My review of eXtendia AVK Antivirus System.

Maybe very good on malware detection but recent and past evidence suggests that their support via e-mail is very poor both for those who have purchased the program and for those of us interested in obtaining a trial version.

My efforts so far seem to reflect a very small company who do not place customer support high up in their priorities or simply do not have the manpower assigned to such tasks.

Come on Extendia, even an automatic response would be something

I am beginning to think that Kobra and his pals must be working for the company!!!!!!!!!

 

This is very old news - neither Extendia or GData/AVK do provide more then at most ocassional and minimal customer support. Those who did hold their breath waiting for support have passed away....Apart from lacking support in any way: there are worse anti-viruses for sure

slash

 

That's a pile of crap. So you've emailed again and again. Ever tried picking up the phone? Suprises me no one ever lets their fingers do the dialing any more. I believe eXtendia/Boomerang is just handing the US, GDATA is marketing the product in Europe with the KAV/BD engine.

Regardless, as I said earlier, they don't offer trials and have priced the product fairly low relative to the competition in the hopes the perceived cost will overcome consumer's need for a trial. I'm not advocating the way they're doing business, just telling you that complaining about it will probably get you nowhere.

 

well Blackcat lives in england so why should he ph usa? I live in new zealand and im not going to phone some cowboys who havent the decency to anwser my 3 emails . AVK with bitdefender is a diffirent deal to the one discussed here so a call to europe isnt in order either . I am very reluctant to give my credit card to some one who hasnt the ability to answer a email. ( that is my major concern with this ) However thats fine for those who may not feel concerned . Not every one lives in the usa .

 

Yup and nothing wrong with that. I wasn't being nationalistic BTW, so let's cool our jets. I guess the effort to pick up the phone and get some questions answered is determined by how deeply you would like to get to the bottom of things.

My point was that I'd bet they don't have much in the way of resources, so expecting a response from a non-licensed user is probably expecting too much (yes I know this defies logic)... especially given the fact that they don't offer trial software. Not to mention, the gang @ GDATA might have just given them the rights to market and support the software in the US only. They also do not have any international support options which might lend some credence to the previous observation.

If you want to roll the dice, go for it. If you aren't comfortable with it, spend your money elsewhere. I don't think this is a fly-by-night software vendor, but they might be in transition or building up the business at this point. Who knows.

Maybe after they look at all the trial request emails they receive and realize a goodly percentage are lost revenue opportunities, they might change their stance. BTW they did use to offer trial software. However, based on my phone conversation with them, it seems unlikely they will, though stranger things have happened.

 

I think try before you buy is the only way to go when it comes with software, because if you don't like something, you are simply not going to buy it, and that goes for anything, not just software. If I can't try it, then why would I want to buy it? What if I don't like it? What works for one person in here might not work for another. Take it the general census is that it is a good product for those that do have it, but not everyone can take a leap of faith and just shell out some cash for something that might not work well for them.

 

Yup, their stance of trial software might defy logic (especially in the AV space), but that's the way they're doing things.

I talked with them on the phone about trial software or at best offering a 30 day money-back guarantee. I don't know if anything will come of some of the things I suggested. Hopefully a couple ideas I threw out there will stick because I think not only will we benefit as consumers, but they will make some money as well.

 

Not meaning to drift OT, but Boomerang Software is located in Massachusetts, so those gents aren't too likely to be cowboys.

 

When I was useing extendia I had an update problem And so I gave them a call, and they were very prompt in helping me correct the problem I was having.

 

They answer licensed user such as me within 24 hours so far. I can't complain as I have waited longer from others including 9 frickin days from Trend and I am licensed user of that too(on other pc).

 

My original comment about you working for the company was a sarcastic comment, but obviously you have lost your sense of humour. I am not wasting money phoning from the UK where the charges will probably be as much as the program itself.

My complaints will not get me anywhere regarding the program itself, but it has brought out the fact that there is no trial software for this program (Despite this being stated in the first post of this thread) and that the support offered by Boomerang leaves a lot to be desired!!!!!!!

 

black, here's an idea for you......just don't get it from extendia and stop complaining, and especially don't accuse others who have had good experiences with them of working for them

if you perceive that you're being ignored by those extendia "cowboys" then vote with your wallet and go have your antivirus needs met elsewhere

 

1 ok there is no trial. But what do they think, those who use this antivirus? May Extendia be compared to RAV or kaspersky? What the weakness?

2 reading this thread I haven't understood how much belongs to RAV or kaspersky and how much belongs the sellers. Engine? Signatures?

Thanks

 

extendia AVK Pro is a 2 engine av product. It has the Kaspersky engine as well as the RAV engine. If you have the engines you have the signatures.

 

Back from vaction guys... Anyway, to answer some questions as I got answers to them because I asked the very same questions most likely..

1) KAV updates seem to come directly from KAV - and sometimes hourly - i've gotten 6-8+ in one day.

2) RAV updates at least once a day it seems, and RAV has responded telling them that RAV will continue to release definitions for a long time due to contractual requirements. RAV currently has almost 100,000 definitions, and releases daily (usually). AVK folks responded, saying that in the unlikely event RAV updates stop in the future, they are ready to switch over to BitDefender engine on a moments notice - with no charge to registered users.

3) There is NO official trial for AVK-US, but you can sometimes get them to send you a 30-Day key, however no promises. I've had many people get keys, and a few that are still waiting for keys. It *IS* a pity they don't have an automated trial system, as the product is amazing, and would sell well with a trial. I'd assume they are swamped, because i've discovered my AVK review has made it around the internet while I was out of town - including another security type forum with almost 200,000+ users.. Swamped? Likely..

4) Tech support seems fast for registered owners of the product. I've heard anywhere from 1-24 hours tops. My personal experiance is never more than 24 hours for my questions - as a non-registered trial member. There is also a voice phone number - including toll-free where you can contact them. One of the few AV products to offer this for FREE.

 

A couple more interesting threads on extendia for any one who wants to read up more.
(only thing is the link doesnt work once i have posted it . If you type in search "extendia AVK antivirus " and select the "search in other anti virus software. there are some very interesting threads over the last 12 months

 

Just wanted to throw this out there. I emailed Boomarang software for a trial and recieved no response. I resent the same email and recieved this:

Dear Vince,

We're glad that you are interested in purchasing our AntiVirus. I'm
forwarding your letter to our Sales Department and hopefully you'll
hear
from them in an hour or so.

Thank you for contacting technical support, we appreciate your
business.

If you have any other questions or need any clarification regarding
this
email, please reply to this message including all of the text in this
email
in your response.

Best regards,
Robert

Technical Support
Boomerang Software Inc.

I waited a week and nothing. I replied to this email and so far nothing. It's been 3 days.

 

Well if you're running SP2, hold off buying this. There are a couple bugs with SP2.

Got an email from TS and they indicated they haven't even begun testing for SP2.

**EDIT - Running latest build of SP2 and it looks like things are working OK again. Will post an update after a couple days of use.

I do like this app. Be nice if they updated to the KAV 5 engine though and set some hard standards for tech support response time.

 

Hello,
I spoke with representatives at boomerang software. I directed them to this thread and a KAV thread that KOBRA started there. They wanted the links to those threads to see what others are thinking of their product. Additionally, I informed them that people wanted to have a TRY BEFOR YOU BUY download. Or at least a money back return policy like BOclen (very good product). The person at extendia called me back within 10 minutes of me leaving a message. I am a licensed node32 user (also a very good product), but the concept of a rav and Kav combo intrigued me, so I bought it. WOW. The Rav engine caught one. I tried to submite it , but I didn't have any luck so I deleated it. Yes I know that is risky. Was it a false alarm. ??.
My main point is. That a trial version would be a very good idea. So far, I am liking this product.

 

You are living in the States, it means your call is pretty cheap.

I'm living in the European Community, and I don't like it at all to call into the States, costs a lot of money and for what purpose?
The telephone company will be happy when we all are making international calls, is good for them but bad for our wallets.

A decent company will answer emails, in the year 2004 it's normal to do communication in this fast and cheap way, and a company that doesn't answer emails at all or in a insufficient way means "bad business".

A company that answer fast on emails is in my eyes more trustable then other ones, for example I wrote 2 weeks ago an email to Kaspersky Labs, and within 10 minutes they gave a satisfying reply on all my questions.

That is the only correct way to handle with (potential) customers, and that is one of the reasons I have bought Kaspersky products.

Ciao,

Smokey​

 

You have a very valid point. I can't answer as to why your e-mails are not answered. This is lost business. My main point is that a trial version of their software would most definatly be a step in the right direction.

 

Hey Kobra thanks very much for a great review!

I've been looking online for a replacement anti-virus (NOD license expired) all day yesterday and today I found your review and did my own research and checked out to make sure that the info was not all just hype. All is legitimate and I'm very impressed. I had 2 viruses on my PC for a year and although I had scanned they never came up. There were 2 Backdoor:Momaker (RAV engine)". I don't know if it's a false alarm but the info seems to check out.

The scanner went through 30,000 files and I gave my PC a thorough check up. NOD 32 was good but I didn't like the way it handled infections. It reported the system as being infected even though the infected file had already been deleted and would not refresh the info until a reboot. I just can't take that chance with my new PC in case it hasn't been deleted and I don't want to reboot everytime I get a virus jsut for stas to refresh. Anyway, after reading the review and doing my own research I do believe that I will be better protected than NOD in many ways so I bought AVK today. It's got way better scanning of packed files and has 2 engines for both scanning and monitoring.

This opens up a lot of terrific options for me and I'm VERY, VERY happy about this and having an extra anti-virus layer to use when I need it. When I visit some of my favourite sites (you can guess what they may be) I'll just make sure both engines are running & when I go back to 'normal' then I can downgrade to the one engine.

Whatever, I somehow am quite certain that I made a very good and well informed decision to make this my anti-virus thanks to you and Wilders. Wilders review was nice too and it cost me $43 AUS - the same price to extend NOD32 for a year but I get 2 engines and so many other security options. And it is very nicely laid out too.

Even if I ended up not liking it for $29 I wouldn't feel any regret. I'll let you know how it goes and if it does catch baddies as well. So until then A BIG THANKS!!

Dave

 

About support. I sent an email 2 hours ago and got a reply back already. What everyone has to take into account when making these judgements are things like servers being down and emails lost, spam filters deleting emails etc There are many things that can go wrong and from my perssonal experience I have had my first reply in 2 hours. In all honesty, considering the quality of this product I would not be quick to assume poor support because this is a top quality product that has received high recognition and I belive the people are hard working and genuine. It looks like somehow they missed some emails but I got a very quick reply & it's Sunday!!

Dave

 

I agree. Any e-mails that I have sent has received a quick reply.

 

Re: Updates

Yep. I got 3 updates yesterday - 2 of the KAV and 1 of the RAV. These are in addition to the very first updates I got after buying the program only yesterday. This seems to be on par if not better than NOD 32 which updates very regularly too.



Here they are:

Begin Internet update (virus database)
Start time: 06/14/2004 08:18 PM
KAV-Engine: Update transferred... OK!
RAV-Engine: Update transferred... OK!
KAV-Engine: Internet update transferred successfully.
RAV-Engine: Internet update transferred successfully.
Quit: 06/14/2004 08:18 PM

Begin Internet update (virus database)
Start time: 06/14/2004 02:16 AM
KAV-Engine: Update transferred... OK!
RAV-Engine: You already have the current version.
KAV-Engine: Internet update transferred successfully.
Quit: 06/14/2004 02:16 AM


Dave