Is Avast a worthy AV?

Over the the past few years, recommending avast! has been good for my reputation but bad for short-term repeat business.

Sometimes people with some knowledge (i.e. enough to get them into trouble) will tell me that all the 'providers' in avast! use so much RAM that it must be a 'resource hog', despite the evidence of the generally fast and smooth-running PC right before their eyes. Avast! seems to be better coded and compiled compared to other, apparently smaller "footprint" programs.

Any software will have design and realization limits. Bugs occur in all software. Bugs in avast! (and there have been very few) are no less annoying when they happen but they just get fixed, usually the same day.

So tomorrow, my sister who's still happily using AVG 7.5 Free, will be forced to change.

Avira is good, but the free version has annoying pop-ups and too many limitations, e.g. spyware, rootkits, it doesn't scan email, web traffic or IM.

AVG 8.0 is just too s l o w and sadly, appears to heading in the wrong direction.

Of the also-rans:
PC Tools AV is promising but not there yet.
Rising needs to rise further and
Comodo CIS, for the non-techie user, is like trying to shave with a cut-throat blade when you've only ever used a safety razor!

avast! Home requires online registration but once we get over that hurdle, get the program installed and she gets used to the quirks - if she wasn't my sister there'd be a good chance I'd never hear from her again!

 

There's a lot to like about Avast it's a feature-rich freeware AV.Whenever I've stuck it on a customer's box it's been trouble free and offers good Virus and spyware protection.I especially like the pre-boot scanning option,a nice touch

 

@Vladymir
I have avast! installed on my sister's laptop. I've set all providers to Silent Mode so it quarantines infected files automatically and locked it with a password to prevent tempering with avast!. Updates popup is also supressed, so it doesn't annoys her during laptop usage. It just works

 

Thanks RejZor for the comprehensive suggestions.
My ramblings were more about the peculiarities of avast! rather than any particular needs of my sister. (I don't think I'll have to go to such extremes. )

 

avast is a complete antivirus for free with many shields for everything in windows with high detection an it has web shield and network many years before all the others. avast and nod32 maybe best antivirus ever

 

Well i teached her quite well but since she's on Facebook and Myspace a lot i just reinforced the system just to be sure.

 

Bottom Line: Avast is the best free antivirus program?

 

Sorry, discussions about "which is best" (or similar) are not allowed, here.
But i reckon it is certainly at least one of the best.

 

I just read the policy. Sorry. I don't want to start a flame war.

Thanks.

 

I doubt if anyone would have thought you were trying to start a flame war.
Fact is, the Avira users very much appreciate their AV's, also, and probably a lot of the others appreciate theirs.

 

Does the Home version update itself with new definitions and can you schedule regular scans or do they have to be triggered manually?

 

you can only do manual scans. schduling is only in the pro version.

avast updates itself once a day but you can do manual updates whenever you like.

 

Hi

Some days I get Avast definition updates twice in one day

Usually...
One when I first boot up .. In the Morning.
And Sometimes .. One at Night

I don't mind running a manual scan with Avast.
It only takes a couple of seconds to start a scan.
Click, Click, Click ... & ... Eat my tea while Avast is scanning

 

Indeed it is.
AFAIK they have NEVER engaged in any questionable business tactics (*cough* unlike other AV vendor out there *cough*).
And their AV has one of the most (if not the most) comprehensive scanning modules amongst the free AVs.

Only thing they lack is heuristics, which I hope will be implemented in v5.

 

It can easily be set to auto update more frequently. Generally updates appear to be available 1 -3 times daily.
Mine's set to check hourly.

 

Thanks for sharing that tip.

 

My bad option if I made this my last option. Rock solid so far on my 3 machines.