Avira's Removal Ability?

[firzen771]

i know avira has an awesome detection rate, but how good is avira at actually removing the viruses/malware? ive heard it isn't all that effective at removal, is this true?

[cupez80]

not really good i think...

[Carver]

-{ Quote: "i know avira has an awesome detection rate, but how good is avira at actually removing the viruses/malware? ive heard it isn't all that effective at removal, is this true?" }-
Do you mean removal as in delete or removal as in clean. Avira could do a better job of cleaning a infected file and then restoring the file.

[firzen771]

i mean, for example you do a full system scan, it fins a bunch of stuff and then how good it is at removing all those things successfully, that means cleaning the registry, files, etc. from those viruses and making ur comp good as new once its done :D

[GES/POR]

If your looking to clean up a heavily infected system no program out there will do it all, not even avira but if u need a kick ass av to help you out in keeping your system clean or at least alert u when ur infected, avira's the man for the job. In any case it's always wortwhile nomather wich av your using to have some backup scanners realtime or ondemand just to be on the safe side.

[Ed_H]

Here is a website (http://remove-malware.com/anti-malware-reviews/avira-antivir-version-8-review/) you may find interesting. Avira did very well as did some others.

[Arup]

Yep, its FUD that Avira can't clean, not only it detects best but when it comes time to clean, it does a swell job as well.

[trjam]

Agree. There was a time when it lacked some cleaning punch, but version 8 has made it as good as Kaspersky at cleaning. Maybe even better.

[firzen771]

ok thx for the info i just wanted to know :D ive used kav and it has had very good cleaning, and since im planning to switch to avira i wanted to make sure it did a good job at it as well.

[ola nordmann]

I agree that Avira has improved a lot.

And the fact that Avira is among the best in detection also gives it an advantage when it comes to REMOVING the threats. Because you can't remove what you can't detect. So while there may be products that have even better removal/cleaning routines, it doesn't help much if they can't detect a lot of the malware on the computer, leaving a heavily infected computer ;)

Another thing is that the malware landscape has changed - nowadays there's more trojans than traditional virus. And as long as you don't deal with file infectors, you don't need the claimed holy uber-cleaning abilities of some competitors.

...but backup is always a good idea anyway :)

[QBgreen]

AntiVir Premium's ability to remove malware (including adware and spyware) rivals any program going from my perspective. I just cleaned an insane amount of crap off of my idiot :wacko: cousin's laptop with it this past Sunday. The guy just can't stay away from porn!

[QBgreen]

-{ Quote: "I agree that Avira has improved a lot.

And the fact that Avira is among the best in detection also gives it an advantage when it comes to REMOVING the threats. Because you can't remove what you can't detect. So while there may be products that have even better removal/cleaning routines, it doesn't help much if they can't detect a lot of the malware on the computer, leaving a heavily infected computer ;)

Another thing is that the malware landscape has changed - nowadays there's more trojans than traditional virus. And as long as you don't deal with file infectors, you don't need the claimed holy uber-cleaning abilities of some competitors.

...but backup is always a good idea anyway :)" }-

You can't remove what you can't detect...there's an axiom for you! That should be Avira's credo.

[Jin K]

-{ Quote: "Agree. There was a time when it lacked some cleaning punch, but version 8 has made it as good as Kaspersky at cleaning. Maybe even better." }-

Avira is very good at removing but at cleaning files that been infected with Mabezat.sality.virut for example its not as good as Kaspersky

[trjam]

wrong, it is now.;)

[RejZoR]

One thing is cleaning (deleting) and one thing is desinfecting. And so far i've noticed only Kaspersky, BitDefender, McAfee and DrWeb (probably Symantec also but i haven't tried it since version 2003) actually desinfect file infectors. Others just delete it.

[Jin K]

-{ Quote: "wrong, it is now.;)" }-

mmmm i dont think so

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2395/aviralh8.png


but believe me they will do it!! its just a matter of time ;)

[mnosteele]

The free version of Avira has issues quarantining or deleting certain malware, I have never seen these issues with the pro version. The files I have seen are spyware/adware, it detects them but cannot properly remove them, even in safe mode. When I have submitted these files to Avira Labs they respond with the free version does not detect spyware/adware but the pro version does, but the free version is detecting these items just not properly removing them.

I still believe Avira is the best program out there, free or pro, but I have seen these issues quite frequently with the free version.

:)

[Medank]

-{ Quote: "

I still believe Avira is the best program out there, free or pro, but I have seen these issues quite frequently with the free version.

:)" }-

+2

But Avira does not have the worse removal ability out there, i belive you could find some worse AV's with removal ability ;)
and avira's detection-rates rocks8)

[RejZoR]

People still don't have a clue and mix up everything.
As i said before and i'll do it again.

Removal = deletion or quarantine
Cleaning/repairing/desinfecting = removal of viral code from other programs, hopefully returning them to original state

And then ppl start talking of "cleaning" features and show screnshots where "Repair" option is clearly not available. That's not cleaning, thats removal (or removal cleaning if you want it that way)...

[firzen771]

-{ Quote: "AntiVir Premium's ability to remove malware (including adware and spyware) rivals any program going from my perspective. I just cleaned an insane amount of crap off of my idiot :wacko: cousin's laptop with it this past Sunday. The guy just can't stay away from porn!" }-

hmm well i cannot lie, i am the same way :P but ive almost never had an infection, cause i take precautions before i watch porn, hehe

[doktornotor]

-{ Quote: "People still don't have a clue and mix up everything.
Cleaning/repairing/desinfecting = removal of viral code from other programs, hopefully returning them to original state
" }-

Yeah could as well bet some money in roulette... either restore them from a trusted backup or reinstall; how on earth are you going to trust infected executables that have allegedly been cleaned?!

[GES/POR]

-{ Quote: "hmm well i cannot lie, i am the same way :P but ive almost never had an infection, cause i take precautions before i watch porn, hehe" }-

Lemme guess, Virtual Condom :thumb:

[Stefan Kurtzhals]

Rejzor got it right. There is removal and repair.

There is very little need for repair (file infectors) these days, Sality and Virut maybe and patched system files. Users should be aware, that repair is quite often not reliable as the viruses infect files in a way that does not allow 100% restoration (bugs in the virus, overwriting and not storing relevant data). I saw plenty of files which were "badly" cleaned with leftovers from viruses or not 100% restored structures. Those executables may work like before infection, but that's pretty much of a gamble. I strongly suggest restoring the affected executables from a backup or reinstalling of the applications.

Most of the time, users need removal to clean up their system, deletion of malware files, termination of processes, registry cleanup. That part got improved with various updates throughout this year, but surely still can (and will) get better.

[Cerxes]

-{ Quote: "...how on earth are you going to trust infected executables that have allegedly been cleaned?!" }-
How do you mean? That the executable doesn´t work properly or that the executable still are a threat?

If you refer to the later, there´s no need to worry since the virus code is crippled so it won´t work even if there´s traces left. But I agree that the best option would be to replace the infected executable with a new one for avoiding functionality problems.

/C.

[doktornotor]

-{ Quote: "How do you mean? That the executable doesn´t work properly or that the executable still are a threat?
" }-

Either of those, as mentioned by Stefan in the post above...