[Jack1000]

Guys,

Upon hearing that my AVG was going to be no longer supported at the end of the month, I uninstalled my AVG AV/IS programs and went with Avast. The installation went fairly well and was quick. A couple of notes:

1.) On install, you are given the option of whether or not you want to do a Scheduled Boot Scan. This means, that the next time you restart your computer it will start scanning. However, the boot scan takes a long time. So I clicked Yes, did a prompted restart and it started the boot scan. But 20 minutes later it was still going so I just used the ESC key. When the program booted up, it got the updates automatically, and I did a standard scan. It found 1 virus.

2.) When it finds a Virus, it gives users a recommended action. For this malware, which neither AVG, Houscall, nor any of my other programs had detected, the recommended action was to move it to the Virus Chest. This is the same as AVG's Virus Vault. It isolates the bad file, making a copy of the good file and quarantines it. You can later delete the file, which I did.

3.) To take action on the program, you open up the Interface, which looks like a car radio! Right-Click inside of the program and you will see a bunch of choices. Than you can take action on your choice from the right-click menu. Hovering the mouse over the buttons, gives you tool tips on what each knob does. The first thing that I did was right clicked and selected the Boot Scan option, because I wanted that turned off. (Takes too long.) What the program did was schedule a boot scan. So I got out of that menu, re-entered the boot scan menu by right-clicking again and it said, "You have a boot scan scheduled already, do you want to cancel it? I said Yes, and rebooted just to make sure, and this time it went right to the desktop.

4.) The Settings option gives you the choice to update the database definitions automatically, as well as get new versions of the program automatically or manually. I have the definitions set to automatic update and to be asked if I want to update when a new version of the program comes out. (This is the default setting.) It talks when there is an update or has updated, which is cool. It also talks when it finds a virus or other malware. A screen pop up and tell you what to do.

5.) There is a Resident Shield, Outlook Based E-mail scanner AND Internet mail scanning, which is wonderful. The downside (at least in the free based version) is that if malware is found (Virus, Spyware, Rootkit, it looks for all of them.) The scan WILL STOP, until you take action on the infected file. This means, don't start a scan and go to bed. Avast! needs babysitting if it finds something. This I think is the one downside of Avast over AVG.

But so far, a GREAT program.

Jack

[tacoman359]

Where did you hear that AVG support is stopping at the end of the month? I've looked all over AVG's website and on their forums and I can't seem to find anything about that.

Also, I would make sure that the virus that avast! found wasn't a false-positive. It seems like I get a lot of false-positives from avast! when I scan files on VirusTotal.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by tacoman359

Where did you hear that AVG support is stopping at the end of the month? I've looked all over AVG's website and on their forums and I can't seem to find anything about that.

Also, I would make sure that the virus that avast! found wasn't a false-positive. It seems like I get a lot of false-positives from avast! when I scan files on VirusTotal.

User Vicks has mentioned support for 7.5 will be discontinued at the end of the month in the AVG FAQ thread that I created here:

http://forums.techguy.org/general-se...s-faq-s-2.html

He said that he went to AVG 8. I went to Avast because AVG 8 has been getting some bad press from people that I know, who loved version 7.5. So take that however you want to interpret this. I do thank you for the false positives issues with Avast and will see what happens. It's too early for me with Avast to do a full review.

Jack

[tacoman359]

Oh, your first just said that AVG was no longer going to be supported. I misunderstood you. As for AVG 8, I do like it but it does have a few downsides. The website/search scanner function is basically pointless. It tells you that websites are dangerous when they really aren't at all. This new version is also a bit slower than the old one, but not too much of a change in speed. There are conflicts between Spybot's immunization function and AVG 8 where AVG will detect tons of false positives once your system has been immunized. Also, the UI takes awhile to load up every time you click the tray icon. They should have been a little more thoughtful about the UI. Overall, the malware protection is great, but the program itself isn't all that great probably because it just came out.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by tacoman359

Oh, your first just said that AVG was no longer going to be supported. I misunderstood you. As for AVG 8, I do like it but it does have a few downsides. The website/search scanner function is basically pointless. It tells you that websites are dangerous when they really aren't at all. This new version is also a bit slower than the old one, but not too much of a change in speed. There are conflicts between Spybot's immunization function and AVG 8 where AVG will detect tons of false positives once your system has been immunized. Also, the UI takes awhile to load up every time you click the tray icon. They should have been a little more thoughtful about the UI. Overall, the malware protection is great, but the program itself isn't all that great probably because it just came out.

Thanks,

I stand corrected. It is AVG 7.5 that is being phased out as AVG 8 gets more mainstream. Users will be able to stay with AVG as a company, but soon will no longer be able to use version 7.5 products.

Jack

[Byteman]

Hi,

Here is some good info about AVG 8 for those that want to try and avoid "issues" and do want to use AVG, http://forum.emsisoft.com/Default.as...file&u=4532714


I am still using 7.5 on this computer, but have installed 8.0 on several.. I'm running McAfee Site Advisor, and wanted to keep on, but AVG includes a Security Toolbar, that you must select to NOT install in order to keep Site Advisor> info in link above about it, plus some other issues covered. Grisoft planning a Service Pack for AVG 8.0 in a few weeks, for one.

I hope they get it right!


Here is a page at Grisoft, for known conflicts with programs:

Scroll down to: 1214:AVG 8.0 conflicts

http://www.grisoft.com/ww.faq.num-1090#faq_1090