A few weeks ago my installation of AVG Free started to get whiny about an upgrade to the latest version 8.

At first I thought this was some seedy ploy to force ‘free’ users to upgrade to the ‘paid’ version of AVG. However, it seems you could still choose to download and install their wonderful ‘free’ version of AVG 8. So, this is what I did.

Sadly, I was duped.

It now seems that AVG, ever the staple of transparency and generosity, just got rather underhanded.

As soon as version 8 was installed I had a new ‘AVG Taskbar’ thrown into Firefox, something I did not agree to. Also, AVG now seems to be embedded into my web searches (see above screenshot).

The bottom line is that this is spyware. I didn’t expect it, I didn’t ask for it and it was pushed into my desktop using frankly out-of-character tactics.

This is really very sad as I have been a fan of AVG for a number of years after having many pains with Norton over the years. In fact, I have on a number of occasions helped friends and family install AVG’s free applications as their sole source of internet security.

It seems a shame that all of this now has to change.

2 articles came to my attention over the past few days. The first was this one, which sells the idea of using purely web-based applications over more traditional ones such as Word and Outlook. The second is this, which proves that an old, well designed computer (in this case an Apple Lisa) can still be used for modern day work.

Both have some very good points and could be used as an argument for:

• a) never buying a new computer
• b) never upgrading your OS

So, is this true? Well I believe, partly it is. Even if I have just ordered a brand new PC and Windows Vista.

These days however (the days of Web 2.0 and broadband) you do not need a Sooper-Ghzord-megga-RAMedd-up power PC to do most things.

This is because most of our day-to-day computer needs can be done online simply using browser power. You do not even need a hugely powerful PC to achieve this, or even a large scale OS. [Read more…]