A Shocking Discovery: The Dangers of Overzealous Software Subscriptions

Today, I want to share a deeply unsettling experience I had while sorting through my late grandfather’s belongings. As I began to clear out his computer, I discovered something that needs to be discussed—especially for those who may be unknowingly falling victim to similar situations.

Upon booting up his computer, which, by the way, wasn’t built poorly by any means, I was immediately struck by how sluggish it had become. A quick look at the Task Manager revealed the culprit: AVG antivirus software was monopolizing almost all of the system’s resources without offering any real protection or optimization in return. Some of its processes were stubbornly entrenched in the startup menu, making it nearly impossible to disable them.

What shocked me further was the plethora of emails from AVG that had been accumulating, each offering a subscription service. One particularly glaring email read, “We’ve noticed your computer is very slow; subscribe to AVG Tuneup for just £45 per year, and we will enhance your computer’s performance.” To me, this was more like a veiled admission that their software was the primary issue—a blatant strategy to extract more money for a service that merely mitigates the problems they had caused.

To my disbelief, I found multiple subscriptions under his name: AVG Security, AVG Tuneup, AVG VPN (how often did my grandfather really need a VPN?), and even AVG Driver Update. Paying for driver updates? Is that even a commonplace practice? It seemed absurd that AVG was placing additional charges on something that should be a standard part of software upkeep.

As if that weren’t enough, my grandfather had also been utilizing the AVG Secure Browser, which was aggressively consuming all available system resources. When I attempted to open Chrome and Edge, I was met with warnings from AVG suggesting those browsers were unsafe and urging a switch to their proprietary solution. The level of manipulation was staggering.

It’s hard not to feel a deep sense of anger and frustration. My grandfather, an older gentleman who simply sought to enjoy sports and immerse himself in military history, had fallen prey to a corporate giant that capitalizes on the lack of technological know-how among less savvy users. He had unknowingly subscribed to nearly £120 (about $150) worth of unnecessary services, each designed more to drain his wallet than to provide real value.

If someone had knocked on his door and scammed him out of £120, we’d call the authorities without hesitation. Yet