Many of you have received notifications to upgrade to AVG 2013.  AVG is still a great product, but obviously they make money when people pay for their product. Hence, AVG has been much more aggressive in trying to induce (some would say trick) you into upgrading. The basic AVG product is very reasonably priced.  You can purchase a 2 year subscription for one computer for $60, two computers for $75.  If you wish to avoid the nags, I recommend you just go ahead and make the purchase.  If, however, free is where you are at, I have outlined the steps for installing AVG 2013 free with screenshots.

The first thing I would do is download the installer by going to
http://download.cnet.com/AVG-AntiVirus-Free-2013/3000-2239_4-10320142.html
When you run the installer, you will get a user access control popup requesting permission to allow AVG to modify this computer.  After clicking on the Yes button, you will see the following screen:

Click on Next after picking your language.

Click on Accept

Here you make sure the “Basic Protection” is selected, then click on Next

Start paying attention here.  You need to select custom install.  The express install is selected by default.

After you click on custom install, you will see two checkboxes related to default search and the security toolbar.  Make sure both are unchecked, then click on next.

In the custom options window that comes up, uncheck the AVG Add-Ons.  Leave the others checked.  Then click on next.

After clicking on next, you will see the installer downloading the files.

After the installation is complete, you will see this screen.  You do not have enter your email or name.  It is fine to leave the participation in the product improvement program.  Make sure all your other programs are closed, and then click on Restart Now.

After the computer restarts and you have logged back in, you will see following window from AVG 2013.  It will have a warning banner that says “You are not fully protected!”   This is not as scary as it looks.  AVG just does not have the current data files.  Click on the “Update now” button and AVG will get the current database files.

This window will show up while the database files are uploaded.

After the database update, the window will change to show that the status is protected. You can then close the window by clicking on the red X and you are done!  AVG shows popups to suggest you use AVG on your cell phone and another pop up stating “AVG has protected you from several threats recently.” When you click on it, it will tell you about the threats, but it is really advertising to try to suggest an upgrade.