If you've noticed your site stats going through the roof recently it may not be down to your 2nd quarter marketing efforts but an unexpected side effect of AVG's latest anti-virus software.

20 million users are estimated to have upgraded to version 8 over the past couple of months.  One of the first things you'll notice upon installation is that for any search carried out in Google, Yahoo or MSN, a green tick or red cross appears by each returned result. 

AVG searches all sites for malware, disguising itself as a 'real' visitor to fool the more sophisticated programmes.  Which is good news for users but disastrous for website owners who rely on analytics packages to successfully measure 'real' traffic from which to base their online marketing budget. 

By making an anti-malware 'probe' that is indistinguishable from a human visit, AVG may have accidentally created more problems than it intended to solve.  Web developers may have to work hard to produce an answer to this mess or demand that AVG modify its package.

Source: The Register