Customer Ratings & Reviews

The AVG Ultimate 5 Device Bundle provides a must have complete package for computer security and privacy. It includes an AntiVirus, TuneUp app, Password Protection Manager, and a Secure VPN. With all of the risks associated with using the web why take a chance? Pros: * It was a fairly straight forward installation. If installing to an android device or iOS device you need to use the activation key found in the computer app under subscriptions. I have it installed on an iOS and android phone, iPad, and a Windows desktop. I am unable to comment on the installation process for the Mac OS. * It did not find any viruses but completed the scan off all my drives quickly. * I was able to clear 4.6 GB of space on my computer and deleted numerous junk items/broken shortcuts/tracking cookies. * I was able to put programs to "sleep" that I do not frequently use freeing up processing power. These no longer actively run in the background. * I was informed of several password leaks associated with my email accounts and was able to easily change them through the app (which redirects you to the appropriate website). Indeterminate: * The VPN itself is great. I get around 200 meg down/up with it off and around 130/140 meg down/up with it on, which is fairly close to what a premium stand alone VPN service provides performance wise. I checked several DNS leak sites and it did not reveal my true information. The downside is that it is device specific meaning I cannot install it on my router and cover all devices connected. Instead, I need to have a license for each device. The majority of stand alone VPN providers offer a router option allowing you to save licenses for devices you take out of your house/away from the protected network. Cons: * There are a few features such as disguising online profiles, hiding browsing history, blocking tracking cooking that are not included but can be purchased. The downside is I receive a somewhat frequent notification in the corner of the screen asking me if I want to complete the purchase. If I click out of it, I would expect it to stop. It should be included in the bundle. Most mainstream browsers (ie Chrome and Mozilla) have these addons for free. * My subscription shows active on my computer and each mobile device/tablet; however, when I log into the website it says I do not have a subscription.

I decided to give AVG a try mainly because I was having some issues with the old Windows Security Essentials software on my Windows 7 (yes Windows 7) desktop. I also wanted to try something different than the default Windows Security software on another Windows10 household laptop. I had adopted Windows Security software as the default on all my Windows machines, because of the poor experience I had with other Antivirus software, especially around performance and overall experience (some would monopolize the CPU to the point of freezing it). But now that I installed AVG and run it for a couple of days, I am extremely happy with its detection capabilities and performance, as well as the set of features that it comes with (which by the way, I am not sure I am going to end up using them all). So far it hasn’t disappointed. >>On Windows7 Yes it is an old OS, and its end of life is coming soon, but I have this desktop with plenty of software and configured to the way my family feels comfortable each with their own profile. A few months ago, the default antivirus for this computer starting misbehaving, its service would get disabled frequently. So, very recently, it must have in once such occasion that I (or a family member) introduced some sort of malware into the computer. I was not able to determine what it was, but I knew something was going on, strange processes in the Task Manager would show up, my %LocalAppData% directory would show weird folders, the browser would display annoying adds all over the place, and up to the point that messages would show up to “click here” because your machine was infected. In addition, the machine became extremely slow, especially while browsing. So, all signs of some pest infestation were there. So I went for the AVG Ultimate. After downloading and installing the AVG Ultimate software, which I did in a normal session not in Safe Mode (I know), I run it for the first time. It started its first scan and got stuck at “checking browser” for over a half an hour (see picture). I had to restart the machine and went onto safe mode where AVG kept crashing. So, I restarted in regular mode, and incredibly everything started to run fine, even the previous antivirus was able to enable its service (which I of course disabled permanently later on). I was able to complete the first scan, it showed no errors. Now, before installing and running AVG, I would get a lot of annoying pop-ups and adds while browsing. But now, even though I still get some adds, I don’t get any of those threatening pop-ups and the machine is usable again. Web browsing is a breeze, it seems that AVGs script blocker is very good indeed. Even though it came back clean in the first scan, I decided to do a full scan on the C drive (not very intuitive to get to that option). It took around 50 minutes to scan the almost full C drive, a 256GB SSD in a computer with 8GB RAM and 3.4GHz Phenom AMD Quad core processor. >>Windows7-Performance I am using the default configuration; for example, in terms of Settings->Basic protection->Detections, the core defense for blocking malware in real time is set to Medium sensitivity, I perhaps would change it to High sensitivity, but for now seems fine. I haven't made any measurements in performance, before and after this was installed, but so far I don't see any performance loss and on the contrary the machine feels faster. C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AVGSvc.exe runs all the time and has activity all the time, but it doesn't seem to affect performance that much. >>Windows10 Setup and first run completed fine on my other HP Windows 10 Laptop. I run a full scan and no threats were found. This laptop is my wife’s primarily, and interestingly, the machine showed a report that it hadn’t updated its Windows in a while (see image). I am considering replacing the antivirus for the other 3 Windows 10 Laptops we own. >>Reports One of the things I want is for an antivirus to tell what it's done. I have yet to find the UI option to get to such reports. I had to navigate to C:\ProgramData\AVG\Antivirus\report and to C:\ProgramData\AVG\Antivirus\log to see some of the reports that were not locked by the AVG processes running to get an idea of what things were done in the past days. >>Other thoughts I haven’t used the mobile version for Android, but I’ll be installing the software soon for our cellphones. AVG has a 1-month trial, but I decided to use my registration code at hand, thinking I would receive 365+30 days, but I just got 367days. It has several components that look very useful and those become additional reasons to opt for the AVG Ultimate software. The anti-ransomware component seems something nice to have. When I had all that strange behavior my fear was to suddenly get one of those ransomwares and then have my precious (and my family's precious) files taken away. From the description one may think this is just an antivirus software and not a performance tool, but its suggestions to free temp files and the like seem to be a sound way of dealing with potential threats, i.e. potential threats that are downloaded and kept in temp locations. And its VPN component seems something to give it a try for sure. Some reported threats are not clear, for example, it reports that IP address is visible (not really sure that is the case) and also shows some documents not protected (unsafe). Well, I haven’t acted on them.

PROS: - AVG Secure VPN included - Extra layer of security - 5 device license lets you install on all the family computers - AntiVirus Pro for Android - AVG Secure Browser included - AVG TuneUp included CONS: - AVG VPN speed reduction widely varies == Installation == Setting up and installing the various AVG services are quick and easy. You just need to go to AVG's website to download the AVG Ultimate product, select the system OS, and download the AVG Internet Security installer. After installation, you'll be directed to setup your subscription by entering your activation code. That's it! From here you can customize what additional AVG software you want to install on your system. This process is the same on all other computers you want to use in your 5-device license. == AVG Internet Security == This is where you can monitor if there are any potential threats or issues on your computer. You can manually scan your system or schedule future scans. AVG's virus definition updates happen automatically in the background, so you don't need to worry about it. AVG Internet Security lists five categories for monitoring: Computer, Web & Email, Hacker Attacks, Privacy, and Payments. The "Computer" category is ensuring that your system is free from any known malware. The "Web & Email" helps to warn you of any known or suspicious links while browsing and flags possible unsafe email attachments. The "Hacker Attacks" feature covers firewall settings and provides ransomware protection on default folders (and you can add folders later). "Privacy" helps to prevent unauthorized access to your webcam. Finally "Payments" adds additional anti-spam security and flags potential "fake" sites. == AVG Secure Browser == The quickest way I can describe AVG's included browser: it's Chrome with security extensions already installed. This is another great feature of the AVG Ultimate subscription for family devices. Compared to my normal Chrome browser (with a few security extensions), I'm not really seeing any differences in speed. It's a nice option if you want to finally get a relative to stop using Internet Explorer. == AVG Secure VPN == This is my favorite part of the 5-device subscription of AVG Ultimate. I have four of the device licenses in use to protect my parents' computers, while I use the final license for my own personal use. I'm pretty safe when it comes to online browsing and email, so while the AVG Internet Security feature is nice, it's not as useful to me as the VPN service. Rather than paying for a separate VPN service, AVG provides their own with the Ultimate subscription! AVG Secure VPN works similar to any other VPN service. You can set it up to automatically enable whenever you're connected to a network, or set it only for public connection. You can also set whatever location you want to appear as (see screenshot). My only complaint is that the speed reduction varies wildly. Some days I only see a reduction in about 15% download speed, while other days I'm seeing over 60%. If you need a VPN service for streaming videos, this could be an issue. If you're like me and just need a secure connection while getting some work done at a coffee shop, it's fine. == Bottom Line == This is a great option if you have family/friends that are not the most "tech savvy" people, but want to improve on their security habits. The many features and services included in the AVG Ultimate subscription helps to bring peace of mind and an extra layer of security. Plus, if you're like me, you can help your family feel more secure when using their computer AND you get a reliable VPN service as well!

AVG security suite offers easy setup and installation, once key is purchased it is extremely easy to setup on all of your devices. You can simply log in to the AVG My Account page and find all of the download links you need for your PC, MAC and Android devices. The initial file download is very small at only 4mb. Once you download and open the installer you are greeted with a log in page simply use your account information to login and you are done. No need to enter license keys or any other information. Scanning seems fast and other options such as password protect, Tune up, AVG secure VPN all work well and can be purchase separately later on if you did not get the full package. Tune up cleans up cookies or disabled programs unnecessary running in the background. The VPN is used to mask your IP address so you cant be tracked and are nice features. AVG gives you a lot of features for a security suite.

Works very well with the exception of 2 items. 1. This is the Ultimate package, yet they want you to pay for the driver update program, and get pop-ups all the time. 2. The VPN stops you from accessing certain sites you normally go to.

This is a really great service, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. The installation was painless, and the additional protections offered are easy to add on, not even requiring a restart for each one. Once installed, it was up and running in seconds, asking to run an initial scan, and also check my PC for issues. I appreciated the registry scans, as I found over 200 registry entries that were no longer valid, or missing references. Once I cleared that out, my PC immediately started up quicker, and I noticed an error (which would just pop up as unknown during boot up) was also gone. The virus scan can be scheduled, or run at any time, and is quick to point out any issues found. The scan begins by checking your browser for any threats, then moves on to Virus and Malware, and completes by checking for any additional vulnerabilities. It even has Ransomware protection, which I'm starting to see more and more. This one makes sure that files are secure from ransomware attempts, and provides enhanced Firewalls protection. The coolest thing about the firewall section was being able to see all the internet traffic being tied back to an application or Windows process. Scrolling through the list, you can view the app or process, the IP address (IPv4/6), the ports being used, and the speed of data being accessed. I thought this was super awesome. In the past I've used freeware programs to scan my web traffic, and this packed it into an easy to read list. It can even expand into more detail, using the select-able options above the list. Not only is internet security covered, but you also get the bonus of a Tune Up app, a secure VPN app, and a Password protection app. AVG even goes a step further, and silences Windows notifications during app use; allowing you to disable or enable it any time. There is so much this app does that it's difficult to see myself going back to a basic virus protection again. Under the My Avg menu, you can also find the Driver updater; which can scan your computer for out of date drivers. It's an add on, so it will require activation to update, but it quickly pointed out 11 drivers that required an update. The Tune Up app is my favorite! It allows you to see background processes, and put apps to "Sleep" to help boost speed. This frees up memory and CPU for other uses. While I do have 16 GB of ram installed, it immediately freed up about 1 GB by running it the first time. I was even able to customize the start up items. The system junk scan found over 10 GB of temp files, and immediately worked to delete them. No need to fumble through menu after menu, it's as easy as clicking one button. You can even initiate a drive scan, to check for any errors or drive issues. I'm especially glad that I was able to protect up to 5 of my computers at home for me and the family! For the price you pay, you get a lot protection from things you never knew you needed to worry about. The included VPN is a great bonus to keep you secure online, without worrying about others snooping on your web traffic. AVG is now my recommended Virus Protection to my friends and family. This feature rich protection, without sacrificing systems speed, was a big win over others out there.

I needed to renew and the black friday sale was too good to pass up. Even better the multi-device come with the vpn.

Exactly what I wanted and the price was great also!

Loaded quickly, extracted and installed quickly. Having a 1 Gig fiber connection didn't hurt but everything loaded and installed without a hitch. Once installed, it has a user friendly interface. Has some standard features like Antivirus and password protection. Also includes some nice extras like tune up, driver updater. I tested them and they work adequately. It also includes VPN but I have not tested it since I have an Enterprise VPN that I use and trust impeccably. That said, I have no reason to believe that the VPN would not be adequate. The VPN offers a free 60 day trial and is $3.49 a moth after. Not a bad price, but there might be some other options for you. In all, decent suite of software so far. It is one of a few would recommend to a friend.

AVG Ultimate is a suite of a few products, with the core being antivirus and malware protection. Also included is a software based firewall, a system tuneup product, password manager and a VPN solution. First off, virus and malware protection - pretty standard stuff that runs quietly under the covers to protect your system from harm. Seemed to work pretty good on the systems I installed it on. No noticable performance degradation (although modern computers with solid state drives are not as impacted by these type of solutions) with a super simple interface, although it does seem to be dated, reminds me of Kaspersky from 10 years ago. I had no instances of anything negative detected on my system when I performed a deep scan. The realtime file and behavior shields (which detects potential threats from programs), along with the web shield (protects during surfing) and email shield (blocks unsafe attachments in Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird email clients) all seemed to work well. There is also Firewall that has a decent level of real time port monitoring and the ability to setup application rules. I was actually pretty surprised by the configuration abilities of the firewall. Ransomware protection is also provided, not sure how that works but it protects your standard document and picture folders and gives you the ability to add protection to other folders. There are also a pretty extensive list of options in the settings section of the application. Including the ability to exempt folders, executables, processes and specific web addresses from scans and shields. I would especially check the Personal Privacy section as your might want to turn off some of the options (which are all checked - opted in for). Not sure I want my usage data to be shared with 3rd parties & show offers from them too. I would expect some of this in a free product, but nothing I am paying for. The TuneUp product is included with ultimate and detects quite a few items that it can cleanup or reconfigure. Be wary of the Speed up portion of the product as it tends to be overly aggressive in "sleeping" some processes and startup programs. Also feels like it was bolted onto the product with a different icon and a start folder that is named seperately from the core product. Included with the subscription is a VPN service, was very surprised that this was a full service VPN, with a lineup of servers in different countries. Including servers recommended for streaming or torrenting content. Big bonus as other products only usually provide a version with traffic limits, enticing your to pay additional for unlimited VPN access. There also seemed to be little to no degradation in network performance when enabled. Pros: - A lot packed into this product - Very configurable, good mix of let it run and the ability to get down into the weeds - Good performance - VPN service was unexpected and high performing. Cons: - Subscription did not appear to be stored in your account, you had to use the key to install the product each time. - Android version requires that you install the free version and entering an activation code - Interface is a bit dated.

I installed AVG Ultimate on 4 Windows 10 machines that I use and on an Android Phone. INSTALLATION Straight forward. Adding the components in the Ultimate Package was easy for me and they all installed as they should. The Android phone also was an easy install through the App Store. USE Anti-Virus ran effectively and rather quickly through each system. I installed on two very new machines and then two of the oldest Windows 10 machines I have. Obviously the newer machines did the installs and scans much faster than the old ones, but I found no overall speed impact on the machines of any vintage as tested. I liked that AVG alerted me to Firefox addons that might be questionable though they were false alarms as the ones I had were okay in background efficacy. The Tune Up I have used another Cleaner/Tuneup for years so this was interesting to see the difference between the two. AVG's Tune Up did seem to make the older machines faster though I did not notice any difference in performance on the newer machines. I did like that the Tune Up aspect did more at one try than the previous "Cleaner" that I had used. VPN Having just subscribed to my first VPN this month, I had a chance to compare the two. I have gigabit internet so my test may vary from yours. I know VPN's tend to dumb down the speeds but I was losing nearly 80% of the speed using either VPN service so the net difference between the two was unremarkable. AVG's was not faster than the other national one. It was just as easy to use. And since this was all part of a subscription, the cost of AVG's was already covered whereas I would be paying over $10 per month for the other service alone! I cancelled the other service. I noticed no difference in real performance and the convenience of having an entire suite of protection and performance to be impressive and cost effective. NOT TESTED Driver updater - I am old fashioned and each brand of computer has their own interface that recommends drivers to be updated; I prefer to default to the OEM advice rather than a "one-size-fits-all" system. Password Protection - This is active and alerted me to generic and old accounts that I don't even use anymore - it says to change the passwords but none of the items ever had credit card information on them so I haven't done anything with them. It is nice that such a feature is there and will be more compelled to use this system should a CURRENT account have issues. I'll monitor this in the future. OVERALL IMPRESSIONS Great value for what you receive - AVG works well with older technology (I have a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and two less than year old PC's and an almost three year old Android phone). With what you get in the Ultimate package, this is a great value for the money and I highly recommend this. As a side note, I have AVG free on my Mom's computer (she's 78) and it has alerted her and protected her for free for years so I am familiar with the product and its reputation and effectiveness.

AVG Ultimate is so much more than the basic antivirus software packages that saturate the market nowadays. It does a great job of providing antivirus protection while also offering a very useful set of tuneup options as well as a VPN. All of these things really come in handy and work exceptionally well on not just my PCs, but my Android phone as well. This makes the 5-device subscription a no-brainer if you have more than one device you would like to protect so if you are in the market for a new antivirus software package that does so much more, I highly recommend AVG Ultimate.

Got the whole package on sale avg has never failed me great product

AVG anti-virus programs and internet security have built a trusted name as it has evolved with internet technology over the past few decades. The newest AVG Anti-virus and internet protection, the AVG Ultimate, is just that -- a solid internet security package with several extras. The program is sold as a multi-device anti-virus, VPN and tune-up combo. It is designed to work on PCs and tablets using Windows OS, Mac computers and on Android smartphones and tablets. The complete software program covers many aspects of online protection and security that is essential to really safeguarding one’s online identity. With its multi-device design and 5 seats, it is a very good bargain for the entire family. After selecting which device, you wish to install the program on and installing the software, the program will simply ask for your installation code and have you enter your personal information to establish an account. Just follow the prompts, it’s that easy. Be sure that you have removed all traces of any previous anti-virus software that may have come on your computer as any trace will most likely conflict and slow down the installation of this product. You can install the AVG Ultimate on up to 5 devices. Once installed the software program will protect your computer or windows/android handheld devices from harmful viruses and spyware. It will scan attachments to your emails and warn you if attachments are not safe. It will also scan Wi-Fi hotspots and warn of dangers there too. One of the best features that builds on the AVG solid foundation is the feature of automatic updates. As new threats evolve the automatic updates will ensure that your online presence remains protected from new virus threats. As mentioned already, the software is designed to provide security for multiple devices. I elected to install the software on a PC and on Android cell phones. On the computer, installation was easy and even the PC tune-up, one of the extras of the program, worked very well. The program is designed to protect from malware, hackers and webcam hacks. It allows one to secure all passwords and offers an immediate notification if any are found online. The automatic updates worked very well. I feel like this program provides solid internet security for safe online interactions, and its versatility in being able to meet the needs of several devices is a very big plus. Besides the AVG Tune-up for the PC, there is also an AVG Cleaner Pro for Android devices that does essentially the same by removing hidden junk, cleaning up photos, freeing up space and extending the battery life. The program also features security and performance for the Mac which I did not install, and this evaluation does not cover. Inclusive in this AVG Ultimate online protection software is AVG Secure VPN which has become increasing important for browsing the internet, and especially, when connecting to an open Wi-Fi. The VPN encrypts the internet connection allowing your online activity to be completely private. This secure VPN works on PCs, Macs, Androids, and IOS devices. Hands down this is a smart, very affordable, internet security that could potentially save you hours of anguish. If you have multiple types of devices that fall into these categories, you should consider this for your family.

I have installed this suite of security programs on three machines so far, and I am impressed. Installation has gone without a hitch in all cases, and the program quickly takes stock of your computer and makes recommendation in regard to improving performance and clearing clutter. A few mouse clicks, and you can see the problems identified and the solutions suggested, and you can choose what you want in the way of temporary files, installation files, and so forth deleted and what you want to keep. The Ultimate package includes two security products, AVG Internet Security (antivirus) and AVG Password Protection, one performance product, AVG TuneUp, which I found to be much more effective and easy to use than I expected it to be, and one privacy product, AVG Secure VPN. Regarding the antivirus program, I can only hope and expect that my computer is well-protected. As a layman, I have no way of simulating a virus attack on my computer to test this program’s ability to identify and prevent the attack, and I’d be reluctant to do that even if I could. So I’ll have to be content that AVG Internet Security is protecting my computer Regarding AVG TuneUp, as I said above, I found this feature to be easier to use and more comprehensive in what it checks about your computer than I expected it to be. It found several ways I could speed up my computer, clear disk space, repair disk errors, and so forth. I remember the days of periodically running “chkdsk” on my PC to correct disk file errors, and, while TuneUp certainly does the equivalent of this, it does much more. Regarding Secure VPN, it was easy to install and allowed me to choose from a variety of locations around the world for my computer to appear to reside. I do find that you have to watch out when you use a VPN in some situations, such as shopping on Amazon or eBay. Those sites will think you’re in whatever city or country the VPN sets you up in, so, for example, if you’re in the U.S. but choose a Canadian city for the VPN, you’ll see the Canadian versions of the Amazon and eBay sites, and that can be an issue in calculating shipping costs and the link. You’ll likely want to turn off the VPN in these situations. I’ve got about a year to go on my initial subscription to this product suite, but, overall, I have nothing but high praise for this product so far.

I’ve been using Windows computers and Android smartphones for years and have always installed virus protection apps on them. I’ve used free and paid versions, but more often than not use the paid versions because they offer much greater functionality. Up until this past year, I had been using a different vendor’s product on my smartphone and Windows computers. My smartphone is a Pixel 3xl, and I have a Dell desktop and Samsung Laptop. This older app was easy to use, and both phone and computer versions were well suited for these environments. Once installed, you rarely had to touch them again. Essentially, plug and play. However, as the cost of this older product continued to go up, I thought it was time to try out something new. That brings me to the AVG Ultimate suite of apps. As an aside, I’m a strong believer in best-of-breed solutions. That is, buying an app because it’s considered the best of its kind. I believe there’s merit to this approach, although it does get expensive buying individual applications rather than a comprehensive suite like AVG is offering. After using the AVG suite for a while now; however, I think I’m going to forego the best-of-breed approach at least as it applies to Internet security apps. That said, here’s what I found: ANDROID VERSION -------------------------------------- The smartphone version has the following features built into the app: - App Locking o Allows you to lock each specific app against someone using it with a pin code - Anti-Theft o Locks the phone after 8 failed logon attempts o Locks the device if an unknown sim card is detected o Device is unusable until a pin is entered or the phone is factory reset o Volume will be set to maximum and an alarm will sound - VPN Protection o This is an encrypted session to the internet. - Photo Vault o This lets you select specific photos and hide them from view in the event someone is using your phone. A pin is required to make the photos viewable. - File Scanner o This lets you scan selected directories for viruses and malware - Wi-Fi Security o This turns on the ability to check a network to ensure that it’s safe to use. This works in conjunction with Scan Wi-Fi (next). - Scan Wi-Fi o This runs the tools set up under Wi-Fi Security (above) - Wi-Fi Speed o This will inform you how fast your connection is - Boost Ram o This will scan your phone for all running apps and will kill off those it believes are un-necessarily, thus freeing up space in memory. - Clean Junk oThis finds all junk files and removes them from your phone - Data Diet mobile data usage to ensure that you don’t go over your monthly allocation You can also install standalone versions of the following: - AVG Cleaner (Junk, Memory and Ram Booster) - AVG Secure VPN (Unlimited VPN and Proxy Server) - Alarm Clock Extreme (Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, and timer) - Gallery (a photo gallery) Android Assessment --------------------------- Thus far, the Android version has been easy to use. I set it up to run daily at 3pm, which is does. It also alerts me to any junk that needs to be removed. I’ve even used the VPN on occasion, primarily when away from home and connected to store or restaurant Wi-Fi’s. There haven’t been any bumps, or anything for that matter, that would have me concerned about using this suite of apps. I do have some cautions, however: - VPN: Not all VPN’s are created equal, and that’s the reason that some are highly rated and others are not. I couldn’t find much on AVG’s VPN to know if it’s good or not, but what I did know is that it connected to the remote servers quite fast, just as browsing was equally as fast. - Boost Ram: I’m not comfortable with this, period. Years ago, it was a foregone conclusion that you needed to remove apps from memory to keep your phone from bogging down. Nowadays, operating systems offer much, much better memory management, and as such I won’t be using this option anytime soon. This is just my personal preference. - Anti-Theft: AVG offers a lot of functionality to protect your phone in the event someone tries to steal it or change your sim card. Essentially, it will lock your phone, sound a siren, take a photo of the thief, and locate the phone. Please note, however, that you’ll have to give AVG full control of your phone by making the app a device administrator. And that’s what I did. WINDOWS VERSION ------------------------------ The AVG Ultimate suite of apps for Windows offers a significant number of configuration options, and it’s taken me a good bit of time to traverse all its features. This suite of apps id anything but plug and play. Personally, I like packages that give me an opportunity to configure it to my liking, so I don’t view this as problematic. Just expect to spend time configuring it. AVG Secure VPN ------------------------ I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to play with AVG’s Windows VPN since I don’t normally take my laptop or desktop anywhere. However, I did play with it some. I thought the VPN had acceptable performance, equal to my experience with the AVG Android version. Once connected, my browser, mail, calendar, and all other programs were very responsive. I do have a 160mb/sec Internet connection at home, so someone else with a slower connection will probably not have the same results. On Android, I thought the response time was outstanding whether using Wi-Fi or just mobile data. Tune Up ------------- Okay, this app does a whole bunch for your computer: - Maintenance: It can scan for broken registry items, broken shortcuts, system junk, browser cache and more - Speed Up: This lets you tweak startup programs and choose if you want them to sleep or not. Essentially, selected programs will only run when you specifically click on them to do something. For example, if I set Office 365 to sleep, the apps (like Word and Excel) will stay asleep until you select one to work with. After you’re done Word or Excel, the Speed Up feature will put them back to sleep so they’re not using any system resources. - Free Up Space: This will delete off your system junk space and old browser data. - Fix Problems: This will make sure that your disk system is running at peak efficiency and identify issues with your device that can be addressed. Internet Security ---------------------- - File Shield o This will scan any file that is opened or added to your device - Behavior Shield o This will warn you if any app on your device behaves maliciously - Web and Email Threats o It will block any web and email threats - Hacker Attacks o This offers enhanced firewall and ransomware protection - Privacy o This prevents your webcam from being illegally accessed, or blocks activity if someone tries to access sensitive documents on your system. The sensitive documents portion threw me at first. I have Google Drive mapped to my desktop, and this app connected to it to scan all my documents for sensitive information – like financial information or other personal data. I don’t normally allow 3rd-party apps have access to my Google Drive, so I’m still wrapping my head around this one. - Anti-Spam and Fake Website Shield o These are self-explanatory - Scanning o Scanning is very comprehensive. This feature looks for Browser Threats and Virus and Malware threats. It can also scan for Advanced Threats, although I didn’t find anything to clarify what an Advanced Threat is. - Other Scans o As if basic scanning wasn’t ample, this section does a deeper dive into your system. It will look for more intensive malware, USB/DVD removeable media, specific files or file folders, system performance scans, and boot-time scans. Tune-up also lets you set up scheduled scans to run once, daily, or certain days of the month. AVG Secure Browser The AVG Secure Browser is an app that AVG touts as fast, secure with built-in adblock, anti-phishing, safer online banking, and a password manager. I did use it a bit, but I really prefer my existing browser. The AVG Browser ran pretty quick and was easy to use, and I would use it if I was unhappy with my existing browser. AVG Password Protection ----------------------------------- I at first thought this was another competing password manager program, but that’s not what it is. As described by AVG, “This is a paid AVG product that offers an additional security layer added to your Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser to protect your sensitive login data, notify you about the leaks and advise you about the security level of passwords stored in your browser”. When I ran it, it came up with a message indicating that all was well on my laptop. The same results on my desktop. Windows Assessment ----------------------------- I can attest to the comprehensive nature of the AVG Ultimate Suite of apps. Still, I haven’t been using the apps very long to attest how good all the pieces are. So, I went to AV-Test professional testing organization, and their tests showed that AVG Internet Security rated 100% for detection of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last 4 weeks. IN CONCLUSION ------------------------ I’m sold. If anything, the AV-Test shows this is a comprehensive solution for virus and malware detection – which is primarily what I’m looking for and the reason I would purchase a package like this. I’ll be staying with AVG Ultimate as my go-to solution.

I've used multiple different 'free' antivirus packages over the years on my Windows machines. As someone with a technical background, I understand why they're riddled with advertising to get you to by more of the 'fringe' protection offerings nowadays. Some of this is still persistent even in this paid product, which is what made me drop this from 5 stars. One issue that has plagued many of these programs in the past (see: McAfee) is crippling the computer by taking up resources. I got to say, AVG hasn't caused any issues in regard to gaming performance, and in fact has a nice little "we're not going to bother you while you're playing 'X'" option that pops up after running a new game. That's way better than having to change it to 'gaming mode' manually. I have installed this on 3 machines. In each case, I fortunately did NOT come across any virus related issues with the scan so I can't speak directly to that. The Tune Up certainly seemed to have helped two of my machines - one being my main gaming rig and my child's laptop. They both seem to be running more like a clean Windows install would after that completed. The AVG Password Protection on day 2 picked up some issues that I immediately addressed. I honestly have no idea how it could know what it found, seemingly a combination of saved passwords in browsers (which I thought would be encrypted?) and maybe straight up technical magic - it was a little frightening but I was glad to have it. Also, when I logged into Gmail it offered to add it's verification to my e-mail signatures - another nice feature. When my subscription is up, I think I will pay for another year. This kind of opened my eyes to what I've been missing with the free offerings.

They call this antivirus package the ultimate and it really is. Besides the normal protection against viruses, this package has many other useful features and I'm going to tell you about my favorite, TuneUp. There are 4 main functions of TuneUP. - Maintenance - this feature scans your PC and fixes and eliminates broken registry items, broken shortcuts, system junk, browser cache, tracking & other cookies and browsing/download history. - SpeedUp - this function goes through and allows you to pick and choose programs that are running in the background and lets you choose to put them to sleep to speed up your computer. I have 23 programs that I have put to sleep until I need to use them! - FreeUp Space - this function scans your computer temporary windows and other files that can be deleted. I freed up 14.5GB of space on my PC! - FixProblems - is the last function in TuneUp which is your traditional scandisk. This antivirus software also has other additional features like Password Protection and Secure VPN adding to the tremendous value of the Ultimate software package. If you are in need of a new subscription for antivirus, I would recommend giving the Ultimate a try for all of the extra features to get your PC in top shape.

I've been a regular AVG users for years and just time for an update. With so many machines in the house, better to do a single purchase for all then individual purchases. Setup on each machine was a piece of cake, all Windows boxes. While I didn't purposely try to install an infected file to see how the program would respond, I've always found the product to keep my machine safe with little to no performance penalty. Being a computer geek, the interface is easy to navigate. My wife, who is much less technically savvy, is more than capable of keeping her machine safe. Still getting used to AVG Password Protection. I like that it will warn me if I have weak or duplicate passwords, and even takes me to the right place to change. Having unique passwords for each site will definitely keep you safer when online as anyone learning one won't automatically be given access to all yours. Eagerly awaiting to see if my camera is turned on w/o my knowledge. Overall, a continued fan of the product. Now comes the real test. I try not to do known unsafe browsing, but if I do, I'll be happy to see AVG watching over me.

Ive used AVG among other antivirus security software. Never got one that is bundled for 5 devices until now. I love this software first of all for the awesome security and piece of mind it provides but also for how easy it was to install. I installed it on two PC's and two cell phones. All i needed was to download the software put the code in and bam its done! On the android cell phones you download the Free AVG from app store and dont upgrade it. Once you get in go to your account and you will find a place to add the code that will enable your ultimate subscription. Like I said there are alot of virus protection software but this is one I have used for a number of years and it is very good! Plus its works well (plays nice compatibilitywise) with something like malware bytes software if you want to use more then one products but you dont need to if you have AVG (I deleted my malwarebytes sub). I also really like the VPN which is something new that I have not used before that AVG provides.