Upgrading from AOL AVS - Where Next?

At the moment 44 processes. Commit charge is 302M / 1248M.

 

the scan speed was improved around january so the scan speed is alot faster than it used to be
lodore

 

The way I did it was based on some directions I saw here in Wilders, which were:

1> Click on "Start"
2> Select "Control Panel"
3> Select "Performance and Maintenance"
4> Select "Administrative Tools"
5> Select "Local Security Policy"
6> Select "Software Restriction Policies"
7> Select "Additional Rules", then:
7a> Click on "Action" in toolbar at top of window
7b> Click on "New Path Rule"
7c> Browse to C:\ProgramFiles\Antivir PersonelEdition Classic\avnotify.exe (assuming AntiVir is installed in the default location)
7d> Select "Disallowed" in "Security Level"
7e> Add a description of the purpose of the rule if you prefer
7f> Click on "OK"

I did this on the one PC I am testing Avira on and it updates fine with no pop-ups promoting more features if I upgrade. I have seen no disadvantages.

I have also heard you can do the following:

I read that you could go into the "Scheduler" of AntiVir and add your own update schedule and then "unactivate" the default updater and you would get the updates without the "Notifier" pop-up.

But like I said, I have not tested this method since I had previously performed the steps I detailed.

Good luck with your decision.

 

The problem has just reoccurred.

For anybody interested in some detailed troubleshooting, once the graphics start playing up (font styles change then display boxes don't get formed properly), any attempt to open another application results in the following error:

The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000012d). Click on OK to terminate.

In this instance it was also followed by a BSOD (although this is the first time this has happened)

Page_fault_in_nonpaged_area

Tech info:
Stop 0x00000050 (0xBAD0B148, 0x00000000, 0x806638E3, 0x00000000)

Just off to Google, but if anybody has any bright ideas please let me know.

 

could be the capacitor plague.
check the capacitors on your motherboard.
also could be your graphics card since its not displaying the video properly or even the graphics drivers
lodore

 

By way of an update, having watched the PC keel over again last Sunday, I installed Avast to see whether the problem would continue.

The result is that we are now in day 7 without any further recurrences of the problem.

AVS must have been a factor in the problem and that it must have clashed with something else on the PCs. I have a strong suspicion that if there is some poor coding somewhere it probably isn't in Kaspersky's software.

However, I don't have the time or the inclination, to try and chase things down further. I have found a pragmatic solution, which for this PC is not to use AVS, and by implication KAV or KIS in the future.

The questions is what to do now. Do I stay with Avast or purchase something like Avira?

 

I have a strong suspicion that your strong suspicion might just be right.
As to what to do now, I've used both, was very happy with both, currently stuck with Avast with no problems, nor virii. Avira users seem to be very happy generally, and Avira seems to consistently score a few percent above Avast (and AVG) at avcomparatives. I don't know if that matters that much, for everyday use, maybe for a high risk user.
No expert, by the way, but I reckon you'd be pretty well protected with either. Maybe try out the free version of Avira for a while, see which works best on your system, and which you like the best, before committing to a purchase. (I actually like Avast's funky interface. And the very configurable shields.)

 

not to mention the great bootscan feature. I've been trying out NOD32 and am trying to figure out what to switch to. NOD32 is an excellent AV program but there are certain scanning features which slows down my older CPU. Several of Avast's shields used to really slow my web browser page rendering, but I liked the email shield, and of course the ability to schedule a bootscan. I'm not sure which other AV programs offer that.

The two issues I have with Avast are both provided by the recent review from AV-comparatives.org.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2007_02.php

They rate it low on catching polymorphic viruses, and its malware detections aren't up to the performance of the top programs like NOD32, Avira, Kaspersky, Norton, and a few others.

That said, wouldn't Avast, a firewall and a free resident anti-spyware shield like Spyware Terminator, along with several free on demand scanners like SuperAntispyware, Asquared, Spybot, and Ad-Aware be sufficient?

I was also thinking of adding the free version of Bitdefender, Avira, or Dr. Web's Cureit as a on demand scanner. As I've stated in other threads, two AV programs can be installed as long as only one loads at boot-up and the other doesn't has its services disabled.