AVG 2012 security software cuts the bloat, runs faster

If you’ve felt that AVG’s security tools have become a little bloated in the last few years, then we’ve some good news: the 2012 range, released today, focuses strongly on improving performance and reducing their impact on your PC’s speed. And their efforts do seem to have produced some worthwhile results.

Grab a copy of the new AVG Internet Security 2012, for instance, and you’ll find the download is half the size, installation is faster, and the suite’s footprint on your hard drive is cut by an average of 45 percent when compared to the previous edition.

Internet Security 2012 also has less processes running in the background, and uses up to 20-percent less memory, while this improved efficiency means its load time is cut by 10 percent.

A new AVG Advisor tool is also available across the range (Internet Security 2012, Anti-Virus 2012 and Anti-Virus Free). This monitors your system for various problems, and pops up messages to provide warnings and offer solutions (it told us that Firefox was using too much RAM, for instance, and recommended we close and restart it).

A new AVG Accelerator, available only with Internet Security 2012, optimizes file and video downloads on “selected sites” (apparently just YouTube and Download.com, at the moment). AVG claims this can cut download times for YouTube videos by up to 50 percent, helping to improve HD playback on slower Internet connections; we’ve yet to test the feature, but if they can achieve only half of this then it’s still going to be a feature worth having.

And of course there are a few smaller tweaks and changes dotted around each package. AVG’s LinkScanner technology has been optimized to more accurately protect you from dangerous websites, for instance. And the programs now have integrated links to three AVG addons: Family Safety, LiveKive for online backups, and AVG PC Tuneup. (These are still chargeable extras, though.)

The 2012 range isn’t offering any revolutionary changes, then, but still appears to be moving in the right direction overall, and that works for us. If you’d like to sample AVG’s latest for yourself, then trials of Anti-Virus Free 2012, Anti-Virus 2012 and Internet Security 2012 are available now.