Why can't we just get an AV these days?

Here is my WSA screen. I chose to buy only the AV to avoid any bloat, but I still have to see the freakin' icons of stuff that I never asked for and intentionally not bought:

http://i62.tinypic.com/f20mja.png

just made a suggestion about this on their forums:

https://community.webroot.com/t5/Ideas-Exchange/idb-p/Ideas/tab/most-recent

 

The problem is now everyone is copying everyone. Everyone is adding one extra software compared to others to prove theirs is total protection. Not much choice left to users.

 

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 7 is a great example of what an antivirus should be. No nags, no bloat, etc.

 

I agree with you, and also want just an antivirus and none of the extras.

I have no use for the following:
Web Blocking
I don't use web blocking of any kind, so always disable it. I do think web blocking is useful, but I have no use for it personally.

Firewall
These days I prefer to use Windows firewall to a 3rd party one.

System Tuneup
I don't see why an antivirus should be cleaning up junk files. As for registry cleaning., aside from the fact that 99.9% of the time cleaning the registry is completely pointless (there are no speed gains, no less error messages or crashes, no computer problems fixed), the registry cleaners in AV software has a tendency to not actually show what errors they find. So there is no way to actually check the found errors and see if they want to delete any valid registry keys. This is a big problem in my opinion, considering that almost all registry cleaners do flag at least some valid registry keys as being bad.

I guess that there is a market for people wanting cleanup/tuneup features in their security software or they wouldn't be added.


I remember when there was no such thing a security suite.

 

I have no use for web blocking either, as all web traffic in/out of my home pass through multiple filters already. DNS filter, Soho security appliance, Adguard w/expanded database, Adblock w/ONLY malware filter enabled. So anything in an AV suite is incredibly redundant, and only slows browsing. Besides, a good AV will detect web malware before it poses a threat anyway with realtime protection, so what's the point?

ClamAV+Sentinel harkens back to the days of old, days I miss. Simple interface, few features, just the basics. Heck, Sentinel doesn't even have an interface, it's all done in the tray.

 

Well I still say your a Troll and nothing more since you joined here January 9th, 2014 so much trash talk all over the forums.

TH

 

There are still standalone AV's everywhere.
Unless you are talking about Internet Security suites.

 

happy about your clam AV?

enjoy this

http://i59.tinypic.com/2my70bq.png

 

Are you aware that memory use does not matter (unless you system is short on RAM)? Using more memory does not necessarily mean that an antivirus is not going to be light, and the same is true the other way too.

 

100% right. people complain why NOD32 uses so much RAM yet it is one of the lightest. In fact, I would prefer that the entire AV component is loaded in RAM for faster operation.

But WSA is infact the lightest. its entire installation folder is only 750 KB or so and when you use it, it is like you have no AV at all in terms of lightness.

It has stopped every virus I have stumbled upon as well and their customer support is top notch, even when you have an FP, they whitelist it within less than an hour!

 

Yes, it is very light. I stopped using it for other reasons.

 

Hi MaXimus how are you?

TH

 

Totally agree.

 

can you please share?

Reason I ask is, during this year, I have tried every single AV you can think of, each one had its problems or performance issues on my laptop. Finally I stumbled upon WSA and was pleased with every aspect, the program, threat removal, lightness, and best of all, their superior customer service!

Heck, when I told them that I want to add 2 more PCs to the 1 PC / 3 year license that I currently own, they did it free of charge and surprised me!

But still, I am very interested on your experience if you don't mind sharing

 

Thats why it feels so good to ditch an AV.

 

It quarantined some files without asking me first. Not an issue for many users, but it is for me.

 

Re RAM usage:

 

I see, it has done that for me too, but the good thing is once you open it you can easily retrieve and allow the file so it won't be redetected, takes a sec. but I understand your point

 

I agree with you. They are careful when adding new features and IMO they have really balanced, good AV. They also don't show nag screens and don't send me promotional emails (except when my subscription is about to expire).

hqsec

 

agreed 100% about eset. i mostly agree with the op. i personally like a av with just the added firewall that allows quick and easy app control. mostly for the people who just dont know how to use a firewall. for them to have a simple app on or off is perfect. but thats ALL. i dont want or need ANYTHING else. i wish the av companies will stop. but i have a feeling we are only getting started. and before we know it well have instant messaging programs inside the av and a os within the os within that os just for the "extra" layers.

its ridiculous please enough...

 

Please don't give them any ideas. Better yet patent this.

 

I immediately thought of Avast and their remote assistance tool. C'mon, do I really need Teamviewer embedded in my AV?

hqsec

 

Lol! Priceless. Girlfriend simulator ... ROTFLMAO

 

AV's come with all the bells & whistles for a number of reasons in my opinion:

Firstly to give the (let's face it mostly uninformed) user the illusion of protection. To some people more must be better. You only need to look at the monster 'What is......' thread on this forum to see the arsenal of products people with an interest in (if not a knowledge of) online security burden their systems with to see that.

Secondly, it is an admission the the core element of the application - the AV -is outdated as a protection feature and needs augmented to get close to providing the level of protection a user needs. Fundamentally AVs protect against known baddies. New baddies, even those that a remarkably similar to their predecessors, regularly get through. Rather than revisiting the core model they pile more and more on top in an attempt to plug gaps.

Thirdly, to kill off the small developers challenging their dominance. 'Oh people like those HIPS thingies, lets have one of those. Oh and look that Sandbox thing seems popular lets have a go a that. Oooh, file rep, yeah just pile that on. If they get them from us they don't need those upstarts steeling our trade'. The HIPS, sandboxes etc in the big suites are nowhere near as good as the smaller pioneers of the ideas produced but I doubt the big boys care very much. It wasn't the point - squeezing out the little guy was.

Fourthly, it's a competative world. Claims of innovation (usually stolen from others) is a powerful marketing tool.

There are many others but................ at any rate hankering after a straight-up blacklister to do a single job well won't help. Those days are gone.

On the other front being discussed I don't think any AV is 'light' particularly. Memory usage is unimportant as long as you have enough. It's there to be used. Size on the disc? Again with Terabytes of hard disc space more and more common why worry about a couple of hundred megs?

Running unnecessary services? Yes, some of these products have a different service for each protection element. Actually increasing the attack surface? Yes, potentially. Disc usage? Now we're getting somewhere. This is the area where I really can't justify using AV in real time for the protection they provide.

Almost constant disc activity, day after day, on a clean system that has other pro-active rather than reactive measures in place to prevent infections taking hold just doesn't make sense to me.

Restriction, isolation and virtualisation with the occasional on demand works for me and has allowed me to condemn the bloatware to the bad memory pile. Threads like this make me glad I did

Cheers

 

People often say "why pay for an AV when there are loads of Free ones?"

Because it's actually worth it when you have found a good one that works so well and does exactly what you want that you almost don't want it to change