AntiVir update

Why does the AntiVir update popup a window asking you if you want to update before it downloads the update?

This is just a waste of time and an unecessary step.
Then it also pops up another window asking if you want to disconnect after the update is finished, another useless and unecessary step.

What is wrong with these people at AntiVir why cant they make the update truely automatic.

 

No offense, but I like it just the way it is now.

 

Well you must have also loved having to type in manual instructions on your keyboard to operate your pc before windows came along.

I dumped AntiVir and went for AVG which updates automatically without useless steps of having to click this or click that.

AVAST has a neat auto update also but AVAST skins are the worst I have ever seen so I went with AVG.

 

AV-PE requires no keyboard work to update. Just execute AVWIN.EXE, then click on the update icon, then click start.

Inconvenience? Skins? But what about the *effectiveness* of the program? I think that's important, too, eh?

 

There are several skins to choose from (some are pretty neat and useful).
avast! 4.5 also features skinless interface. As far as i'm consirned about efficiency,AntiVir and avast! are far better than AVG.

 

Yep...

Try to use the avast! without skins. It's very nice...

 

Some know, and others do not, that in the past I have been very critical of AntiVir/PE. Well it looks as if at long last H+BEDV (the parent company) is attempting to get it's act together. Now may be a good time to let them know what people would like to see or not see in AntiVir/PE. MY knock had always been the update capabilities, which in my opinion were abysmal, they are now some what better but still need quiet a bit more improvement, again in my opinion. I had changed to AVG 6.0 because of the above feelings, and was quiet happy with that choice. Now comes AVG 7.0, it slowed my system down to an unacceptable level for me. I had also briefly tried AVAST, but found it to be rather cumbersome, plus it placed items that I did not want or ask for in my temp files, and they were difficult to get rid of. To make a long story short, I am back to using AntiVir/PE. Is it the best? In my opinion most likely not. Is it currently the best free option? In my opinion yes.

Thanks
wildman

 

Well there's a turn up - Wildman comes 'out of the closet' and admits AntiVir isn't so bad after all!!!

I bet he's been secrectly using it all along.

 

I installed AntiVir on my sisters pc at the weekend after her Norton subscription finished and it immediately came up with a few false positives.

Combined with the awkward updater I will soon replace it with AVG.

 

AVG is good..stick with that free AVG7 and remeber now you can scan in the safe mode also. Helps when you get a real nasty they have in their data base to destory.

Also ..clean off all that Norton..it leaves lots of stuff in the registry..

False positive are good..they keep you thinking. Also give you a chance to clean off some of those programs you never use in anycase.

 

Never did knock the product, only the method provided to obtain and maintain it, which by the way I still think could use quiet a bit of improvement.

Thanks
wildman

 

You folks finally convinced me to give Avast a trial.

Even for a free version you must register. That's a reasonable enough requirement except - why do they want my telephone number?

I opted out of skins. Even so, the first time I accessed Avast to set options, it came up with this hideous silver thing, with unlabelled buttons of various shapes. It reminded me a lot of the dashboard on a motorcycle.

I had it scan my little malware collection of 37 baddies. Avast didn't miss a one, but it halted the scan every time it found a bad guy. I hope there's a way to have it do a continuous scan. Having it stop like that would be very inconvenient on a full scan. (AntiVir missed 2 of my collection. AVG missed 8.)

Avast did not play nicely with my firewall (Outpost). When I tried to execute a file, Avast began checking it (which is good) during which time Outpost crashed (which is bad). Then my computer locked. After a reboot, things were okay for about an hour, then Avast & Outpost had yet another beef. Outpost crashed, & the computer locked again.

With the next reboot, I uninstalled Avast. Avast wants a reboot in order to complete the uninstallation. I did so, then used Total Uninstall to check if Avast had fully uninstalled itself. It had NOT done so. Thank goodness for Total Uninstall -- it cleaned up the left-overs.

With Avast gone, Outpost is running just fine again. I'm sure the conflict with my firewall could be resolved eventually, but I don't want to invest any time doing it. Even so, I shall give Avast another trial one of these days. It is already an excellent antivirus program. Also, based upon what I have read here & elsewhere, it seems evident that the folks at Alwil (proponents of Avast) are working VERY aggressively to make it even better.

 

Nice!

I don't know...

In on-demand scan, when it catch the first virus, you can check the option "Don't show this dialog next time" and the scan continues without any user intervention, if you want to delete all the virus, just click in "Delete..." and after click in "Delete all", if you want to move/rename, just click in "Move/Rename..." and after click in "Move/Rename all", and so on...

Don't forget to enable the option "Show results of Explorer Extension" in "Program Settings > Common", to see the results even if avast doesn't catch any virus...

I use the avast! Home Edition 4.5.523 with the Outpost Firewall Pro 2.5.370.370, and don't have any kind of problems...

Yeah, it seems that sometimes the avast have some uninstall problems, but it didn't happened with me...
You can try this utility: avast! uninstall utility

This is my favorite free AV.
Alwil have a great support, this AV doesn't be a resources hog(only a few RAM ), you can configure everything, but to that you have to edit the 'avast4.ini' to change some advanced settings , and it's FREE!

 

I had a buddy who messed around with some free stuff. He caught a certain, rather embarassing disease.

Just kidding VC. I appreciate your comments & know-how. I made a copy of a couple of your helpful tips so I'll have them handy when I trial Avast again, some day.

 

Well I still have my Kaspersky 5 key and ran it for a while without encountering any malware.

Now Im working my way through the freebies and I still havent encountered any malware.

So, if I use scanned webmail, if I avoid obvious booby traps on P2P, if I use Firefox, if I use a Firewall, if I use Spywareblaster, Spywareguard, Spybot and Ad Aware,

Where am I likely to be potentially infected?

Seems to me that in my and similar cases we can in all probability rely on the freebies.

 

avast! registration form doesn't require your correct informations (except for e-mail address). So you can enter whatever you want if you don't "trust" them.

About uninstalling...
There was obviosly some problem,but i doubt that it was on avast!-s side.
I have installed and removed it more than any of you (testing a lot hehe)
and never encountered any problems. But i do use avast! Uninstall Utility,so i'm sure all files/reg entries are gone.

 

You are welcome

 

When I had AntiVir as my resident AV I didn't come across any malware either, and if you are a safe surfer it is quite sufficient.

But if you surf on the the wild side you can encounter drive by downloads. Whatever your browser settings, sleazy sites will try and foist 'exploits' onto you (by injecting code into your machine) and the follow-up will be that the 'exploit' will force you to accept a trojan as soon as you click onto certain associated sites.

I now use Kaspersky and I feel this frees me up to be more 'adventurous' on the web with a bit more protection. I have been hit by a few 'baddies' (on a drive by basis) in recent weeks and it is possible that a free AV would have fended these off, just as KAV did; it's just that I don't want to risk it!

 

Am I alone in this assessment of AntiVir/PE, or do others think the same?

What appears to be a fair product, does not appear to have much support from the company who created it. Am I again the only one who thinks this?

The forum for AntiVir/PE could use some enhancements also, in my opinion. Again others thoughts on this as well.

Does any one know of a free virus protection program that works well on Windows98, and with a 56K dial up modem, that will not degrade the response time of ones machine? I really liked AVG 6.0, but the new 7.0 version just slows my machine to a snail Pace.

If this is to blunt, I apologize, but I would like to know.

Thanks
wildman

 

Well,give it a try to avast!. I would also recommend you AntiVir,but since you're on dialup, i won't.

 

i use a free AV at the moment. i dont use activex and mainly use FF.

are most of the drive-by installs aimed at IE with lax script settings? or are you still at a fairly high risk with firefox?
thanks

 

avast it is. Just finished installing it, and will give it a try.

Thanks
wildman

 

Let us know the result, wildman

 

Most of the drive-bys are aimed at IE because the large majority of people use it and because it has plenty of loopholes to exploit.

I honestly cannot say how vulnerable Firefox is, but presumeably it is not entirely bullet proof!

The kind of exploits I've encountered are the common ones, aimed at IE, which probably wouldn't even affect a patched system and probably/certainly would be picked up by AntiVir. It is just a case of risk reduction, because I know that next time I might be targetted by something more exotic!

If you want to give yourself a few sleepless nights, have a look at this link!
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55598

 

Have farted around with this for most part of the day now. Once again a program that slows down my machine, uninstall it (No problem), install it (Machine slows down noticeably). Also non asked for items are placed in the temp files (could have lived with that however). Nope have got rid of avast. Looks like for the time being, (Ahhhhhhhhhhhh) it will be Antivir/PE (will have to live with the antiquated update method).

I will now vent, (AVG why did you have to go and muck it up?).

Thanks
wildman