AVG Alert

[doversoul1]

For the last couple of weeks, a great big, bright alert has been popping up when I turn my PC on, telling me that my AVG virus protection is running out, showing a list of products I could/should buy. I thought I’d had a free version which could be updated when they told me to. I don’t remember ever buying any products.

Does this mean that if I don’t buy any of these products, I’ll lose the free version? I had this PC set up and I have no knowledge of what the original arrangement was apart from the fact that I didn’t pay for anything extra..

Advice in a non-technical language will be very much appreciated.

[teamsaint]

DS, there is always a free version of AVG available. The current one is AVG 2014.
as long as your current version is getting the daily updates, I wouldn't worry too much.
Otherwise, just download AVG 2014 which should be straightforward. They do have a habit of trying to get you to upgrade to a premium "paid for" edition, but that shouldn't be necessary.

[Bryn]

A similar situation applies re. Avast, which I use. Every now and then they offer a short term free trial of their more comprehensive protection system. It can be useful for checking the general health of the computer. I always revert to the free version when the trial runs out.

[salymap]

Malwarebytes do the same thing Dover, I was told by family who work with computers that there is no need to pay.

[doversoul1]

ts and Bryn
Thank you. I thought that was probably the case but anything unfamiliar on the computer worries me silly. I shall just ignore it.

[ed.] ..and many thanks, saly, for adding the voice. Very reassuring.

[eighthobstruction]

Yes doversoul....teamsaints advice rings true "They do have a habit of trying to get you to upgrade to a premium "paid for" edition, but that shouldn't be necessary."....every now and then they fish for business, and it is easy to misinterpret their bait....just be careful what you click on [as always]....

[DracoM]

THey do it to prompt terror which in turn they hope to prompt into action with pounds or dollars signs round it.
Ignore. If you have the free version and the updates coming in automatically, you should be fine.
If not there are a hell of a lot of others about to go down the tube as well!!

[teamsaint]

DS, sorry, i should have said (if necessary which it probably isn't) download FREE AVG 2014.

Just make sure that your updates are, um, up to date, that is the key thing. Its very easy to check.

[doversoul1]

Thank you, ts and everyone. I update when I am prompted which has been fairly frequent. So I hope my updates are (why is this in plural?) updated.

[Don Petter]

I will probably download Free 2014 eventually, but there are reports of various problems (such as preventing some satnav updates) as often might be expected with new software versions. The same thing happened at first with Free 2013, as I recall.

I'll wait a bit for such early bugs to be ironed out before I jump.

[Don Petter]

Thank you, ts and everyone. I update when I am prompted which has been fairly frequent. So I hope my updates are (why is this in plural?) updated.

I think you are talking here of updates within in the same version? The topic in question is downloading a new version (2014 to replace 2013) which is a more major step.

[Petrushka]

I'm a little confused by the statement that pops up on my screen from time to time that multiple anti-virus programmes can cancel each other out. Is this so?

My new Samsung lap-top came pre-loaded with Norton but I've ignored that and downloaded the free AVG 2014. On my old lap-top I had Malwarebytes as well as AVG and found that to be best of all as it got me out of a nasty virus scare when AVG failed. Do I therefore need both or does just one of them do the job?

[Don Petter]

I'm a little confused by the statement that pops up on my screen from time to time that multiple anti-virus programmes can cancel each other out. Is this so?

My new Samsung lap-top came pre-loaded with Norton but I've ignored that and downloaded the free AVG 2014. On my old lap-top I had Malwarebytes as well as AVG and found that to be best of all as it got me out of a nasty virus scare when AVG failed. Do I therefore need both or does just one of them do the job?

I would have said that it was best to uninstall Norton before using AVG as they have been reported to conflict.

Malwarebytes, however, seems to work along side AVG without problems. I started using the former as well as AVG a month or two ago when I had a nasty outbreak of scareware and it does indeed seem to catch and/or fix things that AVG can't.