This is a valuable tool to have from AVG, a trusted name in Security software. It sniffs out links with malware in them proactively before you navigate there. There are potential conflicts. While it's stated (see below) that Microsoft Security Essentials will conflict, on my computer it did not pose any problem at all. I think the conflict comes because of the toolbar. I did not install that. Furthermore, MSE updates flawlessly.
During installation it offers to install an AVG Security Toolbar and to make AVG Secure Search your default search engine. I declined these options to test whether it would still work and it did.
Internet Explorer and Firefox 3 and above supported according to my research, but with Firefox 4 Beta, and qrobe search it did not work. That might be simply due to my using a Beta, however. I cannot find information regarding Chrome and using it, I saw no results next to the search results.
It did work faultlessly with ie 8. I cannot vouch for ie 9 Betas but I would guess that it doesn’t. No word on expected updates, but firefox 4 and ie 9 have not been finalized yet. You can choose to be updated about this, and the software updates itself and can be configured.
According to AVG:
“AVG LinkScanner® has two key features that protect you:
Surf-Shield scans pages behind their links before you click on them. It does the same thing every time you enter a web address into your browser. If the page is infected, it simply prevents you from opening it.
Search-Shield scans your Google, Yahoo! and Bing search results and places a safety rating next to each link, letting you know which sites can be trusted and which are to be avoided.
It runs quietly in the background, uses minimal system resources and is easy to install and run.”
Requires: Win XP/2003/Vista/Windows7
Download Link: http://linkscanner.avg.com
Software conflicts:
TrendMicro products
TrendMicro Internet Security Pro
Please let us inform you that it is not possible to use AVG LinkScanner with TrendMicro Internet Security Pro due to conflicts between both products. In case TrendMicro is already installed on your computer, the presence of conflict application will be detected and AVG LinkScanner will not be installed.
Other TrendMicro products
To allow correct functionality of AVG LinkScanner, Web Services have to be allowed in TrendMicro Firewall:
- open the TrendMicro user interface via the system icon
- go to the Personal Firewall Controls tab -> Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Network Protocol Control
- allow Web Services (HTTP)
ESET products
Immediately after installation of AVG LinkScanner, your internet browser may not work correctly when browsing websites. In such case, restarting your computer will fix the problem.
Avira products
Please let us inform you, that we have discovered two conflicts with Avira products:
- If Avira Antivir Premium or Avira Premium Security Suite is installed, exploits are not being caught by AVG LinkScanner, but by Avira's component WebGuard. To allow AVG LinkScanner catch exploits, please disable the WebGuard component in the Avira application.
- If a long link is scanned by AVG LinkScanner, you may face a "Buffer overrun detected!" error. This issue is caused by Avira's layered service provider avsda.dll. The only solution is to uninstall the Avira application
Alwil Software products
avast! 5
Please let us inform you that it is not possible to use AVG LinkScanner with avast! 5 due to conflicts between both products. In case avast! is already installed on your computer, the presence of conflicting application will be detected and AVG LinkScanner will not be installed.
In case you install AVG Linkscanner first and then avast!, computer may crash when starting internet browser.
Microsoft products
It is not possible to use AVG LinkScanner together with Microsoft Security Essentials product, because of potential conflicts of both applications' functions. If Microsoft Security Essentials is already installed on your computer, the presence of conflicting application will be detected during the setup and AVG LinkScanner will not be installed.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2010
As both Kaspersky IS 2010 and AVG Linkscanner are using a proxy to filter web, they may be in conflict. This results in blocked internet communication so these two product cannot be used together. In case AVG Linkscanner is already installed on your computer, installation of KIS 2010 will display warning about the presence of conflicting application and will not continue.