Avast Security

Avast just let thinkpoint infection in my friends pc...
scanned with hitmanpro..hmp found many infections dat avast hadnt found
and after removing infections with hmp i put avira and scanned with it..it found additions malware that avast had not found..

 

And, this additional malware were missed by hitmanpro?

 

Yes ... they were in his download folder and 2 were in chrome cache
hmp scans only critical areas so i doubt it would have found these

 

I find this sort of post not very helpful, verging on meaningless, without file names/paths, mode of infection, and details concerning the software installed on the computer concerned.

Any AV can let a new or as yet undetected infection in. Especially if the user invites it in. Not that anyone would know that is the case here, or not.

Without at least an attempt at some of the details above, the post comes across as a bit of a whinge.

 

I have used Avast! Free for years and haven't looked back. Recently, to pay back some of this kindness I purchased the Avast! Internet Security for 3PCs for 3 years, a special discount of 55% offered to Wilders!

 

Avast was the real time av ... no other real time software ... i dont know much details about the infection ... the infection file name was hotfix.exe and it came when he was surfing net ... i just went there ctrl started hmp and cleaned whatever it found ... there were msbackup.exe file in every drive which was a rootkit as shown by hmp ...
i have attached image of history from hmp from his pc for u to see

 

It can't be denied Avast! does miss some malware.. Even when I was using the free.. but I still go back to avast! weird huh? Poisoned by the orange colour..

I'll just clean it up with MBAM, SAS, and DrWebCureIt

 

@ The_ChamP
While I appreciate that you post about this episode (honestly), I think it is crucial to keep things in perspective. And in order to do that, it would be necessary for each and every avast! user, each and every day that they did NOT get infected, to post to a forum to report that, "avast! did NOT let any infections in my computer today... I scanned with HMP and it found nothing, and then I scanned with MBAM and it found nothing". If I were to do that, (and I've been using avast! for 3½ years), I would have posted about 1300 times. Then multiply that times all the avast! users. About 6 of those times I would have posted that avast! found and stopped a threat before it could do any damage.

This whole process of reporting a problem that happens while a particular AV is installed reminds me of a toothache. If you DON'T have a toothache, and someone asks how you are doing, you never tell them, "Hey, my teeth feel pretty good today". But if you do have a toothache and someone asks after your health, for sure you're gonna tell them about the pain.

I try to keep all that in perspective when I read that, "Avast just let thinkpoint infection in my friends pc". I don't know anything about your friend, his computer habits, his security programs, or anything else. But I do know that avast! has done very well by me for several years.

 

^^ That's how I would have better worded my own post above.

 

I've yet to see a perfect AV software, and IMHO AV softwares are slowly losing the battle. That's why we need sandboxes, HIPS, behavior blockers, and maybe even some form of light virtualization, and then we have to fall back on disk imaging just in case.

I realized something from the AV-Comparatives reports. Avira, who has a great catch rate of 99.8% still didn't catch 2,209 separate malwares in the August 2010 test. Avast didn't catch 6,389 malwares. Heavyweights Kaspersky and Eset missed 15,706 and 13,056 respectively. What did I learn from that? Don't put all my trust in an AV software.

 

Avast just doesn't have the cutting edge to defend your computer on itself. You always need to use it in a layered setup or it'll eventually get a thoughtless user infected. This does not only regard Avast, but most other standalone AVs on the market as well.

 

Great analogy.

 

hotfix.exe its a fake Antispyware program

 

An excellent Antivirus like Avast! not only keeps the computer clean, it also doesn't jump like a yo-yo on false positives!

A good balanced is maintained between real virus and false positives!

 

Good Evening ! Shadek...I take issue with your observation that Avast isn't cutting edge...I respectfully disagree what with Virtualization and Sandboxing with Avast Pro it gives it an edge in my opinion that not many competitors can lay claim too. I have all my Browsers Sandboxed...and so far couldn't be happier. Hopefully I'll never have too justify it's effectiveness it letting malware past it's Shields...but if so I believe with Prevx 3.0 with Safe On Line it will provide me with that extra layer of protection. Sincerely...Securon

 

If you meant all other standalone AVs on the market then I could not agree more.

 

there's always the possibility of infections, no AV is 100% bulletproof….

@Page42

 

ahh man i just reported something...even i know no av is 100 % but since i am putting avast in many of my friends pc i thought it wouldnt let these many infections in...now i cant just force hips and sandboxie on less than average users like him...i know each av will miss something..i was just sad thats all...coz avast had not let me down so i was really happy using it...i think we are free to report if we get infected...

 

The best part of Avast! is that it has a very good sandboxie build into it. How great is this.

Best regards,

KOR!

P.S. Since you are Avast! user, we forgive you! LOL!

 

I knew what you meant!

 

@ The_ChamP

Of course you are, if I offended you, not intended. Even installing the number 1 AV by various testing organisations doesn't guaranty that your friends won’t get infected.

 

Yes i know that...and on a side note how much more time for 5.1 ?

 

None are perfect but I'll take what Avast gives... 95-97% Detection, fewer false positives than most others and less of a resource hog. It's really when you factor all these things one of the best AV products on the market.

 

More info about 5.1:
http://www.zdnet.com/photos/image-gallery-introduction-to-avast-antivirus-version-51/450981
It says final release in Q4 2010, but also beta in september, so it seems to be an old presentation.

 

I use avast! on most of my PCs. I have consciously chosen avast! after trying out almost all other solutions, based upon - resource usage, aesthetics and update mechanism. Life is chock full of trade-offs. Agreed avast! does not have the most stellar detection record, practically or based on AV-Tests. Trustport, G-Data and Avira rock the test beds. But then I am more than willing to take a calculated risk because I am not ready to compromise of factors mentioned earlier. But I can do this because I have the sense to layer my system with stuff like Norton DNS, DEP, SEHOP, UAC, HMP. avast! actually rocks. Make sure to password protect it.