space during a full system scan but finishes the scan quite faster than Avast.
Out of a sample survey which evaluated the anti malware detection capacity of both these programs, Avast came out to be the winner and detected a lot more of the samples than AVG. However, these softwares are constantly updated over time and therefore any review could be dated. To check for effects of the installation of AVG or Avast on boot time, and application launch time, you will have to test it on your individual machines. I think overall, the Avast vs AVG comparison reveals that Avast is the better of the two free security programs.
Hope this Avast vs AVG comparison has made it amply clear as to which is the best security program among the two. My personal vote would go to Avast among the two as it offers better performance on most counts.
1. Technical Details

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In that ServerPronto Review I ‘ll present you whole about Server Pronto in details, follow on.