AVG Internet Security 2011 antivirus software review

AVG are best known for the free version of Internet Security which offers basic protection to those on a budget. So is AVG Internet Security 2011, the more comprehensive paid-for version, worth the extra pounds? PC Site finds out.

On features alone we would say yes. AVG Internet Security 2011 bundles together anti-virus protection, firewall and a host of useful tools like anti-spam and link scanners.

What we like like best

The best part about AVG Internet Security 2011 is the behavioural malware detection technology which allows it to identify rogue bits of software by how they behave.

This is vital because malware constantly evolves, meaning standard comparisons to a database of malware might not catch everything.

The firewall has been updated for this new edition and the AVG Anti-Spam feature feature now supports Outlook 2010. One really useful feature is the social network protection, which checks links exchanged on Facebook and MySpace alongside the normal link scanner.

The impact on performance is tiny and so is the 750 Mb required hard drive space and 512 Mb required RAM.

What we like least

The interface is a bit confusing and the icons could be clearer, while this is not a catastrophe it does make for a bit of a slow start until you get the hang of it.

Scanning is slow to start with and though it get better with SmartScan which only scans at risk parts of your machine.