Antivir Frustration

[SourMilk]

Hi all,

Thought I would blow off a little steam. I run four computers on a daily basis. All of them behind a firewalled router. Two of them using AVG Free, and two of them using Antivir Classic Free. I have not gotten a virus infection since 1991 - (Klez on dialup.) Because of the recent and prolonged update issue with Antivir Classic on two of my aforementioned computers and because of its past update record, I have dumped it and replaced it with good o'le AVG Free. Granted the guard portion of AVG is poor on detection, but the on demand and scheduled detection is right up there with the best of them. Plus, I have NEVER had an update problem with AVG - NEVER.

So, my quad comps are humming away with compatible AVG. I think Avira is up to something more than a "massive update!"

SourMilk out

[DaveD]

I blew off my steam over a bottle of Bacardi...

I immediately went back to Active Virus Shield and updates are smooth and painless. It has comparable detection rates, but also has spyware detection and such which is not present in AntiVir PE Classic. Therefore, more protection. Also includes a mail scanner.

Hopefully Avira will get their act together one of these days. But until then, no more Luke Filewalker for me.

[Frank the Perv]

-{ Quote: "I think Avira is up to something more than a "massive update!" SourMilk out" }-

Oh my.

What do you think them sneaky guys at Avira are up to?


-{ Quote: "I blew off my steam over a bottle of Bacardi..." }-

Oh wow. I've noticed that my computer problems always look less important when I go for the Bacardi too.

[SourMilk]

-{ Quote: "Oh my.

What do you think them sneaky guys at Avira are up to?" }-Making their free version frustrating to try to lure people to buy a license. Sounds like a good business practice to me - you know, bait and switch.

SourMilk out

[JerryM]

I have also been frustrated with Avira, but I don't believe it has to do with an attempt to upgrade. I have the same problems with all including the Beta suite, Premium, and Classic.

I do not question the motives, but the expertise to fix the update, icon showing, and the guard being activated or not at start.

Personally I have given up on them, but still hope in time it will be corrected. I might even give them another try in a year or so.

Jerry

[tradetime]

Yes I dumped AntiVir a few years ago due to poor updating amonst other things, have been trying it again recently, and I see littlehas changed, at least they're consistant I suppose :D

[Chuck57]

Thought it was just me who might be having trouble updating. I had no trouble for the nearly 3 months I've had Avira. Then, in the past couple of days, regardless of morning, afternoon, evening or night, I haven't been able to get an update.

So, Avira is gone and I flipped a coin between going with AVG or AVAST. Two out of three and AVAST won. I installed it last night after one last attempt to update Avira.

[MalwareDie]

Hmm... I use the PE classic and I never have update problems except a few oddball times about once every several months. Do peoples' internet connection have anything to do with it? I have an extremely fast connection. I can download a file at 600Kb/s.

[C.S.J]

nope, when i used the trial, i experienced issues with this, and i can download at 1250kb/s

apparently its a problem from wayyyyyyyyy in the past, and the issue apparently is still here, wayyyyyyyy in the future. lol

[tradetime]

Whilst I download at a mere 60kbs I think you'd be hard pushed to make a case that the fault doesn't lie with AntiVir

[InfinityAz]

No problems with AntiVir here (updating, speed, etc.). Running on two computers and very happy with it.

[The Hammer]

-{ Quote: "Hi all,

Thought I would blow off a little steam. I run four computers on a daily basis. All of them behind a firewalled router. Two of them using AVG Free, and two of them using Antivir Classic Free. I have not gotten a virus infection since 1991 - (Klez on dialup.) Because of the recent and prolonged update issue with Antivir Classic on two of my aforementioned computers and because of its past update record, I have dumped it and replaced it with good o'le AVG Free. Granted the guard portion of AVG is poor on detection, but the on demand and scheduled detection is right up there with the best of them. Plus, I have NEVER had an update problem with AVG - NEVER.

So, my quad comps are humming away with compatible AVG. I think Avira is up to something more than a "massive update!"

SourMilk out" }-A soul mate for Wildman. ;)

[marcromero]

I tried it several weeks ago, installed it, would not run well on my system, got tired of messing with it, uninstalled it, end of story.

[lodore]

@sourmilk you got the lodore syndrome huh?;D
lodore

[the Tester]

The frustration is over here.
I successfully updated today.:)

Hopefully Avira will correct this problem soon.
At least they did improve the update size issue from the past with smaller size in general.

[smustaca]

-{ Quote: "I have also been frustrated with Avira, but I don't believe it has to do with an attempt to upgrade. I have the same problems with all including the Beta suite, Premium, and Classic.

I do not question the motives, but the expertise to fix the update, icon showing, and the guard being activated or not at start.

Personally I have given up on them, but still hope in time it will be corrected. I might even give them another try in a year or so.

Jerry" }-

Jerry, you are right. There is nothing hidden here ... :)
It is just the Update fever at every release ... Everybody wants better products, right ?

Just have a little patience and the problem will be solved by itself.

We are sorry for this inconvenience, but it is not much that we can do in this moment.
We are thinking at alternative solutions for the future.

[lodore]

@smustaca,
yup and also people have also complained about nod32 not being able to update
right after a big upgrade but they still use that.
lodore

[SourMilk]

After reading Jerry's reply, I may have jumped the gun a little in my recent rant. But given the past update problems with the recent slowdown, Antivir makes me a little leery of its ability to deal with new threats. Let's hope Avira gets some Akamai or similar heavy duty servers that can keep up with their increasing user base.

Their product is sterling but the update portion really needs work. My apologies to Avira but I think I might hold off using Antivir Classic for a while until the updates are as smooth as some other antiviruses.

SourMilk out

[pilotart]

-{ Quote: "...<snip>... Let's hope Avira gets some Akamai or similar heavy duty servers " }-don't know about 'heavy duty' but they did add a few (DL6, DL7 & DL8 ) servers last February
after the UpGrade from version 6 to 7 really choked them up.

There has been a long history of complaints every few months about how the build updates slow the delivery of updates
and a "new threat" during this time period could add to the problem.:o

AntiVir Classic works so perfectly on both of my systems that I have no thought of trying any other AV (including AntiVir Premium),
even after solving the 'fun-puzzles';D

Anyone that will be stressed by AVIRA's 'quarterly' Build-Update slowdowns would be best to stick with AVG or pay for AntiVir Premium.

If history is a guide, they will likely never get ahead of their exploding popularity.

It has been less than 5% of the time, that the large Updates have seemed to overload the servers
and it looks like AVIRA does not regard this as a problem.

[hurzx]

Same as you guys.

Antivir may be the best at detection. But update is a nightmare, the guard works when it wants and the support is awfull. So after several back and forth in the past monthes, I'm now more than fed up with it. Went back to Avast and I'm will not go back to Avira until I read that a new version is released and this update issue solved. >:(

[ad67]

I have been using the free AntiVir for 3 months, an excellent AV, especially as it is free. I had the closed umbrella problem when I first installed, but I had tried to selectively restrict some internet access (through my firewall) that AntiVir was seeking. I reinstalled and gave unrestricted access through my firewall, and I haven't had the closed umbrella problem since.

I don't see the "nag screen" that others have complained about. I gave unrestricted internet access to AntiVir and then I disabled the AntiVir schedule service (XP services), so automatic update is disabled. I then go to the AntiVir support download page and download the latest virus defintions,around 11 MB's. It is slow, perhaps 5 or more minuets to download, but I just let it download in the background, while I do other things. Once the download is complete, I open AntiVir, select "update" and then "manual", and select the downloaded definitions, and 30 seconds later, the update is complete.

I find the update procedure far simpler and completely trouble free, as compared to when I was trying Nod32.

[JerryM]

Hi ad67,

I use my laptop when out of town and on dial-up. I think that takes care of a 11meg download.;D

Jerry

[Firefighter]

-{ Quote: "I do not question the motives, but the expertise to fix the update, icon showing, and the guard being activated or not at start.

Jerry" }-I gave up too. Now I have almost completely new security waggons. :D

I never managed to fit Cyberhawk and AntiVir PE Classic play together. Too many missing AntiVir icons in the taskbar after rebooting. The last thing was those update failures a couple of days ago lasting too many days. Maybe better luck after some months. ??? :-\

Best regards,
Firefighter!

[JerryM]

My major problem is that this, and a couple of others, is not a new problem. It continues to go on, and statements that it is fixed or about to be do not change things. The problems just go on.

Jerry

[duke1959]

I like the way Antivir is laid out, and the way you can schedule it to update three times or more, plus it's very light on the system. The thing is though, that if you use the free version and want to do away with the Notifier, you have to boot in safe mode and change some things. That plus the update problems yet again, are starting to make alternatives look better. The fact that AVG Free may very well have improved, Avast being a very good AV, and AOL AVS with the KAV engine being a super nice AV, (possible CHKDSK problems not proven) I think Antivir should be more in tuned with the Freeware users. If not for my AVG ISS being a gift, I very well may have bought it from using AVG Free, and I certainly wouldn't have mind buying KAV because of my pleasant experience using AVS. As much as I liked Antivir PE though, I can't honestly say that I would have purchased the Pro version, or the Security Suite, because of the Free version. I know it's free, has high detection rates ect... But it bothers me that Avira won't make this right for all it's Freeware Users, like other Software Companies have.

[ccsito]

I got the updates even though I did not request them the other day. I did experience that the program was not appearing on the system tray a few days ago. But not sure if this was a glitch or someone turned off the program? Since I was using an outdated version of McAfee VirusScan on an old PC for several years and don't update it regularly, I guess being in a not "current" state is not that great of a deal to me since I don't go online that much anymore.

[farmerlee]

-{ Quote: "Hi all,

Thought I would blow off a little steam. I run four computers on a daily basis. All of them behind a firewalled router. Two of them using AVG Free, and two of them using Antivir Classic Free. I have not gotten a virus infection since 1991 - (Klez on dialup.) Because of the recent and prolonged update issue with Antivir Classic on two of my aforementioned computers and because of its past update record, I have dumped it and replaced it with good o'le AVG Free. Granted the guard portion of AVG is poor on detection, but the on demand and scheduled detection is right up there with the best of them. Plus, I have NEVER had an update problem with AVG - NEVER.

So, my quad comps are humming away with compatible AVG. I think Avira is up to something more than a "massive update!"

SourMilk out" }-
AVG ain't bad at all, i've used it for years and it protected me well. For simplicity and ease of use, nothing beats avg :)

[trjam]

-{ Quote: "My major problem is that this, and a couple of others, is not a new problem. It continues to go on, and statements that it is fixed or about to be do not change things. The problems just go on.

Jerry" }-

. I think Avira has done a great job addressing issues. Well, the server overload last week is one of those,” Got me once, wont get me twice," things. Again folks, go with what works for you and feel safe.

[Blackcat]

These continuing problems, particularly with the Servers, with the free edition do not help Avira trying to sell its commercial products.

Users are not going to upgrade to the Premium version, if they think that the same problems will occur with the payware version. They will simply switch to AVG or Avast/AOL AV. Further, up until recently, users could not even obtain a trial version of the AntiVir Premium to check whether the "exclusive" Servers were any better (they are).

This put me off for a long time before taking a chance (on dial-up) and buying the Premium version. But so far no problems updating, even with major upgrades.

[zorro zorrito]

Great problem, I connect with modem and antivir wants to download 4 500 kb one time after anohter, terrible,terribleeeeeeeeeeeeee. many days this way.

[Mr. Y]

I installed it for the 1st time last night and the subsequent upgrade process somehow trashed my hard drive.

Antivir- NEVER AGAIN!

[duke1959]

Mr. Y. When you say trashed, what exactly do you mean? I know what the term trashed can mean, but after using many AV's, AS's and Firewalls over time, none of them trashed my PC. Some caused BSOD's or erratic behaviors, but I don't understand how Antivir could trash a system. Not to doubt something awful may have happened here, it's just update and tray icon problems aside, Antivir PE has been pretty stable over the years. ( Some users had trouble with it and Windows 98 though) Just wondering.

[Mr. Y]

-{ Quote: "Mr. Y. When you say trashed, what exactly do you mean? I know what the term trashed can mean, but after using many AV's, AS's and Firewalls over time, none of them trashed my PC. Some caused BSOD's or erratic behaviors, but I don't understand how Antivir could trash a system. Not to doubt something awful may have happened here, it's just update and tray icon problems aside, Antivir PE has been pretty stable over the years. ( Some users had trouble with it and Windows 98 though) Just wondering." }-

I was running Win2K SP4 on one of my test hard drives with TPF, SSM, ProcessGuard & Sandboxie. I used that hard drive for P2P.

I installed Antivir and rebooted after the Antivir update. Upon reboot, all the above apps including Antivir did not load except TPF.

Perhaps I was a little harsh with my "trashed hard drive" remark. But I am going to "re-image" the hard drive rather than trying to figure out what happened- it's easier!

And I am not going to use Antivir.

[Pedro]

These things are very difficult to pin-point. If you use SSM and PG, with SandboXIE to mix, i guess there are a lot of software out there that would cause you trouble, besides Antivir.

Why do you need both SSM and PG?

[duke1959]

No problem Mr. Y, thanks for the input.

[Mr. Y]

-{ Quote: "These things are very difficult to pin-point. If you use SSM and PG, with SandboXIE to mix, i guess there are a lot of software out there that would cause you trouble, besides Antivir.

Why do you need both SSM and PG?" }-

Just trying them out. PG is easier to configure and understand, but SSM is more powerful.

[pilotart]

Server service is back to normal now!!! (for AntiVir Classic FREE :thumb: )

On Dial-Up at 13:15 GMT, it took 3 seconds to get on a server and another 20 seconds to 'check files' download, Update and restart AntiVir.:-*

Never had any problems with icon or Guard.
ZoneAlarm Firewall had 'asked permission' for two changed files on the 12 December Build 217 Update.
_______________________________________________________________

Also glad to read the report above that Blackcat posted about
-{ Quote: ""...No Update Problems with Premium Version..."" }-
Superior Server Service is one of the advantages listed for the Premium AntiVir and happy to see that it is true:)

For me, just four days of Slow Updates four times a year, (or the *puppy* AntiSpyware/MailGuard)
gives me no desire to upgrade from the Classic free version.;D

[Macaroni]

Sour Milk, I really relate to your frustration. For a time when the version was changing up from 6 to 7, I just gave up trying to update at all. Eventually from the AVira forums I found a link to a version that was functional.

I have always like the program despite it's occassional glitches, and I don't even object to the Notify screen in principal. It has caused problems for me though when only on a 56k connection. If they could make that screen smaller or more "lightweight" it would help a lot.

Avira AV has saved my computer many times, intercepting viruses and alerting to potential problems. Since its primary function is to be an Anti virus software and it is amongst the best at that, it is worth my while to run it. :thumb:

[shek]

It seems the tray icon has been solved.

[pilotart]

-{ Quote: "It seems the tray icon has been solved." }-
;D ;D ;D Had never had the problem of the disappearing icon.. until todays four-file Update & reboot request.

Icon loaded on boot and then went gone on next Update, Guard stayed on-the-job.;D

[JerryM]

I will believe the tray icon problem,as well as others, is solved when I see the problems cease on the forums. Until then, I will take it with a grain of salt, since that has been said before.

Jerry

[lodore]

my sister had that problem intill yesterday and now the icon works fine.
lodore

[Macaroni]

Mr Y -{ Quote: "I installed Antivir and rebooted after the Antivir update. Upon reboot, all the above apps including Antivir did not load except TPF." }-
This sounds like a startup conflict, I think AV likes to be first to load if it can, it might have conflicted with another app that also wants to be first to load.

[zorro zorrito]

UFFF, at lasti, antivir out of my system, I went back to Avast, it was a nightmare with antivir for more than a week.

[hurzx]

It's impressive. I see that 90% of posters agree on Antivir frustration. It's not 50/50 !

Went back myself to Avast too, and I aint go back to Antivir until I read on this forum ( from your own tries ;) ), that issues, i.e update nightmare and closed umbrella after a new start-up, have finally been solved. But as these problems have been here for so long without any sound reaction from developpers and support, I doubt it will be before long. Just a pity as the program remains one of the more efficient at detection. By the way, although Avast is excellent, I'm wondering if new AVG is now a better alternative. Any feedback welcomed.

[FRug]

hurzx: that is because those without issues don't tend to post, and those active in a forum such as wilders tend to have a pretty overloaded and maxed out security setup (with usually far too many applications doing the same job), and as such are more prone to software conflicts.

AntiVir has an estimated user base of over 15.000.000 people, their support forum contains a total of 107,427 posts. If we assume that every single post (which is certainly not the case) contains a bugreport by an affected user we reach a user-with-problems rate of less than 1% since the beginning of when their forum was established. If we take the average posts per day (~240) we reach a ratio of users-with-problems of 0.0016% per day.

This all assuming that it's one post per problem per user...
I know that assumptions are the mother of all ****-ups, but there are certainly nowhere near 13.500.000 bug reports (90%) out there ;)

[Firefighter]

-{ Quote: "By the way, although Avast is excellent, I'm wondering if new AVG is now a better alternative. Any feedback welcomed." }-AVG has better detections against new samples between Av-Comparatives.org Febr-Aug-2006 tests, but overall detection is very close each other. In this case the detection has a lower priority, but which gets well with your system is that what counts.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

[Jarmo P]

I am going to stick with Antivir Classic for the timebeing.

As I did stick to Avast for 1.5 years. Avast is a great program and problem free.
I just don't need the proxies anymore, even though they are fast since I run nowadays my browser and email client in Sandboxie.

The only bad thing I can say about Avast is that it checks updates every 4 hours and then for a short moment, 5 seconds or so, it slows down system that is bad for gamers, which I am not. And that is only the default setting, it can be configured how one likes with the help of the gurus in their excellent forum.

I will stick to Antivir if no problems on my system. The umbrella icon dissappearing after update and needing a reboot is a minor inconvinience.

Antivir Classic is not on par with Avast in incremental updates. I wish someday they would make a separate program update and virus database update as Avast has. To give a notification when a new program update is available. But as told, I am going to stick to Antivir for time being.
It is a bit lighter, not much and has shown a bit better detection rates.
I stick cause it is my choice and not always to eager to change when some troubles like these days have been.

[MalwareDie]

-{ Quote: "
It is a bit lighter, not much and has shown a bit better detection rates.
I stick cause it is my choice and not always to eager to change when some troubles like these days have been." }-


Actually Antivir is much lighter and has much better detection than Avast not just a bit

[C.S.J]

-{ Quote: "Actually Antivir is much lighter and has much better detection than Avast not just a bit" }-

might be lighter than avast, but detection is only about 6% or so, nothing to write home about.

but avast doesnt have countless problems with various aspects
> http://forum.antivir.de/board.php?boardid=16

even for an AV company forum, there are too many problem posts on there.

[Londonbeat]

Antivir is an excellent product, the free version does have problems updating now and again (but usually only at specific times of day), until last week or so when they released a couple of large updates causing the free servers to be overloaded.

On it's positive notes; Antivir has excellent (perhaps the best) heuristics with very little false positives, they add samples very quickly when submitted and usually send you a personal response, the customer service in my experience is excellent, and it's very light to run - on my setups much lighter than avast, and just as light as AVG. As for it's detection, several AV tests recently have shown it to be at the very top, significantly ahead of AVG and Avast.

Londonbeat

[pilotart]

No doubt about the fact that better detection is just one of many factors to consider when choosing an AntiVirus.

Although she retired from Consulting for IBM, she would have no patience with some of the AntiVir 'issues' :-*

-{ Quote: "might be lighter than avast, but detection is only about 6% or so, nothing to write home about.

but avast doesnt have countless problems with various aspects
> http://forum.antivir.de/board.php?boardid=16

even for an AV company forum, there are too many problem posts on there." }-to be fair; should also see: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=bb1a2a2f5878b687933fc1d9a1a56a92&board=2.0

I had first installed AntiVir (version 6) on January 16th, 2006 and the comments in this and AVIRA Forum about the Version 7 UpGrade had scared me enough to download the AVAST install program.

A visit to forum.avast.com&board (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=bb1a2a2f5878b687933fc1d9a1a56a92&board=2.0) was all I needed to see about AVAST (and ITs Problems) and I had no issues at all with an UpGrade to AntiVir Version 7.

Although AntiVir works very well on my System and is best for me, there can be no doubt that other excellent AV Programs are available and will be 'better' for many users.

Should ':-*She:-* want to replace her EZ-Trust AntiVirus with another brand (it has served her well) I will suggest AVG as it looks like the best 'free' option for a happy EZ-Trust user. (Who only wants to see her AV when it finds malware and EZ rarely does that.)
-{ Quote: "
"...<snip>...Antivir Classic is not on par with Avast in incremental updates. I wish someday they would make a separate program update and virus database update as Avast has. To give a notification when a new program update is available. But as told, I am going to stick to Antivir for time being.
It is a bit lighter, not much and has shown a bit better detection rates.
I stick cause it is my choice and not always to eager to change when some troubles like these days have been." }-AntiVir's incremental Updates have always worked very well for me (Usually on Dial-Up too) but the Program Update idea above would be excellent.

I am one who prefers NOT to quickly install 'new or improved software' and would prefer to hold off a bit on an UpGrade.:dry:

When AntiVir Version 7 was Released, I continued with manual Updates of Version 6 for several weeks before trying a 'clean' install of 7.

We are truly fortunate to have so many excellent options to choose from.

AntiVir Classic is best-by-far for me and glad to not need to 'test/trial' others as I'm sure that a lot of issues are caused by a hidden 'can-of-worms' left by Un-Installed Former AntiVirus Applications.

[Firefighter]

Why AVIRA just don't give a new updated installer to those upgraded Classic versions as to Windows NT / 2000 / XP systems it is so old like this "date: 09-13-2006 - Version: 7.00.00.47", many of these problems just will vanish when people at first uninstall the older version and install the new upgraded version?

Best regards,
Firefighter!

[trjam]

Oh, the pains of growing, to eventually be number 1. You can be part of it now, with a few burbs here and there, or part of it later. But when all is added, well, time will prove me right.

[duke1959]

I remember not too long ago reading something about CA Antivirus affecting a lot of peoples PC's after an update that caused far worse complications than what happened here with Antivir. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I believe it removed a file that prevented the PC from booting properly or something of that nature. Maybe someone can refresh my memory here.

[Blackcat]

A fix for the missing tray icon after updates is on the way. (http://forum.antivir.de/thread.php?threadid=15870&threadview=0&hilight=&hilightuser=0&page=2)

[ccsito]

-{ Quote: "I remember not too long ago reading something about CA Antivirus affecting a lot of peoples PC's after an update that caused far worse complications than what happened here with Antivir. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I believe it removed a file that prevented the PC from booting properly or something of that nature. Maybe someone can refresh my memory here." }-

Hi Duke1959,

Not sure if this is what you were referring to in regards to CA Antivirus update problem.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=151879

[pilotart]

-{ Quote: "A fix for the missing tray icon after updates is on the way. (http://forum.antivir.de/thread.php?threadid=15870&threadview=0&hilight=&hilightuser=0&page=2)" }-
Was fixed for me with an Update at 18 hour GMT today.:thumb:

[duke1959]

Hey ccsito and pilotart how you guys been? I just have one question for either of you or anyone. As a former and very happy Antivir PE user, did any of these problems have to do with denying the avnotify exe? I remember doing this myself in safe mode under the Administrators account, and then going into the avnotify exe and after a few steps checking deny beside I think the travese box. There is a thread within this thread I believe where you can see how someone helped me do this. Anyway it worked like a charm, but at what expense if doing this and then having some update trouble later on happens. Or is this not the case? Just curious. As far as the CA Antivirus thing. This problem also had to to with updates, but caused much more trouble than anything Antivir's update did. I'm not sure what I read about this anynore, but I'm sure it had something to do with CA flagging a legitimate file as a virus which caused malfunctioning PC's. A google should find the answer. Take care all.

[pilotart]

I have been fine and still love that AntiVir Classic8) what might make it more perfect,
would be if they could seperate the VDF/Hueristic Engine Updates from the Program Build improvements
and allow a choice of "Now or Later". This would also solve the quarterly Server Choke as a lot of users
are like me and would never want an immediate install of the "latest & greatest" software.:-\

Installing Win98 over Win95 on the day of release, cured me of that!>:(

I first experienced the glitch of the Tray icon after Tuesday's third Update, just went to the
AntiVir Program Folder and sent a avgnt.exe shortcut to desktop.

On Thursday it went intermintant with a need to click the shortcut after about half the Updates,
Avguard's Mem Usage will jump to over 26MB until you load the icon, then it drops back to its usual 2MB to 4MB.

AVIRA has said:-{ Quote: "This problem with the tray icon not appearing after update will be fixed soon, with version 1.02.09.40 of updlib.dll." }- I still have updlib.dll v1.2.9.39 and with the Holiday Season expect it may be a while before I see *.40 :)

Have not seen AvNotify on my main system since adding the security setting gleaned from this board about nine months ago,
I do allow it for the few Updates that I perform on my backup system.

They have really improved avnotify lately and I copied the URL so I might get to see it more often;D

http://notifier.antivir-pe.de/en/notifier50_2_en.html
Open the above on your Firefox (may need scripts allowed), you might even enjoy the "Funny Puzzles":D

I feel certain that if AVIRA wanted to penalize me for having a policy rule on avnotify
that it would be unlikely to use an intermintant avgnt.exe to do it. :dry:

None-the-less, if AVIRA continues to make AvNotify worthwhile to see,
I may modify my security setting to allow it again:P
_______________________________________

I would like to wish you
and all the Wilders Security Forum folks, the Merriest of Christmas Holidays
and a Joyous and Prosperous Happy New Year 2007!!!:-*

Art

[Blackcat]

I thought the "missing tray icon after an update" had been fixed as no problems for the last few days. This was after seeing this problem for the first time on Tuesday. But again to-day I lost the tray icon after downloading an update, althought it did reappear after a reboot.

Since I am seeing this minor glitch with the Premium version, it is unlikely to be connected with denying the avnotify exe.

[duke1959]

Good to know, I appreciate the replies and am glad some people aren't giving up on Antivir. I'm confident Avira will do what they need to in order to take care of their users, and continue to improve this fine product.

[dylanfan]

Still a happy AntiVir/Avira user here.

Although I personally like best the manual update approach which I use for myself [I generally tend to dislike any automatic connection running in the background], I installed Avira on friends's machines and allowed for the automatic updates on these. There's never any problem updating as far as I can see.

I don't find the update files's size is any trouble to me, either.

As a reminder for anyone interested, manual updates are available here (http://dl.antivir.de/down/vdf/ivdf_fusebundle_nt_en.zip)

Cheers

[pilotart]

-{ Quote: "...[I generally tend to dislike any automatic connection running in the background], .." }-Agree, I don't even like "scheduled' tasks and won't allow it to dial a connection for an Update.

But for a dial-up user, the Auto Update has an advantage of knowing it will happen upon connection and normally only takes seconds to complete. That fusebundle can be a 30-40 minute download on a modem. Once you have it, the update is clean and quick, no dropped icon problems;D

Your link is a direct download for the 'NT' WinXP/2K and for those on Win98/ME or anyone who wants AVIRA's instructions, Go here. (http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=12073)

If you are using the AntiVir Classic {free} version, you would need to do an Online Update at least before your license expires, for an automatic renewal of it, should you go beyond that date (currently 31MAY2007) it will not Update.:ouch: