AVG Technologies has unveiled its new family of free and paid internet security products, AVG 9.0. The company said AVG 9.0’s combined anti-virus/anti-spyware scanner employs new technology that marks files as safe or potentially unsafe during the initial scan, and skips the safe files in future scans unless the file structure changes.

As a result, users experience reduced scan times by up to 50% depending on system configuration and improvements of 10% to 15% for boot times and memory usage, the company claimed.

AVG 9.0 also integrates the Resident Shield, firewall, and identity protection modules, which enable the modules to share malware information with each other, increasing its ability to detect and remove malicious types of malware, rootkits, and ID Theft threats, for which signatures have not yet been issued.

The company added that the firewall enhancements include a complete redesign to reduce intrusive firewall ASK dialogues by 50%, which also makes the firewall application quieter and less intrusive, as its new database of applications and application certificates allows the application, without user intervention, to see whether it is safe to allow communication of the application or if it should be blocked.

Additionally, AVG 9.0 delivers improved anti-phishing detection through enhancements to its LinkScanner offering, which can determine whether or not a web page is hosting a phishing attack. It is also easier for users to detect and remove any third-party security product that could cause conflicts with AVG 9.0 and interfere with the user’s level of protection, the company said.

AVG has also launched Identity Theft Recovery Unit (ITRU) service that will provide its customers in the US who have been a victim of identity theft support from a team of dedicated identity theft recovery experts who will help resolve issues, free of charge. The service will be available for free to its customer, which will be accessible through the AVG Security Toolbar.

The complete AVG 9.0 paid family of consumer products is available at the company website and AVG Free 9.0 will be available mid-October.