Grisoft AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5

During tests performed by AV-Test.org, AVG Anti-Spyware did a good job of finding known adware and spyware. It detected 19 of 20 active samples (ones installed on the test PC)--missing only the Banbra Trojan horse, which attempts to collect online banking credentials. The AVG package was also by far the best at recognizing our large stable of inactive adware, keyloggers, bank-related spyware programs, and rootkits--a testament to the breadth of its signature database. But it failed to detect additions to HKLM Run keys, changes to the default Internet Explorer Start and Search pages, and alterations of our test system's Hosts file. This suggests that, if it fails to recognize a threat, the software may allow it to tamper with key areas of your PC. AVG Anti-Spyware was the only product tested for our October 2007 issue's antispyware roundup, "Die Spyware Die!" to produce false positives--flagging a signficant 10 of our 6285 legitimate test files as malware.

AVG disinfected spyware more successfully than it did adware, denaturing 50 percent of the spyware files and Registry entries we introduced--thesecond-best showing among the five Vista programs. In contrast, it successfully cleaned only 30 percent of adware files and Registry entries.