November 13, 2004 - AVG Free formally released today:

Grisoft Releases New AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

Grisoft, a world leader in the development of anti-virus solutions, today announced that after 5 years and some 20 million free downloads it has released a completely updated and improved AVG Free version of its industry leading AVG Anti-Virus software. Please read More….

The new Free Edition has been modified and updated to incorporate some the most advanced user and security features available in the popular and commercially available version AVG 7.0. The new edition of AVG Free, as well as the more powerful AVG 7.0 Professional Edition, can be downloaded directly from the Grisoft web site at

    * An improved scanning engine that supports the rapid implementation of new detection techniques.
    * The new user interface is designed to improve user satisfaction and ease of use.
    * Support available through the AVG Free Online Services, which include a User Forum, Virus Encyclopedia, and FAQ section
    * Classification of updates according to their importance into three different levels - priority, recommended and optional.
    * In addition to supporting individual e-mail clients through program plug-ins (e.g. The Bat, MS Outlook 95/97/2000/XP, etc.), a significant addition for protecting e-mail clients has been added. The Personal E-mail Scanner - AVG EMS, which supports SMTP and POP3 e-mail clients can be set up automatically during installation.

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5