Update Problems AVG Anti-Spyware (Free Version)

The same sort of zero news information combined with a dismissive reply if you ever manage to get a response out of them. Apparently it's the fault of the users for upgrading to Vista, or indeed for having the gall to buy a new computer preloaded with Vista. Nothing to do with expecting the software developer to keep pace with technology. Remembering that AVG have had Vista RTM since November 2006.

 

Larry Bridwell, global security strategist at Grisoft had said on January 30 that AVG Anti-Spyware will have a Vista version. I don't think Grisoft will go back on their word, but

http://www.vnunet.com/computeractive/news/2173743/security-products-compatible

 

Downloading updates,receive data........ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

 

Paid version by the way.Will the updates problem be magically cured by May 1st?

 

Also have the paid version , I did the installation 3 hrs ago ( April 30) and no automatic updates , I have to do this manually , It's unacceptable and i don't like to complain but I paid for it, I did soem googling and i noticed that it happened all through April ...

 

Yes it has,optimism is turning into pessimism.Bring back ewido 3.5 !That is what I originally purchased.I renewed and upgraded to 7.5 assuming that the same attention would be paid to as the great ewido product.Aside from the usual false positives,updates has been my only major complaint.(I don't have Vista)O.K. enough venting!!!

 

I don't doubt that AVG anti spyware is a very good piece of software but the updates problem is drivin me crazy , again yesterday when clicking on the update tab it would say receiving date but without downloading anything) it was 3 pm , at 5 am the day after it was still saying that it was receiving data without downloading anything again, then i closed AVG AS , and then restarted it , and then clicked the update button again and clicked on start update manually and then Miracle ,it started to do the updates but the trouble wasn't over yet, cause then it said updates aborted , so i had to click on the start update again , and then it was up to date

Avg AS has to do something about this and it's a priority for them to do so..They act like if they don't give a damn about it ! I paid for this product but i suppose they wouldn't give my money back (of course) ..and it seems they don't reply when you email them so the more it goes the less i have trust about this product and i'm not the only one , that update problem has been for all April and it continues on May !!!

 

Dumped it a while back, this is a competative space, I just consider it a weeding out of the unworthy. I try not to get attached to programs, it does it's job or it's out. Ewido was a nice little program AVG trashed that. A definitions based security application that won't update it's definitions is worse than useless, because it's presence leads people to think they are protected when that is probably not the case.

 

When they were ewido they always emailed me back promptly.It was usually a question and not a problem I was emailing to them.The only problem I had with ewido was after Grisoft took over and it affected just about all the subscribers.On 6-26-06 there was a bug in the scans.That is how I found this forum,and when I joined.The bug was fixed and I haven't had a major problem til this Update epidemic.

 

A recommendation to all of those AVG AntiSpyware users who are having problems with support: In my personal experience, Ewido has never replied to any of my emails. I *think* the reason for this is that Grisoft has taken over as the support head for AVG AntiSpyware. So, in future, if you have any questions, ask them to Grisoft and not Ewido. I've found Grisoft to be substantially more responsive than Ewido, but always ensure to mention your license number/key in the body of the email whenever sending a message to Grisoft, so that your request can be processed (or use Grisoft's technical support form found at their website).

 

Hi, folks: I do appreciate your inputs, Firecat. But yours makes me even more confused. This is why; (1)Grisoft has taken over Ewido's support hat, and weras Ewido's comfortable shoes. Honorable task, you may say, but--- when was the last (perhaps the only) time we have spotted any soul emerging from Grisoft's hide out to meet us here? Nada, here goes the great SUPPORT-ya to support their bottomfrom zipping open. (2) every request seeking support requiring a key or sort of Lic # ? does this mean free version users, you are out my picture, do not bother us. Sad outcome for those who thought they had held onto a lifeline to fight malwares. What a joke, but makes sense, no mooney, no service, fair indeed, but a greedy soul. I have seen enough and have since put AVG AS ,aid w/ lifetime lic,onto attic. Awaiting spring clean up to hull to city dump.

 

Perman, I will try to answer what I can in this regard:

If Grisoft's employees wanted or were allowed to come into this forum, then this forum would have long turned into the Grisoft support forum and not the Ewido support forum. Many other companies' workers also are not allowed to post on forums, or simply do not have the time. For example, until very recently, BitDefender was not having anyone to represent the company on any forum, and any questions directed on this matter would result in a "That is impossible" answer. In the end, its all about permissions and whether your boss allows it. If they wanted a forum, they'd create one, not much difficulty in that.

A key or license number is required in order to verify that you are a Grisoft paying customer. This facilitates the company to provide faster, better and more comprehensive support and service to its paying customers, who deserve it. However, Grisoft has NOT left the free version users without any recourse of support. Grisoft has a forum for free version users, as well as an FAQ page which users can make use of to get support. Also, if you send an undetected virus or have an issue with a false positive, even then you can email them. You may or may not get a reply, but the FPs are definitely fixed and the samples are always added.

It may sound somewhat bad, and I will agree that support is somewhat lacking for their free customers. I hope they improve in this regard, but the support they currently offer to free users is at least somewhat basically OK. And as paying Ewido customers, all of you using AVG AS are entitled to the same support and service that the other Grisoft AVG paying customers are entitled to.

It is your opinion, and I can understand how some of you feel about this. Even I would feel equally bad if this happened to me. Grisoft has a brilliant marketing department, they will NOT let the drop the idea of selling a separate Anti-Spyware product because it will bring the additional revenue in more markets. The problem, in my opinion, with Ewido is that Grisoft plans to integrate the AVG and Ewido engines, and I suspect AVG AntiSpyware will remain a troubled product until the release of AVG 8.0, which will probably see a total unification of the spyware detection databases of AVG and Ewido. There will probably not be two engines anymore, just one engines with all the efforts of Grisoft and Ewido amalgamated into a new engine. It will probably not feel like the old Ewido, but I suspect its gonna be a lot better.

For this sole speculation, I am willing to wait till its release, because I feel there will be some interesting things to come very soon.

Also, referring to Grisoft as a company, I do not know how they function or what their policies are, but they have always provided a cheap and effective product, with customer service above par, and far better than some others in the industry. Even though they have become a big company, they have not lost their focus with the AVG Anti-Virus line. I like that, and when they say there is a bug, they usually fix it. I am very impressed with Grisoft at the moment, but I can see thats not such a common opinion here.

 

Hi, Firecat: Thank you for your understanding and spare time from busy schedule to answer my querries. Your intime reply has eased some of my anxieties. I will take your advice to wait for v.8. I think we, memebers here ,are very fortunate enough to have a person like you stay around, IMO, you are an ASSET to this forum.

 

Here is my 2 cents. I'm a paid customer. Unlike some posters, my AVG AS will never update, it just hangs. I contacted customer service and they sent me a canned reply for AVG AV. I replied and asked for a solution for AVG AS. No response. If your customer service sucks, then at least have your employees help on the forum.

Disgusted. Ready to change. Any one have any good suggestions?

 

Zoidberg

Like you, I'm searching for a good AS product, but I'm having to find one that works well with Vista. If you are still running XP, you have several options to consider, but it's probably not suitable to discuss that here. It seems to me that the AS software market is still very immature & the AS writers seem to have been caught on the "hop" with Vista. Maybe they didn't see any MS press releases or never read any trade mags. At the moment, there are no solid, effective AS programs for Vista that I have found.

Firecat

An earlier post appears to be contradictory. At one point you suggest that the AVG AV & AS products will remain separate, then you suggest that the Ewido & AVG engines will be combined. Are these two positions not mutually exclusive?

 

No, you seem to have not understood what I said. I said that the product "AVG Anti-Spyware" is probably going to continue, but it will probably be much different from the Ewido we know today. Currently AVG AS is consisted entirely of Ewido engine and signatures, I was sugesting that in future, it will be a combination of AVG engine and Ewido engine with all the non-spyware/trojan/other malware signatures removed.

i.e. Currently AVG AS = Former Ewido
In future, AVG AS = AVG engine (spyware signatures only) + Ewido engine combined together in one engine (or maybe two engines because it is quite difficult from a technical point-of-view to integrate Ewido's technology directly into AVG engine).

So, it will not be the same Ewido, but "AVG Anti-Spyware" as a product will likely continue. While this is only my personal opinion, I think Grisoft will have to do this because the protection offered to the customers of its various products is not uniform currently.

BTW, If you noticed already, Grisoft is not advertising AVG Professional all that much any longer. People using AVG Pro should be equally concerned as those using AVG AS, because the introduction of AVG Anti-Malware puts AVG Pro in a very tight spot.

 

Thanks for your clarification.

From the reseller aspect, AVG appear to be pushing the AVG Internet Security product... whatever that is!

 

AVG IS = AVG Pro + Ewido + Firewall + Anti-Spam (Internet Security Suite, interface is NOT as good as AVG Anti-Spyware, Vista compatible). AVG would want to push their "best" product naturally, so I guess thats why they want you to sell AVG internet Security (just a guess).

From a consumer aspect, when you go to the Free edition website, you will always get advertisements of AVG Anti-Malware and AVG Internet Security, but never any advertisement of AVG Pro. In fact, the AVG Pro edition is offered almost zero representation in the free edition website (http://free.grisoft.com). Even the Anti-Spyware gets more representation than AVG Pro. Just browse through the website and you'll see. The below page is the biggest example of this:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5

See the advertisements for AVG Internet Security and Anti-Malware editions? Another example is below:

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/special-avg-free-conversion-freecnv

Note how Grisoft advertises spyware detection only for Internet Security and Anti-Malware editions, but the truth is that AVG Pro also detects spyware (but it does not have Ewido engine, so it uses only AVG engine's spyware detection). It is very clear to me that AVG Anti-Malware and Internet Security are being pushed and AVG Pro is largely being put down.

 

Ahh, so AVG Pro is just the AV version. I think that from AVGs position they will want to sell the other products because they can get more money per punter.

Not a good way to go in my opinion as if all security solutions were only in suites, then the users will not be able to cherry-pick the best of each product.

 

With all respect to your problems and opinions I hate to click on topics which are OffTopic. Please make a new one and I will like to read or even participate in that discussion.

This one is about (no)update problems.

Gerard

 

Point taken about the off-topic posts Mr Grumpy.

Maybe a kindly mod could split out the OT postings please?

 

Still not updating here. Things had better ship up or I'm shipping it out. Bad advertisment for their software when you have nothing but problems updating.

 

It appears today is one of those very problematic and all too common "No Update" days.Well the update will probably show up eventually,usually after I vent.

 

AVG Anti-Spyware (Free Version) Received Updates

Today I clicked on AVG Anti-Spyware (FREE) upates and my jaw hit the floor. It finally updated.

 

Re: AVG Anti-Spyware (Free Version) Received Updates

Well I received updates again today with no problems. (777,115) Do you think that they finally fixed this problem.?