AVG 7.1 brings many improvements and new features, some of them
minor, some of them much more important.
The most important changes include:
1. Included basic support for potentially unwanted applications
This will be probably seen as THE most important change. Unlike viruses, the
category of "potentially unwanted applications" is not clearly defined and many
legal issues arise from detecting some "adware" and other software from the grey
area.AVG 7.1 now offers a new option both for the
resident shield and for test properties (in the advanced mode) to detect this
type of applications. By default, the Resident shield does not block access to
these applications while on-demand scans have by default this option on. Please
note that this DOES NOT make AVG 7.1 an "anti-spyware" application. AVG already
covers about 80% of what is usually called "spyware" and this option will
further improve the coverage. This does not mean that it is
meant for detecting and removal
all types of adware, data miners and similar malware. Only the more important
and mostly spread samples will be detected.
The release (build 360) will add program adjustments
enabling detection of potentially unwanted applications. However, the detection
signatures themselves will be released in separate update available after
Monday, October 24. AVG Anti-Virus currently protects over 25 million computers
worldwide, respecting this, the program adjustments and signatures will be
released in two separate updates to ensure smooth update process.
2. Support for Windows 64-bit edition
AVG Anti-virus is one of the first anti-virus applications to support this new
Microsoft platform. Support for Windows 64-bit is an integral part of all full
versions of the AVG Anti-Virus (i.e. it will not be supported in the AVG Free
Edition).
3. Added an option to define filename extensions for the Resident shield
In AVG 7.0 the Resident Shield allows the end user to enable or disable scanning
of 4 basic file types. However, definitions of these categories overlap more and
more and sometimes it is also difficult to tell what category should a newly
supported file type exactly fall into. Moreover, it was not possible to disable
scanning of a particular file type only. For example, to disable scanning of
.INI files it was necessary to disable scanning of all documents. AVG 7.1 now
allows the end user to define what file extensions should be included or
excluded from file scanning. This will help in certain situations with purely
written or legacy applications. At the same time, directory exclusion support
was enhanced to support network drives and directories, too.
4. Improved Quick Scan
The Quick Scan feature was enhanced to detect changes in the hosts file and also
scan files that correspond to process that are active in the memory.
5. Improved support for visually-impaired users
Support for screen readers was further improved
6. Support for multiple users in the AVG Personal
Email Scanner
The AVG Personal E-mail Scanner can now run as a service, so that it can be used
by several user running simultaneously on the same computer. Especially in
Microsoft Windows XP, where there can be more users logged in simultaneously,
running the EMS as a service will help solve some of the configuration issues
and support multiple different accounts. Existing installations will not be
converted to minimize support issues and possible configuration problems during
such an upgrade. However, it is sufficient to "Repair the installation" to
convert the current mode of operation to the new one.
7. Changed the Update component
A new update file format that will reduce the size of
the recommended update files by as much as 25%.
8 History of events
AVG 7.1 will include support for a history log that contains information about
all important events, such as successful or unsuccessful update, resident shield
detections etc. Users will be able to easily browse this log and find out more
information about important security events.
9. Improved the Firewall Configuration Wizard
The AVG Plus Firewall now includes even more user-friendly configuration wizard
10. Single installation package for all editions
AVG Anti-Virus installation package is now common for all full editions.
Depending on the license number, the appropriate edition will be selected and
access to appropriate components will be enabled.
Conclusion
If you have used the AVG free edition, you
wouldn't want to miss this Kick-Ass product which is affordable and has regular
updates and improvements made. The servers/backup servers that deliver the scan
files are responsive and fast compared to other Anti virus products I used
before. I particularly like the idea of multiple
users in the AVG Personal Email Scanner. This definitely
helps in the first line of defense against all those potential infected files.
