82 TECH ADVISOR • MAY 2021GUIDE TO PC SECURITY
ThefeaturesunderAVGInternet Security’s Computer protection tile.Performance
Like many of
the mainstream
security programs,
AVG gets very high
marks for antivirus
and malware
protection.
AV-Test’s
November and
December 2020
tests gave AVG
100 percent
detectionin itszero-dayandmalware
tests.In AV-Comparatives’real-world
protectiontestforJulythroughOctober
2020 AVGblocked99.7percentof
758 testcases,with 10 falsepositives.
WhenpittedagainstAV-Comparatives’
September 2020 malwareprotection
test,AVGblocked 100 percentofthreats.
SELabsgaveAVGa AAArating
in its 2020 Q4report,sayingthat
AVG,Avast,Kaspersky,andMcAfee
all“producedextremelygoodresults
duetoa combination of their ability to
block malicious URLs, handle exploits,
and correctly classify legitimate
applications and websites”.
When we ran PCMark 10’s Extended
test (a simulation of everyday tasks like
word processing, web browsing and
video chat, as well as tests that put a
greater demand on the GPU and CPU),our initial score was 1,626. With AVG
running in the background, that score
dropped to 1,608.
Our HandBrake test showed a drop
of nearly three minutes, which in a
four hour transcoding operation isn’t
that much. The large-file transfer test
showed no noticeable drop, though the
archiving and unarchiving operations
were 30 secondsslowerwithAVGin
thebackground.
Overall, AVG shouldn’t impact
your performance; however, the small
but noticeable drop in the PCMark 10
Extended test suggests you may see
some impact during resource-intensive
operations in less powerful machines.Verdict
AVG has done a lot to improve its app
in recent years, and its protection is