Update to AVG 9 or not!

[RDee]

I have been running AVG 8.5 Free for a long time now without any problems or issues.
I am pondering whether to upgrade to AVG 9.0 Free or leave well alone. I note that some upgraders have had problems and had to revert back to AVG 8.5, though I think this is with the paid version.
Has anyone on this forum had any difficulties with AVG 9.0 Free?

There are other considerations:
Updating from the AVG site an installer is downloaded first then the update is done from the web.
If the new version is downloaded from File Hippo
http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/tech/
The full version is downloaded without an installer (this site also includes ALL the old versions in case you have to revert to an earlier version). The MD5 Checksum also needs to be checked.
Which is the best way?
Also there is no indication of whether to uninstall the previous version or install over the top! Usually the latter.

RDee

[aussieboykie]

A long time ago I dropped AVG Free Edition in favour of Avast Free Edition because it did the job with a smaller footprint. Over time, Avast also started to acquire a degree of bloat so I ditched that too and have since lived happily with Microsoft Security Essentials which seems to have a tiny footprint and is very unobtrusive. I use it on XP and Windows 7.

Regards, AB

[RDee]

Thanks AB,

I think I'll stick with the current version of AVG for the moment unless it goes wrong. In my case AVG doesn't seem to be a problem with resource usage.
Your comment on AVAST is useful, I will cross it of the list of possible alternatives. MSE may be the best solution for me when I change, at least it should work without issues with Windows.
The other antivirus that interests me is Sunbelt's Vipre 4 which is claimed to have a very small footprint and is very modern in its implementation but is not free. Very new, perhaps not mature yet.

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/VIPRE/

A review here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361370,00.asp


RDee

[bazcaz]

Like AB ditched AVG long ago for Microsoft Security Essentials installed on Win 7 64 Bit.works a treat and unobtrusive .

[RDee]

The April issue of PCAuthority has a buyer's guide for Security suites, though the review concentrates on the anti-malware side of these.
Of the commercial software Norton 2010 came with the highest recommendation despite its complexity and some niggling issues.
Of the free packages AVG came with the best value ahead of MSE, Avira and AVAST. Interestingly AVG had a much faster startup time and less memory usage than MSE, whereas MSE was slightly ahead of AVG on malware detection (94% vs 93%).
So for simple easy to use free packages its a choice between AVG and MSE. As they don't match the best commercial packages some additional help with free anti-malware packages that are run ocassionally, manually, but don't run in the background and use resources are probably warranted.
No earth shattering news in this review really!

RDee