Install AVG without LinkScanner

It seems like just the other day that I was wondering when AVG will be upgrading their old logo. Now with Vista and all the other new software and their new looks, AVG’s little icon in my system tray looked pretty dull.
So to my surprise it was not long afterwards that a notifcation came through asking me if I’d like to upgrade.
There must be millions of people out there using AVG’s free version. After all these years it has never let me down, so I do not see the need to pay for an anti-virus that just hogs my system resources. AVG is quiet, sits in your system tray and only bothers you when you really need to know about something. And most importantly, it just works.
They have now incorporated their anti-spyware into the free version. A while back AVG took over the well known Ewido anti-spyware which worked really well.

One very annoying thing I have found in the new version is the LinkScanner component. When you do a search on the search engines, it checks all the results and displays a little icon next to each link telling you whether the site is safe and free from malicious software.
This slows down the whole process and in general is just very annoying. So I eventually found the following instructions on their website on how to install without this component:

If you wish to install AVG 8.0 Free Edition without the LinkScanner component, or uninstall this component from your program, please proceed as follows:

* Download the AVG 8.0 Free Edition installation package from our website.
* Run the installation with the parameters /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch. One way to achieve this is to:
o save the AVG Free installation file directly to disk C:
o open menu Start -> Run
o type
c:avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch
* The installation will be started, and AVG will be installed without the LinkScanner component.

Replace the * with whichever version it is you downloaded. Also make sure you get the path to the file right, easiest way is to just stick it directly in the root of your C:/ drive, that way you can just copy and paste the command above (remember to replace the *).

In: On the Web

Tags: anti-virus, windows vista