Reviewer’s Guide

AVG LinkScanner®

AVG Technologies  Page 1 
Contents 
Who is AVG? ................................................................................................................................ 3 
AVG: Tough on Threats. Easy on You. ......................................................................................... 3 
Welcome to AVG LinkScanner® .................................................................................................... 3 
The Evolving Threat Landscape ................................................................................................... 4 
AVG LinkScanner - Benefits ......................................................................................................... 5 
How AVG LinkScanner Works ...................................................................................................... 6 
AVG LinkScanner Icons ......................................................................................................... 7 
Installation ..................................................................................................................................... 8 
Main Screen .................................................................................................................................. 9 
AVG LinkScanner – Quick Scan .......................................................................................... 10 
AVG LinkScanner Search-Shield ......................................................................................... 10 
Typing in a URL ................................................................................................................... 11 
Active Surf-Shield ................................................................................................................ 11 
AVG Security Toolbar .............................................................................................................. 12 
History ..................................................................................................................................... 13 
Update Manager...................................................................................................................... 14 
Advanced Settings ...................................................................................................................... 14 
System Requirements ................................................................................................................. 15 
AVG Home User Solutions ......................................................................................................... 17 
AVG Business Solutions ............................................................................................................. 18 
Licensing - AVG LinkScanner ..................................................................................................... 19 
Comments ................................................................................................................................... 19 
Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) ........................................................... 20 

AVG Technologies  Page 2 
Who is AVG?

Founded in 1991, AVG Technologies has corporate offices in Europe, the US and the UK and
over 80 million active users in 167 countries. The company is focused on protecting computer
users at home and in small businesses against disruption and loss caused by a wide range of
security threats. AVG’s award-winning products are distributed globally through resellers and
over the Internet as well as via third-party use of the company’s Software Development Kits.
AVG supports all major operating systems and platforms.

AVG Technologies employs some of the world’s leading experts in software development, threat
detection and prevention, and risk analysis. This gives the company a unique advantage in
spearheading innovation in the industry. AVG makes strategic acquisitions and continuously
invests in R&D and teams with leading universities to maintain its technological edge and to
ensure that its products meet users’ needs for threat protection and prevention.

The company has experienced significant growth in the last few years and is currently the
world’s fourth largest vendor of anti-virus software measured by installed user base.

AVG: Tough on Threats. Easy on You.

AVG has earned a reputation as a provider of security solutions that are tough on threats while
being easy on the user. Key to this is AVG’s relentless dedication to producing software that
requires minimal system resources and operates as unobtrusively as possible.

In addition to AVG’s flagship AVG Internet Security, AVG is well known for its free security
software. AVG believes that all computer users have the right to free basic protection against
Internet threats. The company has therefore made much of its technology available free as a
public service. The millions of users who first learn about AVG through its free products have
rewarded AVG for its good global corporate citizenry by upgrading to the more comprehensive
security offered by the paid versions over time, leading to the company’s current 80-million-plus
active user base. The products we currently offer free to home users are AVG Anti-Virus Free
Edition and AVG LinkScanner®. AVG LinkScanner technology is included within all of AVG’s
home and business Anti-Virus and Internet Security products. .

Welcome to AVG LinkScanner®

On any given day, some two million web pages harbor hidden threats. In addition, every day,
60% of those threats shut down or move to a different destination on the web. Any type of site
can be affected. This can range from a small business to a government department to a brand-
name company. Data can be stolen or damaged if a user simply visits one of these poisoned
web pages – they do not even need to click on any link. Regular anti-virus software is unable to
protect against this type of threat.

AVG Technologies  Page 3 
 • AVG LinkScanner offers an essential additional layer of protection to keep you safe
against hidden threats whenever you are surfing and searching the web. AVG
LinkScanner protects home users against random, invisible cyberthreats. These threats
can steal or damage data simply by users visiting the page. Regular anti-virus software
cannot protect against this type of threat due to its transient nature. LinkScanner
delivers an additional real-time layer of protection on top of their existing security
software.

• The fact that AV LinkScanner works in real time to analyze web links provides an
inherent advantage over other solutions. This enables AVG to deliver far more accurate
and relevant protection than other, usually database-driven safe-surfing solutions, which
may visit websites only occasionally, rating a site based on one or two pages on that
site. They may also utilize a database that shows old or outdated ratings of web sites.

• The free standalone version of AVG LinkScanner is available to home users and
designed to work with most other companies’ security solutions. The free version is not
licensed for commercial use. 
 
 

The Evolving Threat Landscape

In early September 2009, some NYTimes.com readers saw a pop-up box warning them about a
virus which directed them to a site that claimed to offer antivirus software. Readers who clicked
on that site were taken to a malicious code site, where they were pitched bogus anti-virus
software. They encountered more than they had bargained for.

An unknown ad delivery firm delivered the rogue ad on NYTimes.com after the newspaper
agreed to run an ad for a week from a company posing as a major Internet telephony provider.
A legitimate-looking ad ran, but was switched with the fake antivirus alerts.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10353402-245.html

AVG LinkScanner stops the above from occurring.

• 95% of online threats are web-based and cannot be stopped with anti-virus software
alone.
• AVG sees 100,000-150,000 threats daily, 30,000 of these are new each day.
• Online criminals set up their own websites or poison legitimate ones (even just single
web pages).
• A Transience study performed by AVG Technologies over an eight-month period
illustrated that over 60% of known infected sites had a life of less than 1 day, making
the threats difficult to catch unless they are viewed on the actual page in real-time. This
makes AVG LinkScanner® essential protection.
• One in eight web users will unknowingly come across a poisoned page at least once a
month.

AVG Technologies  Page 4 
The odds of a solution that relies on surfing the web and visiting the infected pages on that site
during the portion of the day that the site is infected is small. Most current solutions fail to
capture the correct results for a particular website because the threats are so transient. This
results in incorrect ratings that users rely on.”The transient nature of threats is why AVG
LinkScanner is a critical additional layer of protection for individuals surfing the internet.

A less obvious but frequently more dangerous threat facing Internet users today is the web
exploit. This was the rationale behind AVG Technologies‘ acquisition of Exploit Prevention Labs
in December 2007. Exploit Prevention Labs developed the LinkScanner family of safe surfing
and safe searching products. These provided the industry’s first real-time protection against
drive-by downloaded exploits.

Despite their best efforts, leading search engines are unable to prevent dangerous web pages
from appearing in their search results. Roger Thompson, AVG’s Chief Research Officer,
frequently documents common and innocuous search queries that lead to dangerous search
results on his blog. It is located at http://thompson.blog.avg.com.

AVG LinkScanner - Benefits

1. Tough on Threats

• Real-time scanning of links you click on so you can be sure you are protected from the
latest hacked or exploited websites. It does not rely on an “opinion.”

• Scanning of links returned from web searches using Google, Yahoo! and MSN, so you
know how safe/unsafe a page is BEFORE you click on it.

• Global community network which provides up-to-date information, constantly updated to

ensure you will always get reliable and up-to-date information about the websites you
visit, even on newer or less popular sites.

• Analysis of each web page, instead of the web site. A web site may contain hundreds of
web pages; LinkScanner scans each page you want to visit to ensure you are protected.
After all, neither you nor the site operator would be very happy if it blocked a whole site
because of one harmful page.

• It cannot be detected by hacked websites. This prevents them from taking evasive
action.

• Emphasis on analyzing the websites and pages you actually visit, so you can feel
confident LinkScanner is protecting you.

2. Easy on YOU

• Compatible with most current anti-virus and security suite products. You can continue to
use your existing security software.

• Runs silently in the background until a threat is detected.

AVG Technologies  Page 5 
 • Minimal use of system resources, LinkScanner will not slow down your computer even
while protecting you as you surf the Internet.

• Easy to install and configure, to begin protecting you immediately.

• Automatic updates whenever the threat intelligence network finds a new threat.

3. Extra Layer of Protection

• Protects you BEFORE you visit malicious pages that can infect your computer.

• LinkScanner will prevent you from visiting dangerous pages, which may infect your
computer simply by going to the web site.

• Helps you make informed decisions about which pages are safe or dangerous.

• AVG LinkScanner scans each link you click on to determine its safety in real time. This
information is what is truly relevant as opposed to information gathered from scanning
web pages every few weeks or months like some other solutions.

• One in eight LinkScanner users has been able to protect themselves from damage,
thanks to AVG LinkScanner.
 
• Works with most popular Windows OS including Win2k, XP, Vista (32 & 64 bit),
Windows 7 and Internet Explorer (6.0+) and Firefox (2.0+) browsers.

How AVG LinkScanner Works

AVG LinkScanner scans each link you click on in real time to determine its safety. This will
always be inherently more current and superior to a system that involves visiting a site every
few weeks or months. The analysis of websites also involves real-time checks against our LIVE
database. This helps reduce the possibility of false positives. The check is imperceptible for
users accessing the Internet over high-speed connections. For a more details of how this
works, go to AVG CTO Karel Obluk’s blog, “Does LinkScanner Scan Links” at
http://obluk.blog.avg.com/

The patent-pending technology protects users against drive-by downloads and other potential
threats from poisoned web pages in real time. This technology was first added in AVG’s 8.0 line
of consumer products and retains significant technology advantages over other approaches.

Users of Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines benefit from AVG Search-Shield,
automatically comparing the URL or IP against a local blacklist. Each organic link is given a
safety ranking using one of these icons: When you click on one of the links, the contents are
then scanned on in real-time to ensure it’s safe before you open it.

AVG Technologies  Page 6 
Because the analysis takes place in real time, users can be confident that the results are
accurate at the only time that matters – the time they are about to click through to that page.

AVG LinkScanner uses a combination of Exploit Intelligence, Community Intelligence, and a

Correlation Engine to make a determination as to whether a link is safe for a user to click on.

• Exploit Intelligence is an extended network of human researchers, automated probes,

honeypots, and “hunting pots” and search bot focused on discovering new vulnerabilities
and exploit examples.
• LinkScanner’s Community Intelligence is the community of AVG LinkScanner users
who allow information about attempted exploitation of the computers to be collected.
This data collection process allows LinkScanner users to serve as an extension of
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internal research efforts. This provides a virtual Neighborhood Watch.
• The Correlation Engine aggregates intelligence gained through this research and
assembles it in real time. It is then distributed transparently back to the community,
providing exploit-specific protection within minutes of a new threat discovery.

AVG LinkScanner Icons

Below are the icons displaying the Risk Level/Verdict and descriptions when searches are
performed.

Symbol Risk Level Description

Safe Safe and free from exploits, phishing, social engineering and other
threats.
Questionable There is a very limited chance the page may contain harmful
content. You should be wary if the site/page is unknown to you or it
involves online purchasing or login information of any kind.
Risky There is a reasonable chance that the page contains links to
harmful content. You should not go there unless you have previous
experience with the page/site and should carefully consider what
personal information, if any, you share with the owner.
Dangerous The site has been set up to deliver exploits without user
knowledge or permission and/or is a known phishing, social
engineering or other malicious site. LinkScanner prevents you from
accessing this site and, if any direct exploit threat is present,
blocks that code from entering the computer.
Unknown LinkScanner was unable to scan this page. This could be because
the page is no longer there, is malformed, or is not an actual
webpage (PDF, MP3 or the like). It could also be the result of an
unexpected error in LinkScanner when scanning the page.

Competing products are unable to provide this real-time level of protection because they almost
all rely on a static database of suspect sites that may be days or weeks old. This approach to
safe surfing is ineffective and unreliable because of the transient nature of most threats. A

AVG Technologies  Page 7 
trusted web site can be safe one minute, poisoned the next, and then safe again the next
minute. Only real-time analysis can be effective in situations like this.

Installation
Installation of AVG LinkScanner is straightforward. It takes only a few minutes.

AVG LinkScanner is up and running immediately from the moment of installation. All basic
settings are pre-set, Most of the time you will have nothing to be concerned with. Just let AVG
work in the background and protect you with no effort on your part. However, there might be
situations where you need to adjust the program settings, or decide what to do with a virus-
infected file. The help system provides detailed information and assists you with any task.

During installation, you will: Choose from a Standard (highly recommended) or Custom
Installation; (1) Select whether or not you want the AVG Security Toolbar installed. (2) Choose
the language you prefer (can be changed later). (3) Gives you the opportunity to help with
AVG’s threat research (described above). (4) Gives you the opportunity to register the product.
Registration allows you to gain full access to the AVG LinkScanner Discussion and Technical
Support forums.

This screen allows you to install the AVG Security Toolbar (the option is checked by default) if
you want to set Yahoo! as the default search engine. At the end of the installation, an update
launches. This ensures the system’s security immediately after installation.

AVG Technologies  Page 8 
Note in the above that installation of the toolbar is optional. Users often miss this fact. It can be
installed at a future time by re-running the installer to Add/Remove components and selecting
the Toolbar. It works the same way for un-installing, except to deselect the Toolbar.

Main Screen
The Main Screen is the operating console for AVG LinkScanner. It lists all installed components
and gives information on status. It allows access to all scanning and configuration features and

AVG Technologies  Page 9 
consists of Main Menu, Security Status, and Quick Links. These allow you to activate the AVG
LinkScanner and the Update Manager with just one click.

AVG LinkScanner – Quick Scan

To perform a Quick Scan of a URL, you can either double-click on the AVG LinkScanner icon or
open it from the pull down menu, then enter the URL you want to scan. The results of the scan
will appear in the same window.

AVG LinkScanner Search-Shield

AVG Technologies  Page 10 
Search-Shield contains list of websites (URL addresses) which are known to be dangerous.
When searching Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Baidu, Bing or Yandex, all results of the search are
checked according to this list and a verdict icon is shown. For Yahoo search results show only
suspicious or dangerous verdict icons.

AVG Search-Shield technology displays which links in both organic and paid search results lead
to potentially dangerous content. The scanner checks search results returned by the Google,
Yahoo, and MSN search engines without slowing down the display of search results. The
results in the screenshot below with the AVG logo are currently being scanned and those with
the green checkmarks are safe. The user has hovered over the red or dangerous link and
LinkScanner is providing additional information on the link.

In both of these examples, you are given information about the site. If you had clicked on one of
the red links above, you would have been blocked from visiting the site.

Typing in a URL

In the example below, the user attempted to click on the katz.com website. LinkScanner
blocked the attempt to visit the website, letting you know that it is a dangerous site.

Active Surf-Shield

Active Surf-Shield prevents the computer from becoming infected by drive-by downloads and
other exploits. Drive-by downloads may occur when you visit a website, viewing an e-mail
message or by clicking on a deceptive popup window or through exploitation of a web browser,
e-mail client or operating system bug.

AVG Technologies  Page 11 
Surf-Shield is one of the functions implemented by the HTTP redirector (avgsnsx.exe) – Web
Shield. It scans all inbound HTTP traffic for exploits and check remote connections (both IP and
URL) against a blacklist of sites.

AVG Active Surf-Shield looks beyond the horizon by investigating web pages for hidden exploits
such as drive-by downloads. Drive-by downloads are exploits hidden within web page content
that activate as soon as you visit a web page. Such exploits can infect your computer with any
manner of virus, spyware, rootkit, etc without your needing to interact in any way with that page.
Besides accidentally falling prey to intentionally malicious web pages, you can never tell if even
a legitimate website has been “poisoned” temporarily by a hacker - unless you are running AVG.

AVG Security Toolbar

The AVG Security toolbar consists of the following elements.

• AVG logo button - Click the logo button to be redirected to the AVG website
(www.avg.com).
• Clicking the arrow next to the AVG logo button will open the following:
• Toolbar Info - link to the AVG Security Toolbar home page with detailed information on
the toolbar's protection.
• Options - opens a configuration dialog where a user can adjust the AVG Security
Toolbar settings to suit your needs.
• Delete History – options to delete your complete history or the history of only
Search/Browser/Download/Cookies.
• Update - checks for new updates for your AVG Security Toolbar.
• Help - provides options to open webpage containing AVG Security Toolbar help, contact
AVG technical support, submit AVG Security Toolbar feedback or view the details of the
current version of the toolbar and the AVG program.

AVG Technologies  Page 12 
History

You can learn about Blocked Exploits and Exploits Prevented by going to the history pull down
menu. Right clicking on any particular incident in the folder will provide additional information.
• Malicious Websites – displays the list of all potentially dangerous websites previously
blocked by AVG LinkScanner. You can update this list by clicking “Refresh list” button.
• Exploits Prevented – displays the list of all dangerous exploits prevented by AVG
LinkScanner. You can update this list by clicking Refresh list button.

AVG Technologies  Page 13 
Update Manager

The Update Manager component administrates your Internet connection for correct and timely
AVG LinkScanner updating. Updates are extremely important to provide the full functionality of
your software. For most users, it is advisable to perform an update once a day. The Update
Manager checks automatically for new versions of AVG LinkScanner software. This is
configurable. You can also press an “Update Now” button for an immediate check for updates.

Advanced Settings
AVG LinkScanner advanced setting options are available in one window. The dialog is
accessible from the Main Screen -> Main Menu Tools -> Advanced settings. This includes:

AVG Technologies  Page 14 
Appearance: The “Language Selection” functionality allows you to change the display language
of AVG LinkScanner if you installed the additional language components during a custom install.
A standard install will load these as well. LS is offered in four separate packages (based on
geography). Balloon Tray Notification which allows a small information bubble to pop up above
the system tray (right bottom corner of the screen) informs you of important AVG LinkScanner
system changes (components being deactivated etc.) as soon as these changes happen.

Ignore module status warnings: This enables you to set AVG LinkScanner to ignore warnings
or error Security Status of the selected components, if the warning/error is caused by something
you have set intentionally. This feature should be used sparingly, and only if necessary. Long-
term ignoring of a serious problem, e.g. non-functional update, puts your computer at great and
unnecessary risk!

Update: This dialog enables you to specify what should happen when a new update is released
and detected by AVG LinkScanner. If you prefer not to be disturbed by AVG LinkScanner
updates, and always complete the update at computer restart, select the “Update upon next
computer restart” option.

There is also additional information if you are using a proxy server or dial-up connection.

System Requirements

Operating Systems

Operating System  Service Pack  O/S derivatives 

Windows 2000 SP4 + security rollup pack
Windows® XP SP2 - SP3 Professional, Home, 32 bit
Windows® XP x64 SP1 64 bit
Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium,
Windows Vista x32 SP1 Home Ultimate, Business, Enterprise
Windows Vista x64 SP1 Business, Ultimate, Enterprise
Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium,
Windows 7 x32, x64 Home Ultimate, Business

Search Engines

Google MSN
Yahoo

AVG Technologies  Page 15 
Browser Support

Internet Explorer 6 or later Google Chrome (only with Surf Shield)

Firefox 2 or later
Opera (only with Surf Shield)

Language Support

English Italian
Bahasa (Indonesia) Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese Korean
Chinese (Traditional) Malay
Danish Polish
Dutch Portuguese (Portugal)
French Serbian
German Slavik
Hungarian Spanish
Turkish

AVG Technologies  Page 16 
AVG Home User Solutions

Not shown above is the standalone version of AVG Identity Protection.

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AVG Business Solutions

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Not shown above are AVG File Server Edition 9.0, AVG Email Server Edition 9.0, and AVG Server
Edition for Linux/FreeBSD 9.0 http://www.avg.com/us-en/business-security

Licensing - AVG LinkScanner

• The Free edition of AVG LinkScanner is for private, non-commercial, single computer use only.
The use within any organization or for commercial purposes is prohibited.
• The Free edition of AVG LinkScanner may not be bundled with other software programs,
hardware components, or any other services.

The use of AVG LinkScanner is subject to the terms and conditions in the AVG LinkScanner License
Agreement that you accept when you install the product

Comments
This guide has focused on the single user version of AVG LinkScanner for use on home non-commercial
use. individual PCs. More details on both home and business products may be found on the AVG
website at www.avg.com.

This document is designed to assist you by providing a quick overview of the standalone version of AVG
LinkScanner. It is important to note that the product is designed to protect the user “out of the box”.
Advanced users can modify settings as they see appropriate.

Feature/Checklist - If this review is part of a group comparison, and a feature/checklist will be created as
part of the comparison, we encourage you to send us the checklist portion you create for AVG
Technologies so that we can review for accuracy.

CPU Usage - AVG in its 'automatic' mode adjusts CPU usage dynamically. If other applications are
running, especially in the foreground, they get much more CPU and AVG does not slow down the system
while scanning. However, if nothing else is running, AVG takes as much CPU as it needs, which will, of
course, impact the CPU usage numbers you see.

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Default Settings – Each vendor‘s default settings scan a slightly different set of objects by default, which
will probably impact scan time. Some anti-virus scanners, for example, do not scan archives (e.g. ZIP,
RAR files) by default, or they may limit scanning to a few layers of depth within these files. This can
decrease scan time at the risk of missing infected files or malware. AVG by default scans all archives to a
very deep level to provide maximum protection.

Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO)

AVG is an active member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) and our Chief
Technology Officer, Karel Obluk, is a founding board member. AMTSO was founded in May 2008 as an
international non-profit association that focuses on the addressing the global need for improvement in the
objectivity, quality and relevance of anti-malware testing methodologies. AMTSO membership is open to
academics, reviewers, publishers, testers and vendors, subject to guidelines determined by AMTSO.
www.amtso.org In particular, reviewers should go to http://www.amtso.org/documents.html, where there
are t “Best Practices” documents and a document on “AMTSO Fundamental Principles of Testing”. These
can all be downloaded.

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