AVG Antivirus: History, Features, & Controversies

1
AVG Antivirus History, Features, Controversies

• AVG Antivirus is a widely popular range of
  Antivirus software developed by its parent
  company AVG Technologies. It is one of the many
  excellent cybersecurity companies working to keep
  you and your devices information safe from
  malware, spyware, etc. AVG Antivirus helps you in
  providing all-around security to your online life
  and data. You download the free version of AVG
  Antivirus and also the premium one to get
  unlimited benefits.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20
  .com/blog/avg-antivirus-history-features-controver
  sies

2
History

• Grisoft's initial product, Anti-Virus Guard, was
  the main reason behind the brand AVG's origin.
  Grisoft released Antivirus-Guard in 1992 in the
  Czech Republic. In 1997, AVG started selling its
  licenses in Germany and the UK. Later in the year
  1998, AVG was introduced in the US.
• The AVG Free version gave strength to the roots
  of the company in the cybersecurity market. In
  2006, the AVG security package evolved to add the
  anti-spyware features as AVG Technologies
  acquired Ewido Networks, an anti-spyware group.
  In December 2007, AVG Technologies acquired
  Exploit Prevention Labs and incorporated its
  LinkScanner secure search and surf technology
  into the version AVG 8.0. Security product range
  released in March 2008. https//antivirus.lenoxt
  ons20.com/blog/avg-antivirus-history-features-cont
  roversies

3
Online Assistance

• AVG freemium products AVG antivirus is free for
  Windows, Mac, and Android. You can download,
  install, update, and use any of these products
  for free, but the premium plan is required for
  the Online Assistance.
• AVG stopped offering new features for Windows XP
  and Windows Vista in January 2019. The latest
  editions need Windows 7 or later virus
  definitions are still provided for previous
  editions.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.com/blog/
  avg-antivirus-history-features-controversies

4
Line of Features

• AVG comprises almost every function available in
  modern antivirus and Internet security
  applications, along with periodic scans, scans of
  sent and received emails, the strength to repair
  some virus-infected files, and a quarantine area
  where all these infected files are
  stored.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.com/blog/av
  g-antivirus-history-features-controversies

5
LinkScanner Feature

• AVG took the patent-pending LinkScanner
  technology from a company Exploit Prevention Labs
  it built into most AVG products, provides
  real-time updated security against exploits and
  drive-by downloads. LinkScanner includes
  Search-Shield helps you avoid malicious sites by
  safely placing the safety ratings next to each of
  the links provided in the search results on
  popular browsers like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
  The Active Surf-Shield is also there to help you
  in scanning the contents of a website in
  real-time to make sure that the platform is safe
  for surfing or not. Web Analytics has reported
  few concerns with the LinkScanner
  component.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.com/blog
  /avg-antivirus-history-features-controversies

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Unusual Reports concerning LinkScanner

• When AVG 8.0 was launched, its LinkScanner safe
  search feature was reported as the reason behind
  the increment in the traffic over the websites
  coming on the top of the search results pages.
  Since LinkScanner changes the scans' appearance,
  which comes from an Internet Explorer 6 browser
  while it performs the prescans for each site in
  the search results list.
• The prescan process for each link in the search
  result list also caused the overflow of data
  transferred from the websites in an unusual
  manner, resulting in the high usage of bandwidth
  for website operators and poor performance for
  users. AVG at first said, "site admins would have
  the authority to filter the LinkScanner traffic
  from the complete site statistics, leaving the
  issue of more than enough use of the bandwidth
  still unsolved.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.com
  /blog/avg-antivirus-history-features-controversies

7
AVG Controversies

• Install Without Consent
• Till 2014, there were many reports encountered
  stating the AVG SafeGuard Toolbar starts the
  installation by itself. As there was no action in
  which the software asked for the user's consent,
  mostly it happened due to installing random apps.
  The toolbar program seems to be the reason behind
  the crucial RAM problems and could be considered
  a busy, potentially unwanted program or PUP. 
• As soon the application gets installed, The AVG
  toolbar becomes tough to eliminate. The toolbar
  uninstalled becomes unable to function correctly
  besides this, reinstalling the add-on in case
  removal has been done by a manual process. The
  consequences of numerous discussions and article
  submissions have explained the complicated
  processes for eliminating the AVG toolbar, each
  having a blend of outcomes.https//antivirus.len
  oxtons20.com/blog/avg-antivirus-history-features-c
  ontroversies

8
The Hidden Spyware

• In September month of 2015, AVG announced that
  the company would begin to keep track of its
  users to earn more profits by conducting a sharp
  analysis of their information for selling to the
  ad industries on huge prices. This announcement
  received a lot of criticism from the users, the
  news, and the security industry most of the
  users intended to use the software to protect
  themselves from spyware without any hint that
  spyware is available in the software
  itself.https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.com/blog/av
  g-antivirus-history-features-controversies

9
Exposing Chrome History

• In December of 2015, the Anti-Virus Guard Web
  TuneUp Google Chrome extension doesn't require
  any consent of yours to install and facilitates
  the installation by itself when AVG antivirus is
  installed. That AVG Web TuneUp extension reported
  containing several critical safety issues. Most
  importantly, Chrome users' browsing history was
  on the verge of exposure to malicious sites. The
  cookies from any of the sites the user has gone
  through could be in the reach of hackers and
  trivial cross-site scripting(XSS) problems. It
  could make way for other websites for executing
  arbitrary code. https//antivirus.lenoxtons20.co
  m/blog/avg-antivirus-history-features-controversie
  s

10
Conclusion

• The above-given information in this article will
  help you in solving all your queries related to
  the History, features, and controversies related
  to the AVG Antivirus. You can go through the
  article and can get complete knowledge of how AVG
  became a recognized Antivirus software.https//a
  ntivirus.lenoxtons20.com/blog/avg-antivirus-histor
  y-features-controversies