Bad experience with Avira Antivir (free version)

I was previously using ESET Smart Security and it was great, but then it expired and I didn't want to spend money renewing it, so I downloaded Avast Home Edition 4.8 (free version) and it was great. Then I read a lot about other free antivirus software. I read that AVG was bloated, Avast was great, but Avira Antivira was supposedly even lighter then Avast. So I downloaded the free version of Avira Antivir, uninstalled Avast, and installed Avira Antivir........BIG MISTAKE. From the very beginning, it seemed to slow down my internet browsing slighty, but I ignored it and thought it was maybe just the internet connection being slightly slow. Then over the next few weeks I kept getting hours at a time where internet browsing was slowing to a crawl. So I called my ISP several times during that time, and my internet surfing would get better on and off. Then I realized that maybe Avira Antivir was causing this.....and I was correct!! I uninstalled that piece of garbage, and reinstalled Avast, and my internet browsing speed has been really good ever since. IMO, Avira Antivir is a overrated piece of junk, but Avast is a great free antivirus!!

Just thought I would share this story with everyone

 

ugh... can somebody say software incompatibility? lol installing and uninstalling multiple AV's on the same system is never a good idea, AV's are famous for leaving traces that can cause big issues, even if u use the removal tool, its never completely clean.

 

+1 I agree

 

I've never had a problem trying out different antivirus programs.......well until Avira Antivir that is. The uninstall utility on my Win XP system works just fine

 

Well glad avast works for you.
If u would used the premium version than it would made sense as some people reported problems with the webguard slowing down browsing,but the free version to be honest i don't belive it.
Did u check task manager,Process Explorer to see if there was unusual process,high CPU,system activity during the time you had avira installed?

 

well just by reading ur post i can tell ur quite inexperienced and dont know what really is happening, maybe u shuld listen a little bit instead of just argueing at people thinking ur right.

installing and uninstalling AV's leave traces on ur system, they may not be noticeable to u, but in SOME cases, installing another security product will create a conflict with either currently installed security software or traces of old ones, since the free version DOESN'T even have a webguard, that is obviously what ur problem is. u may think the uninstall went fine, and it does, the software is gone from ur system, but those small traces of leftovers aren't something that pop up at u and say "hey im here"

 

i cant see why you would have those problems because avira free doesnt really run network altering protections, maybe faulty install, when i first got it, i accidently didnt run as admin and it had some disastrous results, it would sit in tray and no update, no scan, everything wouldnt work and slowed my computerl, i never realised i needed to do that because its a first for me..

 

Yes,perhaps something like a minimum of forty years IT experence should be required for posting rights.
Heaven forbid that a poster simply narrate the problem he has had with a software,as the OP has.
Avira mania is at such a pitch,I much doubt that one defector is going to mitigate the server/overload/update problem.
Given it existed long before the current Avira craze.

Although it may or not be the cause of the problem,perhaps the best thing to do would to provide directions how to remove the recalcitrant AV remains.
Or is a reformat and reinstall of Windows necessary after the removal of an AV?

 

the reason i said he sounds inexperienced is cuz he wasnt listening to what anyone had to say, he just kept on implying this is Avira's fault and he didnt do ANYTHING wrong, so i needed to point out that he shuld listen a bit to get this prob solved instead of being ignorant. avira craze? do u see Avira in my signature? i dont think so. i just respect a product that works and dont like when people bash something for an issue THEY are having and dont want to hear any solutions or perhaps HOW it happened.

 

How I read the OP's post is pretty much the same as firzen sees it, I think. Preparedness to blame Avira because his "uninstall utility on XP SP3 works well." Says it all, really.
(OP, in most cases, the uninstaller being invoked through the XP "add/remove programs" facility is the uninstaller that came with the program. Check any program files folder.)

Are you being sarcastic, or failing to recognize it?

This thread would be a good place to start. A lot of the AV's have their own uninstallers. Some AV companies are better at letting users know there is an uninstall tool available than others, of course.

 

Are you being sarcastic, or failing to recognize it?

I am referring to ssj100's comment that staying away fro Avira would lessen the load on servers.

I am also referring to the fact that Avira not running well on the OP's System is no indication of his experience or lack there of.

Is it an indictment of Avira? No.
Is it a reason for him to change Av?
Yes!
does it give him the right to complain a little?
Well,that is harmless,AND human nature. (And something those with vastly greater experience could afford to magnanimously overlook),

 

u didnt really read my post where i originally said he sounded inexperienced did u? i said that when he said "The uninstall utility on my Win XP system works just fine" that CLEALY shows inexperience since he wuld know an AV isnt so easily removed with the typical add/or remove programs...

and he clearly doesnt want to know what the problem is or how its caused, hes here to just talk ~Phrase removed.~

 

That would be "failing to recognize it", then.

You are right, it isn't. And is totally forgiveable/tolerable.
It seemed, though, that the OP was not interested in learning the reason it may not be operating correctly, came across as having a bit of a mindset, to me.
Most reasonable people would say something like "I've tried this, and done that, and this widget seems to be borking my thronomizer. I know there are a few doo-dah users here, is there anything I can do to make it work correctly?"

But this user decided to leap in boots and all and start dissing the AV. And as firzen and myself have indicated, shown a fair bit of ignorance in the process. Ignorance is OK, it's an opportunity to learn. We're all ignorant of something. Being ignorant and having a tanty about a (probably) innocent party is not. Nor is it the best way to get some help.

 

I dont know if the "uninstall utility on my Win XP system" is Windows "add remove programs",Revo Uninstaller,or other utility.
From the info provided neither do you.
If your "AV lingering remains" are in fact the cause of the OP's problem,it beats me how a removal of Avast!,followed by a install of Avira,was problematic,but yet another removal of Avira,and install of Avast worked fine.
Those "bits and pieces of Avira" must be very toxic,while Avast!,(that gives no where near as clean an uninstall,Avast Removal tool,or not),must be fairly innocuous!

"Most reasonable people would say something like "I've tried this, and done that, and this widget seems to be borking my thronomizer. I know there are a few doo-dah users here, is there anything I can do to make it work correctly?"

Sounds great!
The response would be a string of:
"works great here!!"
"no problems here,five year Avira user!!"
"what the hell did yo do to cause this problem,because it sure was not Avira!!"

Some software does not run well on certain systems.
bottom line.

 

True. In the absence of more information, since the particular wording was used without mention of any third party uninstaller, I took it at face value.

It could even be the remains of an Eset application. Who knows?
Running the uninstallers and (sometimes) rebooting can work wonders. I've seen it dozens of times.

The point I'm making, that you seem to be having trouble accepting or at least agreeing with, is that if you have a problem with something, you research the issue, maybe ask for help.
You don't go having a bona-fide brain fart on a public forum first. It just isn't the best way to get help, plus it reveals much about the attitude involved, to those that can see it. Clearly, you can not.
[edit] the lower two quoted items above indicate how ypestis' post above appeared before it was edited.

Now you are assuming that all Avira users here are fanboys with no intelligence. That's a little OTT. Perhaps even insulting.

That's true, too. But still no reason for the tirade in the OP.

I've pretty much said all I think is of value, here, so won't be replying to the thread any more, unless someone wants actual help or steps to run an uninstaller, or similar.

 

Tarq57,What I see is a guy that has had a problem trying to secure his machine.
He is ticked off,stressed,and running his head a little.
That's all I see.
Maybe a little "bartender" sympathy would be in order.
Maybe I am just too much of a bleeding heart.
No problem.

 

wow... so in that post u go to the assumption that every AV works, functions, and has the same components coded in the same way... Avast is created diff than Avira, if it wasnt ther wuld be no diff between the programs but ther is, and something that effects Avira may not effect avast. same goes for ESET, the removal os ESET culdve cause the conflict with its remains and maybe not Avast, its always different.

 

"unless someone wants actual help or steps to run an uninstaller, or similar."


OK,,I normally removed through "add/remove programs",
rebooted,ran the "Avira Registry cleaner tool",rebooted,and re-uped the 80 or so entries in SpywareBlaster, removed by the Avira Registry Cleaning Tool.
I then ran CCleaner and did a regedit search for any Avira entries,and rebooted.
The so called "avira removal tool" led an unresponsive machine,and a image roll back.


Anyway I am sure the OP has learn t a valuable lesson here.
"Them Cows is Sacred!!".

 

The removal tool for Avira is a file named "RegCleaner.exe", and described as the Avira Registry cleaner.
Like any registry cleaner, it can sometimes remove stuff that is best not removed, especially if you run it while another active AV is installed. It will find AV-related reg entries that can make any AV non-working.

I don't know why it made your entire system unresponsive. Nor why you had to re-enable the SpywareBlaster protection, if that's what you mean. I've jsut run it, and it didn't point to any SpywareBlaster entries.

When running Ccleaner, did you search for/delete items under "issues"? (Reg cleaning)? If so, that could be the reason for your system having become unresponsive, although Ccleaners' reg cleaner is considered fairly safe.

None of this is indicated in the help file of course, because I don't think there is one.

To tell the truth, sometimes I think I can be a bleeding heart, too. I just didn't see the guy as asking for help. All I saw was someone jumping to conclusions and dissing the software.
Bygones.

 

Could I inject another bit of reality here folks?

Does anyone know of any product out there in which there have been no bad experiences suffered by anyone? I didn't think so.

One unfortunate experience does not a bad product make. Further, in the vast majority of cases that I've seen, these "bad" experiences have been the result of either a latent software incompatibility, a miscued install (due to incomplete prior install, install from an ill defined machine state, or some combination of these factors), an install on an underspec machine, and so on.

I've experienced this situation myself - to the point that I performed a complete nuke/repave/rebuild with all legacy software reinstalled was performed - which did resolve the issue even though an in-place OS reinstall did not, nor did sequential removal (with clean-up) of all other "likely" incompatible applications. I still scratch my head over that one.

The point is, something somewhere was amiss. The problem didn't impact other applications, it impacted one in a severe manner, but once addressed, all operations and functionality were fine. It would have been easy to blame the application just added for bearing sole responsibility for the issue, but once all avenues were examined, that was simply not the case. It is unlikely the case in this instance as well.

Look folks...., you need to step back from drawing very general conclusions based on woefully incomplete information. It serves no useful purpose. In addition, could we focus on the technical issue and not the people commenting on it? Thanks in advance.

Blue

 

Tarq57 :

no,It was the Avira AntiVir Removal Tool,not the Avira Registry cleaner that lead to the unresponsive system.
I do not thank I used the registry cleaner in CCleaner,as I hardly ever do.
I also checked all of the options for the Avira registry cleaner,this is what led to the removal of a number of sites from SpywareBlasters protection list.
I doubt the default settings would do so.
You may want to try clicking "configuration" and ticking all keys. I only mentioned this because it is something I always remember to do,once I figured out what was causing the 80 or so Firefox entries to be disabled,
not because I thought it was an issue.

 

LOL, Nice try

 

The same comment about lightening server load was made regarding CIS recently as well.
I don't know why anyone would think this is helpful.

 

He's trying to explain that overloaded servers is somehow the users fault basically.

 

Not helpful but a nice joke... made me laugh