I did an exhaustive web search and found nothing about Grisoft AVG being associated with spyware. On the contrary, it was recommended on almost every website I vistited except perhaps for one obscure website in the UK,
http://www.scotsmist.co.uk/bookmarks.html where the author makes a very weak statement about it but says nothing to back it up so I decided to go a step farther.
I decided to install AVG on one of my lab computers to see for myself, but not before verifying that the machine was spyware free using Spybot. Once I was sure the machine was free of any spyware, I installed AVG. After that, I ran Spybot again and found no spyware on the system. I then ran the AVG update, which went out and downloaded the latest virus signatures and program updates. After the system restarted, I ran Spybot again, still no spyware.
I'm am now confident that AVG is as good an anti-virus solution as I originally thought it was before this morning, and, as I stated earlier in this thread, it's free.
Again, the trade-off for getting it for free is that you get no tech support. There is a retail version if you have to have tech support though.