AVG and AVAST suck..read this

In our performance tests, AVG Free Edition ranked second to last. (Alwil Software's free Avast Home Edition ranked last.) While AVG Free Edition caught nearly 100 percent of bots and zombies in our collection of zoo malware, it caught a disappointing 65 percent of Trojan horses. It ranked second-to-last in our heuristics tests--detecting just 11 percent of worms and 8 percent of backdoor programs using one-month-old virus data.

this is from PCworld.com http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,124490/article.html

i use to have avast and didnt block a **** of virus for me.

now using kaspersky and nod32

 

AVG free just seems to be a 'foot in the door' program for other helpful 'utilities' these days anyway.

 

Anyone that says free scanners are just as efficient and effective at stopping attacks is just plain uninformed. This article presents no new information, really.

AVG and Avast are sufficient for users with good surfing habits and NO p2p downloading.

I seriously hope nobody relies on them to be miracle workers, though. A big tip-off would be the fact that both of these companies offer a pay-for program with "additional benefits".

 

Too bad, I love AVG. Now what?

 

I've used both, using Avast at the moment and its stopped several viruses. Been virus free for over 3 years, it may not be the top of the line but its free and works great for me. As long as you got common sense, it shouldn't be a problem anyways

 

I too loved AVG, Now I will be using Eset/Nod 32

 

AVG's works great for me. been using it for 6 months now and it detected a trojan the second i downloaded a torrent once, since then, zero problems in that area.

 

I've used AVG for some time now an I don't seem to have to many problems. It finds a virus every now and then... but I have pretty good surfing habits and I don't do much p2p.

 

avg+avast (freeware version) have been performing SUPER for my needs/protection for many years!

as mentioning in many posts above, define ur needs (& common senses & surfing habits) before implementing any system-guard software.

Just because the software does not work for one, does not mean that it would not work for another.

btw, the pc.world report is pretty much out of date. AVG is phasing out 7.1 (dropdead date is Jan07) and asking users (free) to move to 7.5x

cheers ...

 

I have been using AVG-FREE for years and it is fantastic.

If your worried about virus being missed, try some of the free online virus scanner from the big virus companys.

regards.

John.

 

i used to have norton...hated it. then i had kaspersky...loved it but it stopped working, so now im useing avast just temporarily while i decide whih antivirus to get next

 

AVG told me it caught a trojan horse yesterday. After telling it to heal it, it asked me to restart my computer, and since my computer has been DEAD!!!!!! Got it to start up in safe mode, ran avg, which picked up the trojan again, twice this time, supposedly healed it, but the computer was still non workable. Ran AVG again in safe mode, with instruction to delete the files this time (it again picked up two), but the computer will still not let me log on... it just keeps on restarting and restarting the moment it gets to the log on window. The corrupt file btw was the windowlogon.exe...

What to do now??????

 

Reinstall Windows? (Or copy that file from a different Windows installation)

If the virus has messed up vital Windows data, there may not be much any antivirus program can do about it.

 

Thanks! I"ll try copying the file first...

 

Pray tell, what do you hope to prove by linking to a 12 month old review of the OLD VERSION of AVG Free?

Don't get me wrong, this is a valid topic of discussion, but only with the current, relevant versions of the software. Were you to try to run old versions, I'm pretty sure you'd be told to upgrade

Anyway, having used AVG Free for 3 years and loving it, I upgraded to AVG Pro + Firewall. All I can say is it does what it says on the tin and it doesn't bother me every 2 seconds like ZL with annoying pop-ups

 

I always knew AVG sucked, from experience.

 

AVG sucks like ****.

 

AVG Free might not be the best around, but it's a lot better than nothing at all.

 

OMG !!! You weren't kidding. This is my ex Thinkpad, that's a month old. I just sold to my brother. He found almost 4000 viruses and trojans! THANKS AVG!! I'm to scared to check on my Toshiba, that had AVG since day one.

 

I agree that AVG sucks!!!

But AVAST performs GREAT.

I use AVAST on my XP, Vista, & Ubuntu Partitions.

Never had problems. It did block viruses and some spyware. It also updates almost every other day.

 

I have been using Antivir and haven't had any problems, guess I will keep using it until it proves itself wrong.

 

No matter how advanced the security program, a system will be hosed if the user makes stupid decisions. I've used AVG for 2 years now and it hasn't failed me when downloading via P2P. It's caught a couple of trojans and worms, and my computer has never been infected by any malware.

 

P2P is disgusting...don't use it!!! Now, torrents, on the other hand, are freaking awesome. Anyways, the only reason that AVG is better than most is that it uses very little of your computer's resources, mine takes up 2mb of ram max, and it provides adequate protection. Is it 100% protection? No, nothing is 100%. But at least it is updated like once every other day, so most big viruses will be caught.

 

99% of people are not going to use any of those techniques, nor would it be feasible for them to use any of those techniques.

 

Its true your only virus free according to what the AV detects. But the way you want to guarantee 100% free is absurd. True enough, I can't guarantee my computer is 100% virus free but I'm rather confident I know what I'm doing considering I been fixing a good majority of my friend's rigs. And after setting up their computers the way I have mine setup, they haven't had a problem since.

How is my computer setup that reassures me its fine & reason why I haven't lost any data? I'll claim a 99.99 confidence level

-Setup your HD modularly, separating partitions, I tend to use a partition ~ 30GB-80GB as C:\ (depending on amount of applications)
-Install fresh copy of Windows
-Used Windows Update, then made an image of C:\ (Thus an image of updated windows)
-Installed all programs I use (ie: Browsers, games, patches, word processing) from pre-saved installers, and also several programs that I wrote myself
-Made a new user account in Windows that is has only Limited Access and is setup to prevent installations. This is the main account I use from hereon.
-NoScript in Firefox limits Javascript to only the specific sites I use often
-Made 2nd image (Thus Updated Windows+All Current Programs and Settings)
-All my data is storage on a second partition which is automatically backed up on a separate partition.
-Extremely sensitive data and personal files are automatically synced onto my laptop and flash drive. (minus the laptop for those who don't have)

Even if there was a virus, which I highly doubt, my two images can restore my Windows in like 8-16 minutes depending on the size of C:\

 

Who is going to wipe their drive and reimage every time right after they get off the internet? I know you are trying to prove your point, but it's not very logical. If you do this, you might as well also consider just buying about 10 antivirus programs and installing them all on your system, you'll be about 99.99% virus free this way, and you spend as much time surfing the internet b/c of a slow bogged down PC as you would reimaging your PC everyday.

 

The problem happens when you need to make changes to program settings, save data, patch applications....all of the things that everyone needs to do on a daily basis. This isn't feasable when you need to "thaw and reboot" all the time. And before you suggest locating Documents and Settings on another volume that isn't deep frozen, recall that since it isn't, it's a security hole and your method is no longer 100% foolproof.

There is only 1 100% foolproof protection against internet nasties: Don't go on the Internet.

 

Your thumb drive is still a potential virus vector.

The point is, perfect security is sometimes possible, but rarely feasible. And the expense, both in infrastructure and labor, is not worth the reward. Not when there are anti-virus solutions around that will get 95%+ of the malware out there, 4.5% of the other 5% can be removed manually by a qualified admin quickly, and a restoration from backup or a recovery CD is available for the other .5%

 

That's what I'm trying to say, zx10guy's method is impractical and time consuming. Besides Deep Freeze is ~ $451.03 Canadian, I think I'd stick with my Acronis True Image investment of $29.99.

 

Ah oops $41.

 

How much time did you spend setting it up? How much extra time is necessary to apply patches? How much extra did it cost to build your file server? how much extra does it cost to RUN your file server (Electricity costs money too). How much hassle to verify your clean baseline before connecting to your documents then going back so you can send mails, or save files, when moving back and forth?

And is it really worth all that work to save $29.95 on an anti-virus software package, and spend time cleaning the one malware that gets through every couple of years?

In accounting, it's called a cost-benefit analysis. And I think if you do a true one that objectively looks at all costs and benefits, you'll be appalled at the resources you're wasting. My datacenter certainly would if I suggested your method for our systems.

 

using kaspersky for a while now and loving it .

 

Are you guys ever security freeks. I never knew it was so dangerous to go on the net. I thought we had to download, or open a document to get a virus or the dreaded rootkit. And even then, our less than thorough AV service is likely to catch it. So i thought anyways.
BTW, what exactly is a rootkit? Sounds deep & permanent.

 

It is... Deep, at least. It's not so permanent it can't be removed...

Basically, you have Windows (or another OS), and you have a bunch of applications using functionality supplied by the OS.

A rootkit installs a layer in between, so whenever the application requests something from the OS, it ends up talking to the rootkit instead.
(A typical example is when explorer asks for a list of all files in a given folder), Once the rootkit has received the request, it can do anything it likes. It could ignore it (say, tell the application that there are no files at all), or it could forward the request to the OS, and then just filter the result (For example, removing from the list all files starting with VeryHarmfulVirus)
That way, specific files can be turned almost invisible, for example. Of course it could be used for countless other purposes, but it's often used to install harmful (or at least unwanted) files on the users harddrive, and then making them impossible to see for the user.

Anyway, there are plenty of ways in which you can get viruses when connected to the internet. Opening a file you downloaded (or viewing a file in your browser) is the obvious one, but it can also happen just by being connected to the internet in some cases (although a firewall helps a lot there)

 

God, my computer is formatted weekly, but even I wouldn't want to do all THAT!

 

I just moved to EZ-AntiVirus, seems good so far, one year free trial.

 

Sylvain,

Why oh why do you need to format your machine on a weekly basis?

 

Because they're paranoid.

 

Actually I'm quite aware of how Deep Freeze works, and I haven't had any problems either once I setup my computers to automatically backup + images. You just took an extra step that in my opinion is a waste of time reason being that even with Deep Freeze any sort of important data would be backed up regardless which is why use imaging software is essential.

For those of you who are not aware of how Deep Freeze works. The program is basically a kernel driver that operates in your computer at a level lower than Windows. The main idea with Deep Freeze is that, it permanently saves the state of your computer. What I mean by this is that once a state is saved, every time you reboot, your computer will revert to this 'saved' state unless it was ordered to reboot in a 'thawed' mode which then keeps the changes and thus making a new 'saved' state. Let me say this program is great!~ But only in certain instances. Its the kind of program I'd use at work or public computers because no matter who the user is, it isn't possible for them to do real harm to the computer because it reverts back to the saved state after a reboot. You can literally ask them to install spyware/adware etc. and let them do all the damage they can but it will always revert back after a reboot, sounds great for Admins. Now the following are the reasons why I would not use Deep Freeze on a personal home computer though:

Why I wouldn't use DF for my Home Computer:
-Applications that need to save information into the registry will require a reboot every time you want to actually save the data.
-Updates for programs, imagine your Firefox extensions, your bookmarks, updates to your Anti-Virus. For your system to retain it, again it requires a reboot in its thawed state.
-Your program settings, should you decide to change anything ie: a new default font, font size, render certain toolbars, their positions, any such changes requires the computer to reboot for it to save. Your everyday common computer usage tasks such as creating a shortcut, renaming a folder, moving files, deleting files etc. would always be reverted back without the reboot.
-Imagine online gaming, downloading levels, maps, patches etc.

Other problems:
-When you do want to install something, and your AV etc. missed finding a trojan, a rootkit etc. Once its installed its alright and fine, what if you rebooted into the thawed mode to keep the changes? Then your computer would be perpetually be extending the life of malware without realizing it.
-Malware, trojans, keyloggers can do its damage during the time when the computer is running. During the timeframe from the malware installation to the next reboot, data can already be copied, transferred. Meaning you would need a process guard to keep the system safe regardless.
-Not everyone has a separate computer or external harddrives. In order to save your information, do you plan to leave a partition opened? Are you going to reboot into the thawed state each time you want to save a change?

So if you guys don't want the hassle of Deep Freeze, look into getting a process guard, you can think of it as an internal firewall for your processes. Unlike a AV which operates under a blacklist system, a process guard is a whitelist because you list off all the processes you want allowed to operate and it will block all the other processes from running. This will prevent 'miscellaneous' software to be 'accidentally' executed. In essence, unless you purposely allowed a program to run with malware hidden in it, it will never be able to run. Keep your Firewall, AV, and backup with imaging software like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost and like me you'd never run into a problem again especially since you have a backup to go off to.

 

So hard to understand... Deep Freeze is like what they have on school's computer. Every time you restart it goes back to the default setting thingy. Anything you install or save on C drive will be deleted.

Back to Virus Scanner.

I use Kaspersky and now it stop working. Now I am using AVG Professional, I hope its better than the free version.

Why not just install 2-3 Virus Scanner? The more the better, NO?

Why do you guys always get Virus? I don't understand...

 

They're all over the place, but it's not so much viruses that are the problem (really, they're not) but spyware, which is even EASIER to install, as they get installed with a lot of freebie software. That's why most "antivirus" scanners are actually now "malware" scanners, scanning for both spyware and adware.

 

No, it's because I try a new distro weekly. And because after a week of solid use, Windows starts to slow down.

 

All very interesting and intriguing.

But for the regular user, you have to provide an application that requires little user input/interaction in order to achieve some reasonable level of protection over an entire system (e.g., the WWW). For most users 100% protection just isn't a reasonable expectation. Sure there are situations where you have to maintain a higher standard (vis a vis "clean rooms" at chip manufacturers). But no one is going to keep their house as clean as a "clean room" because the time, cost, and inconvenience do not equal the benefit. Ditto keeping a virgin OS.

In 10 years of websurfing, emailing, and sharing files, the use of common sense and a decent antivirus program have kept my infections to zero.

Time spent wiping/reinstalling an OS: zero.
Time spent using some esoteric, time consuming program: zero.
Viruses/trojans/rootkits: zero (and, no, I don't count Windows as a virus)

If you use common sense, operate legally, and do some minimal upkeep and maintenance, you'll be in good shape.

 

Same here, I must have over 70+ discs of differ distros.

Not in the same boat as you about Windows slowing down after a week.

But I do fresh install Windows XP about once every 2 or 3 months.

 

Spending more quality time with your favorite Internet: priceless.

 

I used AVG, Ad-Aware & SpyBot, all do fine for me so far.

If u want 100% free virus, one menthod mention before is not to log in internet. Second, when u buy a new PC or Laptop, just keep them in the box & dont use them, that way u r 100% virus free

 

That might keep it Virus free, but not Spyware free. As new laptop are loaded with spyware. So keeping it in the box is still not 100%
You would have to do a clean install.

 

ive been using kaspersky for somtime but it got blacklisted..lol.
so i downloaded Nod32 from a site and its a trial version but gives me 16715573 days left for the trial.. LOL
it updates daily too. i also use it to test if it blocks virus and trogen and it blocks everything.

one thing wierd about this is when i use IE6 to go to a trogen site the AV detect the virus when opeing the page. but when i use firefox 2, the AV doesnt detect it. is firefox more secure??

 

If you liked Kasperksy, try AOL Virus Shield. It's free (for a year anyway) and is basically Kaspersky AV with AOL pasted all over it. Same engine and everything.

P.S. Kaspersky is worth BUYING you know...

 

@ HP Fan, yes. The site is probably using an exploit in IE, that, without your AV activated, would auto-install on your comp just from visiting the site. Firefox blocks that kinda thing, or the exploits don't work in the first place is more likely.