Free, web-administered "Avast for Business".

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by Vladimyr, Feb 1, 2015.

  1. Vladimyr

    Vladimyr Registered Member

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  2. WildByDesign

    WildByDesign Registered Member

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    Looks like it's available for US and Canada as well. So the "cloud-based" protection is free for businesses but any on premise endpoint protection is not free.

    I have to admit, I still have not bought into this whole cloud thing yet. Particularly trusting my security in the cloud. I prefer to take my security into my own hands.
     
  3. Firecat

    Firecat Registered Member

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    +1
     
  4. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    The cloud is actually more secure, and the evidence for this statement keeps mounting. I can cite many reasons. Namely cloud providers have highly trained engineers on staff, dedicated for one thing, and one thing only - security. In comparison to most companies 'going it alone' they tend to have less qualified people, and operate in a 'if it isn't broken' mentality in many of the cases. I've seen corporations in an absolutely abysmal state transition to the cloud and it resolves almost all of their issues very very quickly. One good example are VOIP business systems. Hosted systems are extremely secure, easy to setup, and engineers are always monitoring the parameters to ensure you aren't compromised. Try that with a self-deployed VOIP system.

    We run hosted systems, and for some customers provide cloud based security. We offer a level of protection that would be very costly to deploy, and extremely difficult for them to maintain. One example is; all of their traffic transits a $92,000.00 appliance with deep packet inspection, including DPI of encrypted traffic. Then it transitions to a Advanced Antivirus Server for realtime scanning of transits, then all of this reports back to a analyizer and Manager that provide us with realtime monitoring for APT's with engineers on staff where their 'only job' is to monitor, report, and if necessary - react. A company can get this level of protect for a 'few bucks' a system each month, as opposed to spending hundreds of thousands to set it up, and hundreds of thousands a year for engineers to manage/maintain/monitor it. It's not feasible, and the only way to get this level of security for many firms is to 'go to the cloud'.

    In a few years almost all AV solutions for endpoints will be cloud based, or linked to the cloud via VPN's, or deployed cloud based hardware solutions on your network. Remember, advanced 'home' solutions like ASUS Routers, Sitecom(Hitman) all reside in the cloud. Bit Defender Box is really your own non-hosted cloud solution box where all of your devices are linked back to your 'personal' cloud in a box, which then interacts with the cloud to update itself in realtime. Like it or not, the cloud is here, and it's where everything is headed.
     
  5. vlk

    vlk AV Expert

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    In the context of Avast for Business, "cloud" means that the administrative console runs in the cloud, i.e. there's no need to deploy any management servers, databases etc. on the company network, and the admin UI is accessible via web. This is a big simplification compared to the traditional model where you need dedicated hardware and have to install a number of components to even get started.

    The actual protection agents still run on your devices (same as they would in the traditional solutions).

    Thanks
    Vlk
     
  6. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Similar to Trend Worry Free - Hosted. Same as the server version, but the server is hosted on their architecture. Endpoint installs are still needed, but managed from the hosted server.

    http://www.trendmicro.com/us/small-business/product-security/worry-free-services/

    I'm actually considering signing up for a hosted solution. I don't want to install an antivirus server here locally, and hosted solutions are very low cost. I can service about 8-10 devices for only about $15-20 bucks a month, and give me ultimate control, while leveraging the backend of the AV firm. Big fan of hosted security solutions!

    I'm extremely interested in the Avast version of this.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2015
  7. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Color me impressed with this Avast! offering. I've long been a critic of Avast. But this enterprise offering is fabulous, and the price for the premium version is very competitive.

    Thoughts so far;

    1) The thin client installed is nice, light, and fast. Interface is spartan, and attractive.
    2) Detections are excellent so far in my testing. Impressive .GEN detection!
    3) Cloud Hosted Server is excellent, very informative, well laid out, and providing good enough controls to satisfy almost anyone.
    4) Duplicate template pushes, global message pushes, remote quarantine management, all well done.

    I was very close to deploying Trend Micro Worry Free Hosted in my house as it's powerful as it leverages Trend's Deep Security Infrastructure. However I am now starting to think I should deploy Avast Enterprise Hosted after testing it. If I was a small business deploying a managed AV solution, I would seriously consider this. The company I work for is entrenched with Trend, and we actually host managed solutions for a significant number of firms, but if we weren't, I'd put this into the queue for our yearly evaluation.
     

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  8. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    A couple things so far;

    1) Is there a way to turn off tray icon animation in the business product? (drives me nuts)
    2) I found an error. Browser Cleanup, then 'settings' causes a crash. (see screenshot below)
    3) Can you add a method to add more widgets to the endpoint home screen?
     

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  9. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Also I notice a 'slight' pause when first loading a web page. Not super annoying pauses like Eset, but it's there. On the bright side it doesn't seem to impact video streaming. On the dark side, it's worse on sites with a lot of graphics/files. Not a deal breaker, but maybe something Avast! can optimize better.
     
  10. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    That's actually not true. If you sign up for a free cloud-hosted Avast server, you can download/deploy the endpoints from the interface as per standard operating procedure for all enterprise AV servers. Avast! is identical in this respect, and those endpoint deployed units are full featured, non-crippled.

    The benefits of a cloud hosted AV server are;

    1) Reduced impact on endpoints.
    2) Ability to remotely manage all endpoints.
    3) Ability to remotely monitor all endpoints, including threat awarness.
    4) Deployment of Endpoints with package configurations.

    For me, servicing almost 20+ devices in the home having an AV server has been the last step in the evolution of the security here. It's too difficult to monitor/manage that many devices. Anything over 3-4 devices becomes a chore, and an important part of security is AWARENESS. An AV server provides high degree of awareness of threat profiles of endpoints, which improves security.
     
  11. Vladimyr

    Vladimyr Registered Member

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    This is a game-changer for me. 2 of my office computers don't support key features of AIS but I still have a
    year to go on a 3-user AIS license. Now I can use "Business Security" on those 2 machines so I'm thinking I'd get better use of my paid subscription if I can get my '3-user, 1 year' AIS license changed to a '1-user, 3-year' license. How about it Vlk ;)
     
  12. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Did this business product just launch or something? I've done plenty of testing so far on a dozen machines, and do have some reports if anyone cares.
     
  13. Charyb

    Charyb Registered Member

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  14. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    I'm having great luck with this product so far. Only a few little things I could find to complain about. Some highlights so far;

    1) Light. 150Mb of Ram (or so). After installation it can 'seem' to slow your system. That's because a lot of things are going on in the background. After a few minutes it will prompt for a reboot, and at that point the system becomes much lighter feeling. Run a Full-Scan, and the system lightens up dramatically so due to what appears to be a short and long term caching system in it. Redundant system files aren't scanned after the first one unless they are altered.
    2) No bloat. Surprisingly, no bloat at all. No 'extra' things.. No 'offers', 'banners' or promotions thrown in your face every few minutes. It's a pure antivirus product for the most part.
    3) Attractive. Simple, easy to navigate. Very 'business like'.
    4) GOOD Hosted Cloud Server for your systems. Nice deployment options, nice awareness, and 'acceptable' remote management of deployed endpoints.

    Detection wise so far I like it with PUP detection on, Reputation System On, and Web Heuristics set to maximum. It picks up about everything I have thrown at it so far. .GEN detection is a cut above in my testing so far. While the reputation system is good, I feel it's still a bit behind Norton and Trend 2015, but not by a huge margin. I need to tweak settings a bit and see if I can notch it up. On the negative, some of the settings don't seem to propogate to endpoints accurately, but it's random, and not always prevelent. This is AVAST! how I think it should be, and I hope the technologies/options/function all progress. As of now I intend to use this as my security solution for endpoints. I was ready to pull the trigger on Trend Hosted, since I can get it for 50% off being a Trend Partner, and TFC Trend Engineer, but this has me putting that on hold. Price wise, $190 a year for all of my desktops is pretty good - not stellar, and not all that cheaper from established solutions like Trend, it's still very competitive. Maybe they can offer discounts to entice people to upgrade?

    What I would like to see? Mobile Support added, including mobile deployment, and management of mobile endpoints. One of the nice things about Trend Hosted, it factors your mobile devices.

    Also there is a small spelling error on the premium page. The cost is so low I don't see why I wouldn't pay for premium. I need to test the firewall though to make sure it doesn't cause any issues.
     

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  15. lwalling

    lwalling Registered Member

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    I think we could be coaxed into offering a discount to upgrade for people that provide great feedback like this ;). We've quietly released Avast for Business and launch it shortly, answering your earlier question.

    We'd love the opportunity to talk to you about your suggestions below - we will have mobile in 2015, and would appreciate your input on how you'd like to see it done. Drop me a line walling at avast dot com.

     
  16. cupez80

    cupez80 Registered Member

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    with cloud admin feature is there any option to do centralized update ? or every client need internet connection to do update ?
     
  17. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    You can 'task' updates or whatever, next time the client connects it will run the tasks.
     
  18. Vladimyr

    Vladimyr Registered Member

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    Re: "No 'offers', 'banners' or promotions"

    I'm not a fan of popups or clicking through windows offering extra products or services I've already decided I don't want but with this product, all the upselling is moved to the Management Console, where I was surprised to find it didn't annoy me!

    I guess it makes sense. The user interface should be unintrusive. When your AV interrupts you unnecessarily while you're trying to get on with something, the hackles go up.

    However, you go to the Management Console to... manage the product. So an offer of some extra feature doesn't seem out of place.


     
  19. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Agreed, I really like the direction Avast is going with this.

    My only major complaint right now is the product does cause a noticeable 'pause' when doing various activities. Loading a browser takes just a second or two longer. Opening web pages takes a few additional milliseconds. It's enough to cause an annoyance to OCD people like me, but in a SMB environment I do not see it being a problem. It MAY present an issue on older, slower hardware, making them feel slower than they really are. I adjusted settings to try and overcome this issue, and was unable to find a compromise. (any suggestions?) It may be a deal breaker for some if there isn't a workaround, or if it is a side effect of the engine.

    Other than that pretty significant issue, the product is quite nice!
     
  20. Avast Jeff

    Avast Jeff Registered Member

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    Hi Mayahana,
    Thanks for the feedback. Just wanted to let you know that I have reported the typo and browser cleanup error you reported above. Also wanted to let you know when you are logged into the portal, you can use the
    support link on the bottom left or visit support.business.avast.com and use the "submit a ticket" to report errors as well.

    Thanks!

    Jeff
     
  21. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Also, when you view 'Devices' in the portal. I would recommend adding another column to show the 'setting profile' for each device, so you do not have to go into each device to see the setting profile.

    This may seem like a simple addition, but when you get 20, 50, even 100+ systems in there, it would make it a pain to do this. I have illustrated this with a crappy MS Paint file.
     

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  22. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    I am still tweaking for optimal performance. I really do not like the 'slight' delay when new websites are loaded, it's a very tiny pause, but for a performance oriented guy it tends to trigger my OCD. I do seem to see a performance improvement if I uncheck "Use Intelligent Stream Scanning", maybe that's it? Any tips would be appreciated in this regard. That's the only thing still bothering me about this product - which I think is EXCELLENT.

    I have a paper of my thoughts being drafted, but I haven't had the time to finish it and send it off to your email. I'd like to test Premium, but I am not ready to commit to it just yet while testing it for deployment. I did forward relevant information to our IT Director here who is very interested in it. (we manage 33,000 systems as an MSP)
     
  23. Brocke

    Brocke Registered Member

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    What's the difference between the paid and this free offering ?
     
  24. Charyb

    Charyb Registered Member

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    2$ / device / month
    • SafeZone
    • Sandbox
    • Firewall
    • Antispam
    • Data Shredder
     

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  25. Brocke

    Brocke Registered Member

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    Thank you
     
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