AVG Loyal VPN review: A straightforward-to-exhaust VPN from a smartly-identified security designate

AVG Loyal in transient:

• P2P allowed: Certain
• Industry procedure: Czech Republic
• Different of servers: 700+
• Different of nation locations: 35
• Price: $59.88 per 12 months
• VPN protocol: OpenVPN
• Info encryption: AES-256
• Info authentication: made up our minds on-the-cruise, changes steadily
• Handshake: made up our minds on-the-cruise, changes steadily

I’m tremendously shocked every time I encounter an antivirus firm that runs its agree with VPN community. So many antivirus providers exhaust white label services from predominant VPN providers that it’s a rarity to hunt out a security firm to blame of its agree with point out. At the sleek time’s review field, AVG Loyal, is phenomenal extra surprising. AVG is owned by Avast, and Avast also owns the infamous (or sinful, relying in your level of sight) HMA (Veil My Ass) VPN.

In spite of that connection, AVG Loyal doesn’t exhaust HMA’s community, nor does Avast. As a replace the two antivirus brands half a VPN community between them, leaving HMA to be its agree with component. That’s uncommon and virtually doesn’t agree with any sense. Nonetheless, it’s steadily good to sight an antivirus firm preserve stop VPNs seriously ample to flee its agree with community.

Reveal: This review is phase of our handiest VPNs roundup. Fade there for famous aspects about competing products and how we tested them.

IDG

Capabilities and services

If you open up AVG Loyal you straight peep similarities to totally different AVG apps equivalent to AVG Web Security. The title bar, to illustrate, is virtually a carbon duplicate of totally different AVG apps. Within the upper-left corner you will need got the AVG designate along with the product name. To the ethical there’s a “hamburger” menu icon, apart from to the stop and lower buttons. The background invent would perchance be very identical.

Diving into the principle phase of the app you’ll procure a sizable on/off slider within the center of the conceal. Below which would perchance perchance be two tiles: the first one exhibits the nation procedure you’ve chosen to connect with, and the 2nd exhibits your contemporary IP take care of. Once connected, this tile also exhibits your unusual VPN IP apart from to the amount of time the connection’s been full of life.

IDG

Within the extinguish, below the two tiles now we agree with the Swap Space button, which results within the server checklist. AVG Loyal has a effectively organized server checklist. The firm organizes by nation procedure, though some greater countries will probably be organized by metropolis. The United States, to illustrate, has server alternate choices equivalent to “USA, Atlanta,” “USA, Dallas,” and “USA, Phoenix.”

The server checklist has a left rail the set aside you might perchance peep all servers, drill down by continent, or verify streaming or P2P servers. AVG helps Netflix and totally different VPN-detached streaming services in Germany, the UK, and the U.S. Though in my tests there changed into as soon as a chunk of weirdness. Connecting to AVG’s U.S. streaming servers, to illustrate, overjoyed Netflix I changed into as soon as within the UK, no longer the U.S.

Diving into the settings below Menu > Settings there’s no longer phenomenal right here. There’s the chance to inaugurate AVG Loyal when the computer begins up (nonetheless no longer connect), apart from to an chance to enable native tool access. The latter is for gaining access to units in your native community fancy printers when the VPN is enabled.

IDG

Then there’s Menu > Settings > Community Security that has an files superhighway execute switch chance that’s no longer activated by default. There are also alternate choices right here for various notifications, apart from to an exact checklist for networks the set aside AVG Loyal obtained’t are attempting to connect automatically.

While it’s no longer required, you seemingly would perchance signal in to your AVG fable when the exhaust of AVG Loyal, and there are links to your fable subscriptions, apart from to alternate choices to install totally different AVG products equivalent to antivirus.

AVG Loyal fees around $60 for a single 12 months, $96 for two, or $143.64 for three. There’s also a seven-day free trial as soon as you’d derive to examine power it first. AVG Loyal provides 10 simultaneous connections, which is prominent. It’s no longer phenomenal, nonetheless the extra general offering is five simultaneous connections.

Privacy, anonymity, and belief

IDG

AVG’s ownership is easy to trace down. The firm is primarily based totally in Prague within the Czech Republic, and owned by Avast, whose CEO is Ondrej Vlcek. The firm’s VPN privacy coverage is easy. The firm doesn’t log your originating IP, DNS queries, taking a detect history, or deepest files equivalent to electronic mail that traverses its community.

The firm does, nonetheless, connect timestamps for connections. The firm says it wants this files to calculate height times for service demand in explain to negate community ability, and to preserve an eye on the different of simultaneous connections. AVG also tracks the amount of files transmitted, which it says it wants “to negate for novel community ability and server improvements.” AVG says all of this files is saved for 35 days and then deleted.

As well to to that server facet files, AVG will even log files from the VPN purchasers, including connection events (connects, disconnects, failures, and so forth.), to preserve service quality. It also logs “application events” equivalent to auto-connects and uninstalls in explain “to negate product construction and analytics.” Within the extinguish, it logs shatter experiences that users send support manually for glaring causes. All of this files is saved for two years and then deleted.

Clearly, AVG is no longer essentially the most restrictive in the case of files assortment, nonetheless we’ve also considered worse. Still, as soon as you’re purchasing for essentially the most deepest service that you might perchance factor in this would perchance very smartly be no longer the one you wish.

Efficiency

In our tests, AVG Loyal maintained virtually 36 p.c of the bottom download flee. That’s a ethical quantity, and puts AVG Loyal firmly within the third tier for lickety-split VPNs according to our making an are attempting out. That is the set aside the bulk of acceptably lickety-split VPNs quit up, that methodology you shouldn’t agree with a pains undertaking most on-line duties with this VPN. But as soon as you’re handiest criteria for a VPN is flee then there are greater alternate choices, equivalent to our high flee picks HotSpot Defend Top class and IVPN.

Conclusion

AVG Loyal is easy to make exhaust of, the prices are according to most VPNs with this level of complexity, and the actual fact that it provides 10 simultaneous connections is unbelievable. This isn’t essentially the most locked-down VPN in the case of logging, nonetheless the firm is upfront about what files it retains and how prolonged it retains it. Even as you’d fancy a VPN from a identified firm that works smartly and isn’t overly complex than AVG Loyal is a ethical different.

• AVG Loyal is a easy-to-exhaust VPN with acceptable speeds, and a ethical different of nation locations to steal from. Its privacy coverage will not be all the time essentially the most restrictive we now agree with considered, nonetheless the firm might perchance be very open about what files it collects and why.

  Professionals

  • True speeds
  • Permits a significant 10 simultaneous connections

  Cons

  • Does log some files
  • No genuine customizability for energy users

Ian is an self reliant creator primarily based totally in Israel who has never met a tech field he did no longer fancy. He primarily covers Dwelling windows, PC and gaming hardware, video and track streaming services, social networks, and browsers. When he is no longer masking the news he is engaged on how-to guidelines for PC users, or tuning his eGPU setup.