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How to upgrade to AVG 8.5 Free – Video Tip

NOTE: This is an older article, please see my latest Computer Security recommendations here.

AVG released the new version of their security software about two weeks ago. Many of you have asked, should you upgrade and if so, how. Follow these steps and watch this video on how to get through process quickly and correctly. It is imperative that you both read these instructions and watch the video.

  1. Visit my site and scroll down to my Links & Resources section on any web page here at HelpMeRick.com
  2. Click AVG Antivirus one time under the Security section
  3. You will now be linked to a safe download of AVG at Download.com
  4. Click the Download Now option UNDER the title of AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 8.5
  5. Wait for a few moments (ignore all flashing ads), and the download will start by asking whether you want to open/run or save the file…choose Save
  6. Choose your desktop as the save location, andclick Save or OK
  7. Wait for download to finish (up to 40 minutes depending on your Internet connection)
  8. Close all programs
  9. Double-click the AVG icon on your desktop
  10. Wait for the initial extraction, Click Next on the first screen
  11. Click Accept on the next screen
  12. Click Accept on the License screen
  13. Click Next on the Setup Type screen
  14. Click Next on the Activate your license screen
  15. Click Next on the Destination folder screen
  16. On the Component Selection screen, uncheck ALL boxes except the first one that says AVG Free for Windows
  17. Click Next
  18. Click Finish
  19. Wait for the upgrade to complete
  20. On the First Run Wizard, Click Next
  21. Choose a time for the daily scan to run, then click Next
  22. Click Next
  23. Wait for updates to download, when they finish Click Next
  24. Click Next
  25. Click Finish
  26. RIGHT Click on your AVG icon in the System Tray (by your clock)
  27. Click Check for Updates
  28. Click Update

Now you are officially upgraded to AVG 8.5

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37 thoughts on “How to upgrade to AVG 8.5 Free – Video Tip”

  1. Marilyn

    Last week you recommended that users of AVG 8.0 not jump into the upgrade until you had checked it out.
    Today you posted directions to upgrade, so the assumption is you’ve checked it out and all is well?

    Thanks for all you good advice & help.
    Marilyn

  3. tom balbier

    Rick, I D/L’ed AVG 8.5 to My Win. 7 machine and tried to install it. It Blue Screens every time! It also will not let Me reload 8.0 again. Tried doing uninstall with the AVG & Control Panel Programs. No Luck! Went to do a system restore and found out that it doesn’t work to well either. Only had 1 restore point and it was only 15 hrs. old. Have You seen any of these problems w/ Win. 7 or am I the lone ranger on these?
    Thanks,
    Tom Balbier
    Grand Jct. Co.

  5. Judy

    Good Morning, Rick,

    I used your link and directions for installing the new version of AVG and found the guidance you give very helpful. Thanks for all you do to keep me running! And BTW, I sure like getting the e-mails daily – or close to daily.

    Have a good day!

    Judy

  7. cherri

    I also upgraded or tried but it won’t work with ie7 as it won’t let me online at all. When I uninstall ie works but I need avg as it is my only protection. Do you know anything to do? Thanks

  9. George

    AVG 8.5 Rick I have trouble reading your site. My eyes are not very good. When I click “View”on the toolbar and “test size” and increase the size the lines of the touching or overlap and I can’t read the text. This happens on many sites. Some also increase the line spaceing and reads ok.

    Your older site worked better for me.

    I wish you would include a “print” option to print out your great tips; Also if your video could be made larger.

    Thanks from a long time listener from GJ !

    George

    1. Rick

      George, the site is cleaner and easier than ever to increase the font IF you use Firefox. And the “print” option is still at the bottom of every article and works better than the old site as well.

      1. George

        Thanks Rick. Your “print” works great. Nice large font size. My old eyes missed that option.

        However I still have the first problem of the text lines overlapping when I use “view” text size on your site and other sites.

        1. Rick

          That’s your screen resolution George. My site needs to be viewed in 1024 X 768 as a minimum resolution. You are probably using 800 X 600.

        2. George

          Thanks Rick ! I am using 1280 X 1024 resolution !

          My monitor is a LCD HANNS_ G 19 inch. If I use less than the 1280 X 1024 resolution I get a drop down message saying something like ( I tried many times to print it but could not),

          Resolution Problem
          For best picture quality change to 1280 X 1024.

          1 Change Message
          2 Disable message

          If I use lower resolution to get larger type size the screen oftem goes off screen to the right and there is no scroll bard to move it over to read !! Also I keep getting the resolution message about every two minutes or so !! What a mess !

          I am using an emachine ( many times I think it is using me ! ) ,model D6417, AMD Anthon 64 processor3200 +, with one GB RAM.m and WIN XP Home. Cabel connection with Bresnan. About 3 years old.

          A few months ago I tried Miicrosofts WIN acessability progrm tom increase font size and contrast and what ever but it did help some but screwed up some other programs. I tried restore but it did not work.

          I have cable with Bresnan. Have had lots of problems with them since they took over from ATT. ATT was a little better !!

        3. George

          I forgot toadd that the resolution Message has options 1 na 2 to do something to the message. I can not get my cousar to them and can not get rid of the message !!!

          HELP !!

    1. Rick

      Good to see you over here Kim! 8.5 already seems a little more stable than 8.0, but I completely agree that 7.5 seemed the most stable of the last 4 or so versions I’ve used. I’m testing the Avira AntiVir right now, and it seems pretty good. It’s in 2nd place for downloads on CNET, so I decided to try it.

  13. Stanley Keegan

    AVG 8.5 takes several hours to complete a whole computer scan. Any suggestions? Stan in Montrose.

    1. Rick

      That’s normal for any anti-malware scan. To cut down on the time, make sure you keep all your temp files emptied using a tool like CleanUp or CCleaner (both linked in my Links & Resources in the right column of every page on the site). Also, this is why I set my schedule to scan in the middle of the night when I’m not using the computer. If you don’t like leaving your computer on, just leave it on one or two nights per week to do the scans.

  17. George

    Back to AVG 8.5. Back on April 4 and 5 I added some more to my comments and yours.

    Never got a reply to either of them.
    Your last comments did not resolve my problem. Please help.

    George GJ

  18. Kristine

    Hi,

    I did the step by step and then I clicked on the AVG icon on my desktop and it said this file is corrupt, so what does that mean?

    1. Rick

      If you have a slower Internet connection, it could be that the download didn’t complete properly. You might want to download the installation file from a computer with a faster connection and then try again.

  20. Rich51

    Hi Rick.
    I’ve never had a problem with an AVG installation until now. I tried a couple weeks ago and got the same notice.
    On both my computers I got this message-
    ( Local machine: installation failed
    Installation:
    Error: Action failed for registry key
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows:
    creating registry key….Error 0x80070005 )
    I found info on the internet about this but nothing I tried helped. It won’t uninstall old Avg.
    Got any ideas? Thanks.

      1. Rich51

        Thanks Rick.
        I used the Acer recovery on my Netbook over the weekend. That worked fine. And AVG 8.5 is working well.
        I have to many programs on my desktop so I don’t want to do the recovery. I used the AVG removal tool you suggested and that uninstalled. It still didn’t install AVG8.5. I installed Avira and it went right in.
        I’ll try it and see how it does. Thank.

        1. Rick

          I’ve been using Avira on my desktop for almost a month now and it works well too. Why are you using Windows on yoru netbook? A Linux system is much simpler and safer.

        2. Rich51

          I have eeebuntu installed inside my windows on my netbook.I like using it but most motel wifi won’t work with it because they have the log in window that eeebuntu dosn’t recognize for some reason.It won’t start wifi and windows dose. The eeebuntu works fine on wireless at home.

          1. Rick

            I wish I could help you with running eeebuntu inside of Windows, but I can’t. I would suggest choosing one or the other…especially on a netbook. I would vote for blitzing Windows and using Eeebuntu or the NBR version of the new Ubuntu.

    3. Jennifer

      Rick, thank you for your wonderful help and advice. My mother from GJ clued me in to your website.

      I have Easy CD Creator 5, which is hopelessly un-upgradable and has bugs that conflict with the last two AVG versions. The only thing I use Creator for is burning photos to CDs for archive. Otherwise I would be happy to remove the program.

      What do you recommend? Thanks much.

      1. Rick

        Thanks Jennifer. If you are using Windows XP or Vista, you can easily dump the Easy CD Creator 5 and use the Windows built-in burning tools. Or for even better photo archiving results, download the free Picasa program which incorporates CD and DVD burning in the program. http://www.picasa.com

    5. tammy

      unable to download any update for avg or the weathernetwork etc, messages says connection to the update server failed

    8. Charles

      Rick I’m at your website and there is no Security sit Links & Resources only tops tips and there is no AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 8.5 there…..

    Comments are closed.