What is wrong with Avast?

Sorry, but this cannot be done in the manner described, an error is retuned at the attempt to rename the repository Access denied!..............and yes that is running as an administrator account.

 

You are right, I have noticed that this does not work always for some reason. I found another procedure that has worked when this one doesn't:

cd %windir%\system32\wbem\
net stop winmgmt
rmdir /s /q repository
net start winmgmt

Try this and see if it works for you.

 

Now that works like a charm

 

I am glad it worked for you

I do not understand why the first one worked for so long and just recently it started the "access denied" thing. Maybe one of the security updates recently changed it.

 

It's weird. I had the same problems with my tool for Security Center reset...

 

Since this month Avast! got update (part of normal VPS) which contains new module to cover polymorphic viruses
(bit sad it was released after latest AV comparatives deadline yet IBK confirmed already it's on good way in detections )

also there is new beta http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=30263.0

still thinking it's so bad with Avast?

 

I'm personally very happy with Avast!, been using it for about 3 years now and have no complaints. The problem Midway40 helped me with was a windows issue. Have no plans to change.

 

New version has arrived ! http://www.avast.com/

 

I was using Avast then got some viruses and it was crippling my computer. So i downloaded AVG and it found 2 of the 3 viruses that i was infected with. But the thrid wasn't found and i try Avast,AVG,Antivir,Bit Defender,Kaspersky, and NOD32 none found the virus,also try several spyware and anti root-kit programs nothing detected it so i had to reformat. My point is all anti-virus programs dont have 100% detection. Currently im using Antivir pe classic for protection...

P.S. The virus that couldn't be found was sending hundreds of email from my computer a day only reason i knew i was infected was the slowdown and Avast scanning them going out...

 

Avast's only crime is that it offers so much for free, Anti Vir is very good with root kit and heuristics but at least the free version has the worst update servers on any AV, what good is an AV with no upgrade, I would rather take my chances with Avast's fast and frequent upgrades over anything else, so far for the last 5 years I have been using Avast, I have not been infected a single time.

 

I have to agree with Arup, I am using Avast now without any problems at all. It has good features, good updating, good detection, program updates are smooth and easy which I like, and over all it's just good and trouble-free. Sure, there may be a few other AVs with slightly better detection, but they usually have their problems, in the case of AntiVir for example, the update situation has been very problematic for me, so I dropped it. Another good thing about Avast is I have never seen any bugs or issues here, and I have used it a lot in the past 3 years...

 

Yep, my thoughts too.

Also on PC 1 my security center says there are two AVs and at least one is up to date Wrong! CA EZ AV 2005 did that for me.

 

Not to mention, if you've got something running on your computer that is terminating processes, then you're already more or less screwed...

 

After reading this thread and others about the resource usage of Kaspersky AV, I'm now thinking of reinstalling Avast when my six month Avira AV Premium trial runs out. I was going to buy KAV which is often offered free after rebate, but between the shields of Avast, ZA Pro, Boclean, Winpatrol free and Firefox, I think it should be enough.

I have ZA Pro set to block Javascript on all sites except those I allow it for.

My feeling is that Avira is an excellent program, but it's upgrade procedure (even for the premium) is slow, and I've noticed that sometimes the Avira umbrella turns into an arrow (which means the guard is off during the upgrade). The reason could be that the service needs to temporarily shutdown due to an engine upgrade, but regardless, the updater is very slow to connect and download.
In the plus column, all the Avira guards total 12 mg of mem usage, and it includes a rootkit scan. I can't recall what Avast used in terms of memory, but I think it was a bit larger.

I've also noticed that the Virus Bulletin (http://www.virusbtn.com/)
gave Avast a passing grade, but I didn't see one for AVG. Did I miss it, was it not submitted, or did it fail their tests?

 

I am using Avast right now on a fresh system and it's total ram usage is about 16mb, pretty good. I decided on Avast after considering all the others mostly because it's extremely trouble-free in all regards and it's detection is also good (perhaps not the best, but good) and improving as well.

 

AV-Comp's latest tests ranked Avast as 2nd tier (which is still quite good) whereas Avira & KAV & BitDefender & NOD (et alia) were ranked in top tier.

Further, Avast only spotted 3 of 12 polymorphics. A 25% success rate equates to a 75% failure rate! Now THERE you have a valid answer to the question posed by this thread, wot!

IMO- Avast is an okay choice UNLESS you often swim in *dangerous waters* &/or you are paranoid -- in which cases, there are better choices.

 

Sure, there are others with slightly better detection, however, along with that comes a lot of pains in the ass that you don't have with Avast. I've used Avira AntiVir, but sorry, just can't live with the idiotic nag screen popup and worse, the terrible update server situation in the free version. So no thanks to that. KAV is nice too, better detection, but then there is the Chkdsk issue which is enough to scare me away, sorry, don't wish to risk my files. Nod32 is great also, but unfortunately performs like a dog on my PC, very slow realtime scanning of files for some reason, visible delays etc.. So no Nod for me. BitDefender I like, but it has it's bugs too in the new 2008 series..

So................. Again, Avast is good enough detection for me, and way more trouble-free in general. If I need extra coverage, I will run a HIPS like PS or TF or even Norton Antibot.

 

Avast's polymorphic virus detection has been poor for ages now. So no surprise there...


tD

 

The fact that a PC running Avast for five years, regularly scanned by other so called top tier AVs has not been infected once goes to show how good Avast works, I run Anti Vir on one machine and Avast on other, Anti Vir free consistently suffers from update server blues leaving my system unprotected, no such case with Avast, updates small, frequent and always fast. Years back, when one of my machines running Anti Vir got infected, I tried cleaning but to no avail, it was a system file, when I asked on Anti Vir forum, they declared they were helpless, installed Avast and during boot time scan, Avast detected and removed the infected file and my system was back again, the offline scan mode is very useful for removing stubborn virus which infects a system file in use.

 

This might be the first time that I hear that NOD32 performs like a dog in somebody's PC.

 

Yep, it IS pretty weird. I wrote it off to some incompatibility perhaps. Not sure why, but there are visible delays while it scans files during normal PC operations that I just don't see with other AVs.

 

Nod will not and never has run worth a crap on one of my comps. I won't say Nod is bad but I am saying I have never seen it run right personally.

bigc

 

That was one of my favorite things about Avast. I used to notice that it would find trojans in my Sun Java directory during boot scans that it failed to pick up while I was online. Avira doesn't find anything there because I haven't reinstalled SunJava in over a year, and so far I don't miss it.

I'm surprised that the other vendors don't incorporate boot scans in their products.

That said, other than deleting or quaranting the suspect file, do any of these AV programs search for other files and registry strings once they find a trojan or virus? Symantec usually has at least a 2-4 step manual cleaning process on their site for most malware/viruses.

 

Which is what makes it perfect for the safe-surfer...light & stable too!