The modern connected household brims with connected devices, so a modern security suite must take that fact into account. AVG Internet Security - Unlimited (2017) lets you install protection on most devices in your household. It supports Windows, macOS, and Android, but not iOS. It offers comprehensive security on Windows and Android devices, but just simple antivirus on Macs.
AVG costs $69.99 per year, $20 less than the price of McAfee LiveSafe($39.99 at McAfee). McAfee's suite protects even more of the devices in your household, however. It supports iOS, offers a full suite for macOS, and includes a cross-platform password manager. Also $20 more than AVG, Norton omits iOS support, and it's limited to 10 devices. But its PC protection is top-notch, and it offers online backup, parental control (which AVG does not offer), and password management for both PCs and Macs.
Last year, Avast acquired AVG, but there's no plan to eliminate either product line. I do, however, observe some simplification in the AVG line. Previously AVG offered a for-pay Pro antivirus; not anymore. The cross-platform free AVG Protection is also gone, as is the Windows-only AVG Internet Security. It's down to two main security products, the free antivirus and the cross-platform, multi-device suite reviewed here.
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Like the standalone antivirus, the Windows version of this suite got a user interface makeover. The new UI retains the old slate-gray background and green lettering. However, instead of colored circles it now displays five oversized icons representing five types of protection.
In an unusual twist, clicking these icons doesn't do anything. You can click a button for a review of what's in basic protection (shared with the antivirus) or full protection (suite-only features). To take any action, you either click the Scan Computer button at the bottom, or the Menu button at the top.
Antivirus
Everything that's in AVG AntiVirus Free($0.00 at AVG) is also found in this suite, naturally. Please read my review of the antivirus for full details on those shared features. I'll summarize here.
As with the antivirus, you manage your installation through the AVG Zen tool. Zen becomes more important in this multi-device suite, as it's the headquarters for adding and managing devices. I'll discuss the multi-device capabilities later on.
Lab Test Results Chart
Malware Blocking Results Chart
Antiphishing Results Chart
All five of the independent antivirus testing labs I follow include AVG in their collection of products. That's a vote of confidence, showing that the labs think AVG is important enough to merit testing. AVG participated in four tests by AV-Comparatives and earned the top rating in all four. Its overall score of 17 points in the three-part test by AV-Test Institute is just one-half point shy of earning the designation Top Product. And it took the second-best of five certification levels from SE Labs.
AVG's score in the RAP (Reactive And Proactive) test by Virus Bulletin is just average, though. It failed both tests by MRG-Effitas, but that's not uncommon. With the MRG tests, anything but perfection is failure. I weight them less when calculating my aggregate lab score which, for AVG, came out to be a decent 8.4 of 10 possible points. Kaspersky owns the top aggregate score, 9.8 points, and Avira made a good showing with 9.5.
Like McAfee and a few others, AVG's real-time protection doesn't scan until just before a process starts to launch. In my hands-on malware-blocking test, it detected 97 percent of the samples, all but a few by completely preventing the launch. Its score in this test, 9.5 points, is quite good. However, Webroot, Comodo Internet Security Premium 10, and PC Matic all managed a perfect 10.
I also check how well each product fares against very fresh malware-hosting URLs. Out of 100 such URLs, AVG blocked access to 73 percent, mostly by preventing the browser from even reaching the dangerous URL. That's a so-so score. Norton managed 98 percent protection, and Avira Antivirus Pro($19.95 at Amazon) fended off 95 percent.
Phishing URLs, those fraudulent sites that try to steal your login credentials, are more ephemeral than most, so I use the very newest ones in my testing. AVG's antivirus earned a very poor score in this test, with a detection rate 70 percentage points below Norton's. My company contact explained that the designers planned an improved phishing filter very soon. When I reran the test with the AVG suite it came in just 52 percentage points behind Norton. That's better, but still poor. Admittedly, few products come close to Norton in this test, but Bitdefender Total Security 2017(44.99 5 devices / 1 year – 50% off at Bitdefender) beat Norton by five percentage points. Kaspersky and Webroot also did a hair better than Norton.
The Web TuneUp add-in installs in your browsers and offers several services. It rates websites you visit, warning you away from dangerous ones. It actively prevents advertisers and others from tracking your online activities. And it can wipe out browser traces such as cached files and history. I did observe that it doesn't support Microsoft Edge, listing "[Unknown]" as the browser name.
With both the antivirus and the suite, you get a one-day trial of AVG PC TuneUp. If you want full access to that feature, you must either purchase it separately or buy the AVG Ultimate bundle, which includes both the suite and the tuneup tool.
Simple Firewall
In testing, this suite's firewall managed to do everything the built-in Windows Firewall does. It stealthed the test system's ports, making them invisible to outside attack, and it fended off the port scan attacks and other Web-based tests that I tried. G Data Internet Security 2017 took things to the next level, actively announcing that it had detected and blocked a port scan attack.
In its default mode, AVG doesn't pester you with popup queries about whether to allow Internet access for this or that program. It makes the decision automatically, in most cases allowing all outbound traffic and blocking unsolicited inbound traffic. For testing purposes, I set it to ask what to do when it encounters an unknown program.
I am pleased that it didn't treat any common programs or Windows components as unknown, the way TrustPort Internet Security Sphere did. It correctly popped up a query about my hand-coded browser, and about some (but not all) of the leak test programs I tried. In addition to the expected buttons to allow and deny the connection, and the checkbox (checked by default) to remember your answer, AVG's firewall popup lets you choose one of five access policies.
The default policy, the middle of the five, allows all outgoing Internet traffic while blocking unsolicited inbound traffic. The loosest policy simply allows all traffic, period. The other three require an understanding of what AVG calls "friend networks," something I don't consider reasonable. The average user shouldn't be required to understand this concept, or make decisions based on it. Just leave the policy at its default.
Exploit attacks attempt to gain control of your computer by weaseling in through unpatched security holes in your operating system or in popular programs. Security suites have multiple opportunities to block these attacks. They can detect and prevent the network traffic entirely, or wipe out the attack's malicious payload. I consider this a firewall feature, for the most part. In my testing, however, AVG handled these attacks using the same Web-based protection that served to fend off malware-hosting URLs and phishing sites.
I attacked the test system with 30 exploits generated by the CORE Impact penetration tool, and noted AVG's response. AVG blocked precisely half of them, identifying almost half of those using the exploit's official name. That's not bad; Kaspersky and G Data also blocked half of the exploits. Symantec Norton Security Premium holds top honors here, not only blocking 63 percent of the exploits, but also doing so at the network level. Note that the fully patched test system was not in any actual danger from these attacks.
I tried to turn off AVG's protection by tweaking values in the Registry, but I found that it protected them against such tweaking. Likewise, I couldn't kill off any of the six processes that represent AVG's protection.
I did, however, find a significant hole in the product's armor. AVG relies on four Windows services, and protects three of the four against meddling. But when I disabled the fourth and rebooted, AVG was partly crippled. Background processes like antivirus protection and firewall notifications worked, but I couldn't access AVG Zen or the suite's user interface.
Encrypted Data Safe
Your security suite should eliminate data-stealing Trojans before they can exfiltrate your data, but what if someone just sits down at your computer and pokes around? What if someone steals your laptop? If you have files that really shouldn't be seen by anybody else, encryption is your best bet. AVG, like many competing products, includes encryption for your sensitive files.
Like McAfee, Kaspersky, ESET Smart Security Premium 10($59.99 at ESET), Bitdefender, and others, AVG lets you create multiple encrypted storage zones, which it calls Data Safes. When a safe is open, it looks and acts just like any other disk drive. When it's locked, its contents are completely inaccessible, protected by AES-256 encryption.
Creating a new safe can be as simple as entering the name and password. This creates a safe with the default 2GB capacity. You can open advanced options to specify a different size. Pointing the mouse at the info icon gets an estimate of how many photos, documents, or hours of video might fit.
With most similar products, the safe size is locked in at creation, but AVG offers the unusual ability to resize your safes after creation. Trend Micro Maximum Security(49.95 5 Devices / 1 Year at Trend Micro Small Business) differs from the rest in that it creates just one secure storage vault that grows as needed. You can even seal Trend Micro's vault remotely, so that even the password won't open it.
For full security, you should securely delete the original after copying a sensitive file into the vault. AVG's file shredder handles this task for you. Just right-click the original and choose Shred using AVG. Kaspersky Total Security offers to shred originals as part of the creation process.
Simple Antispam
Fewer and fewer people need a local spam filter these days. In recognition of that fact, AVG doesn't install the antispam component until you ask for it. Once installed, it checks messages received via POP3 or IMAP and marks the subject line of spam and phishing messages.
AVG's antispam integrates with Microsoft Outlook to automatically send those marked messages into a separate folder. It can automatically whitelist addresses from the Outlook address book, and it lets you mark missed spam messages or valid messages tossed out with the spam. Those using other email clients must define a message rule to divert marked messages.
Configuration of this component has changed quite a bit since my last review, and that's a good thing, because it used to be rather complex. At the top of the settings page is a simple control that sets spam detection sensitivity to Low, Medium, or High. Most users should leave this set to the default, Medium. AVG can automatically whitelist addresses to which you send mail—I advise turning this feature on. You can also manually add addresses or domains to the whitelist (meaning they'll never be blocked) or to the blacklist (meaning they'll always be blocked).
For those who do need a local spam filter, AVG's is pleasant in its simplicity.
Small Performance Hit
During my testing of this product, I didn't notice any effect on system performance. That's not surprising; few modern suites exhibit noticeable performance drag. My hands-on tests confirmed this, with one minor exception.
To check a security suite's possible effect on common file manipulation actions, I time a script that moves and copies a mixed bag of files from one drive to another. I average multiple runs, install the product, and again average multiple runs. Comparing the before and after times, I found that the script took six percent longer with AVG installed. Given that the current average is 22 percent, that's quite good. AVG had no measurable effect on a second script that zips and unzips that same file collection.
I did measure a significant effect on the time required to boot up the test system. This test waits until 10 seconds have elapsed with less than five percent CPU usage, defining that as the time when the PC is ready to use. Subtracting the start of the boot process, as reported by Windows, yields the boot time.
Averaging 20 runs before installing AVG and 20 more runs afterward, I found a 48 percent increase in boot time. That's one of the larger performance drags in this test. Practically speaking that means the boot time went from about a minute and a quarter to about two minutes. Most of us reboot as little as possible, so I don't see a huge problem here.
Even so, I've tested other products that revealed next to no effect on performance. The tiny Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete($39.99 for a Limited Time (50% Off 1-Year Plan) at Webroot) didn't slow any my tests down enough to measure. And while Norton exhibited some drag on my file move and copy test, I couldn't measure any slowdown in the other two tests.
Android Support
As noted, you use AVG Zen to manage and track your AVG installations, and to extend protection to new devices. To install protection on another device, you open AVG Zen and find the list of devices at the top. Click the plus icon, choose a device type, and enter an email address to receive an invitation to join. It's simple!
On your Android device, open the email and tap to install AVG AntiVirus Free for Android. Then log in to your Zen account to connect the device. You can now view device status remotely and even remotely perform tasks such as launching a scan or checking for updates. Once you've connected with your account, the installed product becomes the ad-free Pro edition.
In addition to the expected scan for malware, you can also scan the current Wi-Fi connection. AVG checks that it's encrypted and that it has an Internet connection. If you're logged in to hotel Wi-Fi, the kind that makes you visit a login page, that's called a captive portal, and AVG flags it as potentially insecure. It also checks for ARP cache poisoning, a technique that lets one device on a network intercept traffic of other devices. Note that certain legitimate products such as Circle with Disney($74.99 at Amazon) will trigger this last warning.
AVG's anti-theft features are extensive. From the online portal, you can remotely locate, lock, or wipe the device, or trigger a noise to help find a device you've merely misplaced. When I tried these features, the portal warned that activation might take up to four minutes. In practice, it only took a few seconds. You lock the device with a temporary four-digit PIN and can unlock either using that PIN or from the portal. The remote wipe command formats the SD card, if present, and runs a full factory reset.
Camera Trap is a nice anti-theft bonus. If someone finds or steals your phone and fails to pass the lockscreen three times in a row, AVG snaps a photo. Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Trend Micro offer a similar feature.
Under Privacy, AVG offers to lock specific apps using a PIN. That way you can let your kids play games on the tablet without worrying that they'll tweet something outrageous. You can move sensitive photos from the regular gallery into a secure photo vault, or snap photos directly into the vault.
Another collection of features relates to performance. For starters, you can enable automatic power saving to stretch battery life. Take care, though. When I tried this feature it warned that it would turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, not a good thing for a table with no cellular connection. You can also kill tasks to get back resources, as well as tracking how much data and storage each app uses. There's also a link to install the ad-supported AVG Cleaner Free.
As you can tell, this is a very complete Android security utility. Naturally it includes antivirus and anti-theft protection, but it goes quite a bit beyond just those basics.
Mac Support
To install AVG protection on a Mac, you go through the same AVG Zen invitation process as you would for Android. On a Mac, you get AVG AntiVirus for Mac, which is more closely a parallel to the free Windows antivirus than to the full Windows security suite. Like the Windows antivirus, it's available for free, independent of your AVG subscription.
As with the Windows-based products, the Mac antivirus works hand in hand with AVG Zen. Note, though, that you can only administer your Zen network from a PC. Logging in from your Mac gets the device into your Zen network.
This is a basic antivirus, with the necessary features but little more. You can scan your whole device, or scan specific files. Real-time protection checks files on access to make sure they're safe. It tosses malicious files into quarantine. And that is all—it's a simple antivirus.
Unlimited, But…
On a Windows box, AVG Internet Security - Unlimited offers all expected suite features except parental control, and most of them work well. Its Android edition is comprehensive, going beyond the basics of antivirus and anti-theft. However, under macOS you only get a simple antivirus. A couple of poor scores seemed forgivable in AVG's free Windows antivirus; not so much when you're paying.
If you can live with a limit of 10 devices, and no iOS edition, Symantec Norton Security Premium is an impressive choice. In addition to top-notch protection, it offers backup, password management, and parental control on both Windows and macOS. McAfee LiveSafe, like AVG, puts no limit on the number of installations, and it includes iOS protection and a cross-platform password manager. Both cost $20 more than AVG, and both are worth it. These two are our Editors' Choice products for cross-platform multi-device security suites.
Sub-Ratings:
Note: These sub-ratings contribute to a product's overall star rating, as do other factors, including ease of use in real-world testing, bonus features, and overall integration of features.
Firewall: 
Antivirus: 
Performance:
Privacy: 
Parental Control: n/a
As the name implies, AVG Internet Security - Unlimited lets you install protection on an unlimited number of Windows, macOS, and Android devices. However, other cross-platform multi-device suites do the job better.
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