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03-11-2003, 11:58 PM
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#1 |
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Member (10 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Singapore
Posts: 790
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Is free AV program good ?
Is the free AVG Antivirus a decent program ? How is its effectiveness compared against those paying programs such as Norton and Mcafee ?
Also curious to know what makes AVG free ? How do they make money by giving it free ? Or is there a catch to it ? Is there other equally good or better free AV programs out there ? |
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03-12-2003, 12:03 AM
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#2 |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Central Arkansas
Posts: 2,170
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I highly recommend AVG. I have been using it for about a year now and every virus that hit me was caught by AVG. I occasionally do a couple of online scans to double check it and nothing has showed up yet. With the schedules updates and scans, you can just about set it up and forget about it. It also has email scanning which comes in handy with the 3 kids I have.
It's only free for personal use, they have a payed version for commercial use. There are some others, seems like I have read good things about Kerio, but don't hold me to that, it's been awhile.
__________________
Roger "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." -Confucius Last edited by Redo40; 03-12-2003 at 12:13 AM. |
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03-12-2003, 01:09 AM
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#3 |
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Shiro Usagi
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Kaneohe, Hawaii
Posts: 34,002
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I've been using AVG a little over a year now and have been very happy with it. I like that it has a very small footprint and doesn't interfere or mess with other programs like some other AV's do. I recommend it to friends and family, but they feel safer using Norton's...it's the "if you have to pay for it, it must be better" syndrome.
 Cricket
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03-12-2003, 09:15 PM
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#4 |
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Member (5 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 27
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I to ahve been using it for a while now and its easy enough for someone semi computer illiterate to use and it has caught everything I have come in contact with. I to get from other people this "you get what you pay for" syndrome but in this case it works really very well.
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03-12-2003, 09:57 PM
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#5 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: british columbia canada
Posts: 1,361
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i also have used avg for over a year and recommend it to all my family and friends
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03-12-2003, 10:44 PM
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#6 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Twin Cities
Posts: 238
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I, too, am using AVG and I am very pleased with it.
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03-12-2003, 11:08 PM
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#7 |
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The Gavel
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Upland, CA
Posts: 6,311
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AVG is all I use.
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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves" |
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03-13-2003, 12:54 AM
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#8 |
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Professional Cow Tipper
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Enid, OK, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,859
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Same here. AVG is the only one I use and I've had no problems yet. Been using it for over a year now and very impressed.
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Excellent guess, Kreskin! Wrong...but excellent. *quote from Space Quest 6* |
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03-13-2003, 05:43 AM
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#9 |
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Massachusetts-Spirit of America
Posts: 893
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Yep! AVG 6.0. I got no complain so far.
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03-13-2003, 07:48 PM
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#10 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Almost Heaven, West Virginia
Posts: 256
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AVG is good, but Ontrack's Suytem Suite is really good. I dont know if they sell the anti-virus alone or not.
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03-14-2003, 12:37 PM
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#11 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 252
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I also use AVG & highly recommend it!
Cheryl |
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03-14-2003, 07:10 PM
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#12 |
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Sep 1999
Posts: 554
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I have AVG for about a year too. had not trouble with it. I had Nortons but it was always freezing up my computer. I would recommend it highly
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03-14-2003, 08:20 PM
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#13 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Decorah IA USA
Posts: 49
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AVG cant be beat for the price,,Which is nil of course,, And it is just as good as any of the competition.
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04-01-2003, 03:41 PM
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#14 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9
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In short - no. AVG is one of the worst AV products out there.
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04-01-2003, 04:36 PM
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#15 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: british columbia canada
Posts: 1,361
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what problems have you had with avg,ive used it for two years no problems ,before that ,used mccaffee, it was rubbish
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04-01-2003, 04:43 PM
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#16 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9
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I don't use it.
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04-01-2003, 04:58 PM
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#17 |
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Resident Slacker
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Suisun City, California (i know, where the hell is that?!?!?)
Posts: 2,620
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i've used avg for a few months now, and have been virus free. just keep the definitions updated.
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Friends help you move. REAL friends help you move bodies. - me quite possibly the best book ever written... by me |
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04-01-2003, 05:08 PM
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#18 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9
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1.) It has never passed a Virus Bulletin test in Windows.
2.) The Heuristics analysis is poor. It causes false alarms and misses too many things at the same time. 3.) The virus database is small. AVG barely catches any dailers, hoaxes, or other junk. Some might say... who cares? But a good anti-virus software should detect them at least... These are the sort of comments I have seen why people like AVG before: "AVG does't hog up my resources." Neither does NOD32, Dr.Web, Sophos, Kaspersky 3.5.x.x, Kaspersky 4 Lite and Command Antivirus. And all these products detect way better than AVG. "AVG is the best value, it's free! No... You can pay a little more and get alot more protection (ie. NOD32, KAV). Or if you refuse to pay for antivirus software the best free one is Avast! Home. This product actually got a VB100 award and is certified in many testing organizations. (Although I would not recommend it.) "AVG is an install and forget solution." Not really. You still have to watch out for trojans, of which AVG has a terrible time doing. Also, the AVG tech support is sloppy. My point is that I reckon AVG is way too overated. Sure, its great that its free, but it won't do with today's viruses. Get another product. |
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04-03-2003, 04:52 AM
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#19 |
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Member (10 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Singapore
Posts: 790
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Which then is the best software (irregardless paid or free) ?
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04-03-2003, 09:07 AM
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#20 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9
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Top 3:
1. NOD32 2. Dr.Web 3. Kaspersky |
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04-03-2003, 01:06 PM
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#21 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 338
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AVG seems decent enough for a free AV. But I don't use. On three seperate occasions within about a month of installing it seems implode in on itself and crash whenever opened. Same error message, clean installs everytime.
I use Panda Antivirus, of all the AV I have used personally this seems to catch the most. |
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04-04-2003, 12:06 AM
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#22 |
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Member (10 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Singapore
Posts: 790
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I'm surprised that AV software like Norton or Mcafee are not in your list Anonymous. Also the 3 mentioned is "rare" - haven't come across anyone I know who uses it. What makes them tops and yet at the same time relatively unknown ?
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04-04-2003, 02:07 AM
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#23 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9
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Those 3 are the best because they have the best detection rate out of all AV software. They also have much stronger heuristics are faster at scanning, have a very small footprint (not much memory resources used), and are updated very frequently, often twice daily.
Norton and Mcafee are decent AV software, but are a long way from the best. It's just brilliant marketing for average products. The detection in them isn't as good, the heuristics are weaker and they are very bloaty and take up alot of system resources. There are many others better than Norton and Mcafee also (and many worse) but I just listed the 3 as those are the very best. I think it's bad marketing that makes them less well known to average PC user. They don't appear in PC Magazine tests (which are useless anyway, magazines can't test AV software properly) but they are no stranger to all the professional tests such as Virus Bulletin, AV Test and University of Hamburg Virus Test Centre. The software comes top in their tests. NOD32 for example hasn't missed a single ITW virus in the last 5 years of professional testing. I think PC Magazines always making Norton and Mcafee editors choice etc... has put them on the undeserved pedestal. All the reviews in these magazines are nothing more than personal opinion of ease of use and interface. The best free one though without a doubt is Avast. This always does much better than AVG in tests. AVG has a smaller footprint that Avast though, but it's virus detection capabilities that are more important. But it can't even compete with Norton and Mcafee, nevermind the likes of NOD32, Dr.Web, Kaspersky, Command, Norman, F-Secure, Sophos etc... |
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04-06-2003, 03:27 PM
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#24 |
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Member (5 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 26
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avg
Use it for 3 years now, and it detected all nasty things....for free. That is service I should say !
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