AVG 2013/2014 - Disable the Advertising Tiles and Panel

The AVG Free version includes multiple buttons/tiles you can click
- some on the main interface and some on a drop-down Notification panel.

But many of these are not features of the AVG Free version
- instead they open all sorts of adverts and sales pitches for non-free upgrades and addons.

I find this very annoying and it also confuses many inexperienced users into upgrading or buying extra options.
It is possible to remove these advertising buttons - but previously posted methods no longer work.

This is a summary of the current working fixes.
This has been tested as of December 2013 and has no apparent side-effects

The quickest way to disable the Notification Panel and Advertising Tiles in AVG Free 2013/2014
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1. Disable AVG self protection:

Right click the AVG icon in the taskbar (near the clock)
Select to Temporarily Disable AVG Protection
Agree the default timeout - usually 10 minutes?​

2. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer and Navigate to:

C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG201x\ ...... for 32bit systems (201x means 2013 or 2014)
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG201x\ for 64bit systems​

3. Delete the following three folders: Awacs, Banners, Tuneup

Do not delete anything else you see inside the AVG201x folder.
If you accidentally delete anything else go to the recycle bin and restore it.
Note: If you have already paid for the Tuneup addon then keep this folder​

4. Close the My Computer/Explorer window
5. Enable AVG self protection:

Right click the AVG icon in the taskbar (near the clock)
Select to Enable AVG Protection - takes 20 seconds or so to fully activate.​

Open the AVG program - you should now have a clean AVG interface.
This fix survives the AVG daily updates and minor program updates but
after each major program update you will need to redo the fix.

 

i used to do this but then realized they came back after the next update. not sure of that has changed.

 

Very nice, thank you.

 

Is AVG out of favor here? It hardly ever gets discussed.

 

An equally ethical solution, and the one I prefer, is to remove it.

 

The last time i purchased a license for avg it still had c**p on its interface.In fairness though a lot of the avs have these social buttons embedded and greyed out rubbish wanting you to download or buy some other stuff.

 

Yes, that is exactly the problem with some of these products. Even after you buy a license they continue to use the UI as an advertizing platform.

 

the one very thing that has always stopped me from actually ever buying avg again was all the extra junk and adds it had. even when i do a custom install and select exactly what i want i still get the extra garbage tiles on the gui home screen and the try this or that and your system needs to be scanned for performance etc etc... im not saying avg is a terrible av (though i do not think its that great personally) but i got tired of the extras.

also i posted this type of fix a long while back and i can say it only works till you do a program update i just tested it again and same thing. if you do a full update and the next time you open avg the extra stuff is back. i got tired of having to fix it again each update.

 

I would agree with most of the comments posted
AVG are doing themselves no good at all - by using the AVG Free User Interface as a giant advertising platform.

It just makes the program annoying and doesn't make you want to hand over any money
- and the paid for version of the Anti-Virus does just the same trying to get you to upgrade to the full security suite.

Without all the crap on the UI it is much easier to navigate the real program features
- without triggering sales pitches for upgrades and addons.

Which is why I posted the fix - OK it needs to be reapplied after any major program update.
But that should only take you 30-40 seconds once a month or even less - depending on how fast AVG are pushing out program updates.
And as far as I'm concerned that is a small price to pay for Free Security.

With regard to the installation of AVG Free or Paid For - you MUST do a Custom install to retain control of what gets installed.

I never install the Toolbar, AVG Search provider or extra language files.
I have not had a problem in recent times with these selections not being honoured
- there was a bug back in 2011 I think where the Toolbar was installed regardless of your selection - but that was fixed long ago.

I have been using AVG Free since v7.5 way back in 2008
It works OK and I am familiar with how to install, configure and (when required) disable the real-time protection.

As a computer support engineer I am often dealing with infected hard drives and need to be able to copy, identify and store samples of infected files without the security software getting in my way. I'm sure I could relearn all I need on some other product such as Avast or Avira but life is too short and I have other things to do with my time.

 

Ethical problems...let he who is without guilt throw the first stone. Saying deleting a few directories on one's own computer is an ethical problem seems pretty far fetched to me. Other than an occasional pop-up, is there a performance problem?

I ran Avast Free for a few days and was barraged with daily pop-ups to upgrade.

 

Personally i preferred the old gui ,before the advertising rubbish.I think the whole point of new guis these days is how to advertise more covertly.

 

Release date 2019? Is it a new version?

 

Those pics are just copied from a google search of the old 6 version
In fact i navigated to the avlabsoftware url embedded in the pic.Some more old screenshots there.In fact the avg screenshots there show how bad it looks as time went on...for me it does anyway.

 

It's nice if you like ads.

 

Yeah it looks more like a web page than an av interface

 

And that looks like this after my little pruning fix:
(and even the "Fix Peformance" aka PC Tuneup is disabled)

 

No worse than what Avast has started doing to its interface. Greyed out icons in the Tools section, multiple "upgrade now" buttons. Even after I disabled participation in the community and such, Avast keeps popping up with "important information". I think at one point recently it was acting like a news feed. I used to like AVG but recent versions have been slower and the interface is just getting too full with tools not very relevant to security..hmm, just like Avast.

 

From the before and after screenshots of AVG Free
- I think we can all see the de-cluttering of the UI.

The only non-essential tiles/buttons/links that remain are:

1. A link to their Facebook page - just a small hyperlink, ignore it
2. The "Fix Performance" (TuneUp) tile - which now just reports it's not installed
3. The "+ More from AVG" tile - which is just a link to their website ​

A vast improvement from the original in my opinion - which has 9 clickable items leading to adverts.
And it only takes about 40 seconds tops to implement - half that if you use a batch file to automate the steps.

 

I dislike any av that has taken that direction...which is near enough all of them.It only goes to show nothings really free.It is unforgivable that you still get the rubbish after purchasing though.

 

You can get the Pro version of AntiVirus for as little as a few dollars, if you look around. I'm not sure people can complain too much that AVG pay a bunch of developers to keep your free AVG maintained, when you're not prepared to give them any cash whatsoever!

There can't be many business models where people expect to get something for free, maintained to a high standard, but give no money in return. And then complain.

If you don't like the ads, upgrade to AVG AntiVirus Pro! It can be achieved for less than $10 (example http://store.downloadcrew.com/p18866-avg_antivirus_2014_1-pc). Hard to have respect for people who can't justify paying $10/year to keep their system secure.

 

problem is even the paid ones have all this extra JUNK in them

 

Avira antivirus suite doesn't

 

There's a difference between expecting to get something for free and wanting the "up sell" model to be tolerable. I've used previous versions of AVG Free occasionally and I never felt the need to disable the drop down ad for their subscription products. What they are doing now though is badgering the user. Part of the reason I no longer use free products is because of the intolerable advertizing and I only buy subscriptions for products that have no advertizing in the UI.