Do AVG remove worms?

I have downloaded and installed AVG Free Edition.

Do this AV program remove worms?

-Steff

 

Steff - The word 'worm' isn't mentioned anywhere in the literature I just looked at from Grisoft - all that's ever mentioned is 'virus'.

Due to the fact that their virus descriptions aren't at all comprehensive (only 'interesting' virii are described, and NOT everything that they detect) , that's actually a rather hard question to answer.

Your best bet would probably be to email them, and ask.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help with that one! Pete

 

Yes it does but only a small procentage.


Technodrome

 

Hi - First time poster here

I currently use e-Trust AV, but it's coming up for renewal and I'm disgusted with the company (not the proggy) for various reasons.

I downloaded AVG and tested it with my samples. e-Trust caught them all, but AVG caught none of these:

Melissa.E
Klez.H
SubSeven.213
Win32Manage
ICMIBS

I wrote the company, but since it was the free edition, I don't expect an answer.

I wanted to submit my samples to them for them to add to their DB, but they have no such service?

Can anyone enlighten me on if AVG is even any good?

Thanks.

 

Is AVG good? That question gets debated here alot Lets do it again.

Personally, it has shown me no reason why it is better than no AV.

Others have had good experiences with it. They will surely post so.

Just remember it is free. Don't cry if an update is slow or it misses something.

 

Note: The above is just another statement by someone who didn't use AVG for over two years as their sole primary AV program on two Internet computers and who thus didn't ever really get a chance to see that it's much better than "no AV". Treat it as such.

Scorpio Rising - Welcome to the forum!

Could you clear up a couple of points for me?

(a)Was AVG totally updated when you ran your test? IOW, after you d/l'ed and installed it, was the first thing you did (before testing it) updating its' Program Version and Virus Database?

(b)On the AVG main screen, when you click the 'Service' button, then highlight and click 'Complete Test Settings', do you
(1)have all drives you want scanned specified correctly?
(2)'Testing' section has both 'Internally Compressed' and 'Archives' checked?
(3)'Test All Extensions', 'Integrity Check' and 'Heuristic Analysis' checked?
(c) You do realize that if any of the 'test' files you mentioned infect via attachment, that you'd actually have to try to open the attachment before AVG would alert on it, correct?

Just some things that need clarified before I'll accept your results as valid. No offense, but I have to know if the program is correctly set up and totally updated prior to the test being run - and if you're interpreting the results correctly. Pete

 

I agree with spy1! You should check your AVG settings and then scan again!


Technodrome

 

Thanks!

Yup! D/L the updates and even resbooted the computer to make sure any registry keys were set.

Yep to this one too. I scanned all HD (C:, D: and E and for the samples test, A:.

Yes.

Yes, but I did notice on the scan, it was skipping a lot of extensions that I know that can harbor viruses, including .wav, .mp3 and .mim.

I didn't know that, because e-Trust doesn't require a virus to be opened before being detected.

No problem. First step when I do IT calls is to make sure the error isn't an ID10T one

 

Scorpio Rising - Then by all means, please click on any attachments involved and let us know if AVG then alerts you to them.

I believe their reasoning there (at least as far as the freeware version goes) is that an attachment can't hurt you unless you click to open it (true only if you're not using a 'Preview Pane'-type function and it assumes that you've got your email program and OS fully updated ,
patched and 'restricted'). Pete

 

Actually Pete I did run it for about a year on two separate machines. In the future, please don't assume what I do or don't do when you really could have no idea.

 

Really? And in that one year time-span, how many times did you get infected on either or both computers due to a fault in AVG's detection? Pete

 

twice damage was done. Apon switching to NOD32, a worm was also detected. This
worm was in a word doc that contacts an ftp server and downloads some payload.
luckily I had never opened it beforehand. I said that I found it no better
that "no AV" because it never detected anything. In fact it was worse than "no
AV" because it gave me a false sense of security when i was more of a newbie.


Like I said above, many people have had good experiences with AVG, just not me.
I don't know why you feel the need to attack me personally because I stated my
experiences with a particular program.

 

Thanks all for your help. I really appreciate it

 

Hello All!
I have been using AVG for about 4 months now; if I remember correctly. LOL getting old! I personally like the program, although I back it up with F-Prot for DOS and a little common sense. I also have McAfee and AntiVir. Talk about nervous! As for the worms; the only ones I have tried it on are Klez.h, Magistr.a, Magistr.B, Hybris. All the scanners caught these worms. I was running AVG when Klez.H first came out. I opened an e-mail on Outlook Express and boom. A DOS screen opened and it said the file contained the Klez.H virus. I had just updated AVG 2 days before Klez showed up in my e-mail. I have been getting updates about once a week for AVG. I am running Win 98, if that makes any difference. I am sure that my McAfee is a better scanner but it tends to slow my machine down quite a bit, and it takes at least a half hour to do a full scan.
A little tidbit for you to ponder= I had typed the Eicar test file and made a mistake in my typing. I scanned the file with all 4 scanners. Only F-Prot caught it, calling it a new or modified version of the Trivial virus. None of the other scanners caught it, even with heuristics enabled. Once I found my mistake, all of them caught the test file. It makes you wonder!
Warlock

 

That's an intersting story

However, I have found (especially with Windoze9 that using more than one AV tends to render them all useless. I used to run Housecall along with e-Trust, because housecall caught stuff e-Trust didn't. Made both go "pouf"

Remember too that most viruses are designed specifically to defeat Norton and McAffee, because they are the largest two out there. Learned this being a computer guru for Radio Shack. IMO, Norton is the worst thing out there - from experience!

 

First, let me apologize for contradicting a llama (or is that with just one 'L'...? ) , but Norton really isn't as bad as you make it out to be.

As a matter of fact, it's detection of In the Wild viruses is pretty good.

Check out the statistics at the Virus Bulletin site: http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/index.xml

 

Like I say, IMO. My clients and I have had nothing but bad luck with it.

 

Hello Scorpio Rising!
I have had no problem with the 4 scanners, as long as I keep three of them off. I made a mistake once and left 2 of them on; Major Crash!! I used to run only McAfee; but a few of my friends got hit by viruses so I searched the net for something to help them out and found the free ones I mentioned earlier. I downloaded them only as test subjects to see if they they worked. It seems that they are a heck of a lot better than none at all! (IMHO) I am no computer whiz; and that is for sure! Please believe me!; I mean no disrespect! Most of the people I know are only using their anti-virus scanners that came with their computers 3 or 4 years ago; and think they are up to date! I had a heck of a time convincing them of the newer viruses that are out; cannot be detected by their obsolete scanners!
Take Care;
Warlock

 

Thanks Warlock!

Well, July 20th my e-Trust is done. I'll try the AVG. Looked at Avast, but 16 bit DOS (for the freeware version)?

I'll let you all know how I do with it.

ROCK ON!!

 

I've got windows 98SE and am running Avast and AVG simultaneously with no problem, as well as Bitdefender for ICQ. Of course, I've got a high-end machine and a slightly doctored Win98SE to use all the resources in it. I don't know the details, but I know something had to be done to make 98 capable of using (or efficiently using??) all the 1024 MB of RAM. Anyway, AVG seems to catch things first, but it was first installed so maybe it just scans first? Both AVG and Avast are set to scan my email...

 

Hello Again Scorpio Rising! I tried Avast 32, and it seemed to work ok; but the first time I used it I got 11 false positives! A couple of them were in the AntiVir program! I still have have the program but I just burned it on a CD. I use AVG as my main scanner now; even though I still have McAfee. It doesn't run out till the end of the year. The thing I seem to like most about it is the Outlook plugin; as I use Outlook Express a lot.

Hello Detox! I find that AVG is really fast. It will pick up a virus much faster than any other virus scanner that I have! I can't explain why that is; but I had McAfee installed first. I have had no problem with any of the scanners that I have. They all seem to work just fine on any of the viruses that have come to me. My computer is about 4 years old now; so it is considered a dinosaur! LOL. It came with 64 megs of ram; and I installed another 64 for a grand total of 128! Whoopie! I am cruisin' now!! LOL!
Take Care and Beware!
Warlock

 

Hehe! Well I only just now upgraded computers and this was a BIG jump!

Anyway, looking back I have realized that Avast caught the 2 yaha files that showed up in my inbox the other day. Avast shows the big picture of a bug. It takes much longer to scan the system than AVG though, so I can't explain why it would scan the email first. I do know I have them both up to date so I think it would be safe to assume that AVG has detection for yaha.

I only got one false positive from Avast, and it's a file in "bitdefender for ICQ" called "pkunpack.dll" ... always tells me it is encrypted VCS or something like that. I assume it's the signature that Bitdefender uses to find that virus.