AntiVir vs Avast

[Gi®on]

(previously posted in software & services)
Hello all...i recently got both of those programs and outta reviews they score pretty well now i know that you cant run both programs at the same time so i have to make a choice..now i wanna know what do you all think which of the two is the better1 and help me choose

[bigc73542]

In my opinion Avast is far the superior AV between Antivir and Avast.

[rdsu]

You can see some tests in this site AV-Comparatives

I think that both are a good AV, but if you want a global protection I would suggest avast! Home Edition...

[Pigman]

Currently, Avast is the best (full) free AV out there, at least as far as I know.

AntiVir seems to be getting better, and has heuristics, but I doubt it's currently that great. Avast, according to RejZor, has generic detection, though I've never seen anything about that on the Avast website. It does have heuristics for email scanning, a big collection of virus signatures, and frequent updates.

Just a few other things about Avast:
1. It's not bloatware, but it still looks pretty piggish compared to AntiVir (and probably AVG). It may slow you down if you're using an older computer; if you have a newer one, it probably won't be a problem.
2. I suggest that you don't install the skin support - it takes up HD space and is completely useless.

[MikeBCda]

I'm a devoted avast (home) user myself, and should vouch for another of its advantages that I didn't see mentioned.

Support is primarily through top-notch forums similar to the ones here, at http://forum.avast.com/?lang=ENG . Similarly to Wilders and particularly the Javacool forums here, active participation ranges from the avast team themselves down to folks who got their first-ever computer last Christmas, and just about every level of experience and expertise in between. So helpful replies are typically quite quick -- and the avast team responds quite quickly (with appropriate upgrades) to glitches etc. reported there by users.

Best to all,
Mike

[Joerg]

We have done a test at rokop security (german); you can get an overview here
And here are the full test reports:
Antivir
Avast
You can use an online translation utility like Babelfish to get the english version

regards, Joerg

[Paul Wilders]

Joerg,

Nice test as ever . Give my regards to Roman and the Rokop clan

regards.

paul

[Arin]

dear Giron, why don't you use both, using one as OD and the other as OA scanner?

[Joerg]

Originally Posted by Paul Wilders

Nice test as ever . Give my regards to Roman and the Rokop clan

Thanks! Regards submitted

regards, Joerg

[rdsu]

In my opinion, the only problem of AntiVir PE is not having an email scanning and size of updates...

[Arin]

i agree with you though i'm not missing the email scanner much. the OA part will take care of the virus. the update size and the speed of the update server sticks out like a sore thumb.

[RejZoR]

Nope On-Access module won't take care for that. Do you think OA module can unpack mail packers? Maybe outlooks,but what about Thunderbird or Opera? Not exotic,but its storage database is different then OE's. And when virus/worm is already down,is usually too late. Mail protection intercepts malware before its actually stored on disk,so this is not the same thing.
Mail protection is currently one of most important components since mass mail worms are the most popular malware in these days.

[Arin]

dear RejZor, what makes you think the OA should have ALL of the mailbox unpackers? its just like saying the OA component is insufficient if it doesn't support a particular case of archive. i'd like to point out the case when your beloved AV missed the VB award. everyone said it missed a virus in a HTML file but it detected it when it was extracted from the HTML file. i just applied the same logic and defended AntiVir. if you don't like it then please go on and use AVAST

it is too late when the code has the CONTROL of your system. this stands true for any kind of malware. the presence of mail encoded virus won't mess up you system just like that. its a benign state as some poeple would like to say.

[RejZoR]

I'd say better safe then sorry

[minacross]

it's always nice to have 2nd defence line

Did you guys in fact used the info as provided by Joerg in his first post over here (using a translator if you need one)? Not taking sides here, but Avast users might be in for a surprise....

Blue

[Chuck57]

I tried both AVAST! and AntiVir PE, or tried to. AntiVir gave me nothing but trouble. Finally, after uninstalling and reinstalling it twice, I gave up.

AVAST! loaded and worked flawlessly from the beginning. Regardless of what tests show, if an antivirus or any program won't download and work without a struggle, how can anyone trust it to do the job?

I'm sure AntiVir is a good program. On my machine, though, it just wouldn't work.

[RejZoR]

Who's deleting my posts again

[Technical]

Originally Posted by AMRX

dear Giron, why don't you use both, using one as OD and the other as OA scanner?

Can AntiVir be an OD (bakcup) scanner with avast as the OA?
How do we configure them?
Which is installed first?
In what conditions must the second be installed?

Thanks.
Anyway, you know, I'm an avast! lover

[Pigman]

Owwee. According to the Rokop statistics, it looks like AntiVir is getting better... It's already beating Avast in a few departments, though not by very much.

[bellgamin]

Originally Posted by Joerg

We have done a test at rokop security (german); you can get an overview here
And here are the full test reports:
Antivir
Avast
You can use an online translation utility like Babelfish to get the english version regards, Joerg

Tests referred to by Joerg show AntiVir outscored Avast by a mile.

Another factor- on older computers {such as mine} AntiVir runs just fine. On the other hand, Avast brought my computer to its knees. Also Avast sometimes locked-up my system {it's WinME, so it's admittedly crash prone} whereas AntiVir never does.

[Joerg]

Originally Posted by Technical

Can AntiVir be an OD (bakcup) scanner with avast as the OA?
How do we configure them?
Which is installed first?
In what conditions must the second be installed?

Antivir can be installed as an OD scanner, just uncheck the box which belongs to the guard during the installation process. I have KAV 4.5 as OA scanner and Antivir (among others) as backup scanners installed with no problems.
Antivir installs a service called "Antivir Update" which can safely be disabled (you won't have automatic updates then, but the manual update process works perfectly even with disabled service).

regards, Joerg

[Staind]

I've used both anti virus programs but I prefer Avast! because of its fairly complete program and features. Using AntiVir as a back up scanner may not be a bad idea! Also, I don't get how Avast! could slow down your system unless you're using a very old computer...

This is just my personal opinion about avast.

I think the avast developer should improve the following things.

1. Sluggish & Useless skin+graphics, these make avast looks like joke, unprofessional and untrustworthy. Why Norton is the most popular AV? I think one reason is that all Norton's stuff look so professional and trustworthy. Don't tell me avast must make the differece, you have so many ways to make your product different.

2. Simple user interface is so sluggish and unprofessional while advanced interface so difficult to manage and understand in some department.

3. I don't know why avast developer neglects to give us a specific name of malware. I hate to see avast tells me it found " Win32:Trojan-gen bla bla bla... " with almost every trojan, spyware, malware. What about Generic detection? Is avast developer want thier customers utilize other AV's resources to know the specific name of malware such as KAV & RAV single file scanner?

4. Improve detection rate, yes this is what every AV should do.

Sorry if these make someone hurts, this is just my personal opinion.

[tazdevl]

Direct comparison of Antivir and Avast.

http://www.rokop-security.de/main/article.php?sid=757