Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: ioyuioynx on February 15, 2010, 09:56:51 AM
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I usually test Avast, and other anti-virus against the latest bad stuff. This site (http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/mdl.php) helps me get the nasties needed for the tests. It would be great if the Avast company also worked on the latest stuff from http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/mdl.php that would make Avast the best against 0-day threats.
Comments, reactions, test results, anything to say at all???
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Yes, of course.
The whole MDL initiative is vey unfortunate IMO. Every day, there are thousands of new viruses, and MDL publishes maybe ten, twenty of them. Which is fine per se, but unfortunately, many self-proclaimed "testers" just take the MDL lists, run their favorite AV's through all the links and publish the results pretending they are meaningful (ideally by means of a youtube video).
I always hated to do something just because of getting better rankings, but in this case, I'm severly considering it. For example, it's trivial for us to blacklist all the URLs on the MDL immediately (by means of the Network Shield). Will that make avast better for the users? I really doubt that. But it will certainly "make Avast the best against 0-day threats" in the eyes of people like the original poster...
Thanks
Vlk
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I understand what you mean.
How do you honestly think Avast Free 5.0 handles the nasties compared to Norton 2010 or Kaspersky 2010?
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ouchh
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How do you honestly think Avast Free 5.0 handles the nasties compared to Norton 2010 or Kaspersky 2010?
Very well.
I'm basing this on the data we have in our lab - all the nasties we receive are funneled through ~12 AV engines just to see how we're standing (including the two you quoted).
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IMO, don't blacklist. Greylist maybe but I know Google has taken some heat over their domain tagging/soft blocking (blocking but only as a notice/warning page before loading the site if you continue) in their results. Not to say Alwil can't defend themselves; I can just see a better method to go about it.
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Vlk won't blacklist, of course not.
What he stated is that the performance against those few domains is not meaningful, and if he wanted to gain a top-performance (in the eyes of the self-declared-malware specialists), he'd just have to blacklist those domains...
I'm very curious to see the next av-comparatives review, when avast5 steps up against Avira AntiVir10 and the other "biggies" on the scene. I'm pretty confident it will be very high ranking.
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If you say it does well, then how do you explain the VBlist or those other testing sites that always place Avast near the middle of the field, and not the top?
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What does VB have to do with malware domains?
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I'd say it should do as good as 4.8. Might be a bit more before all the goodness of 5 is visible as the newer definitions being added daily to take advantage of the newer scan engine.
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What does VB have to do with malware domains?
It doesn't have anything to do with anything else. It was just a separate statement altogether.
I'm sure you understood what I meant.
Now instead of that comment, could you please answer the question?
If you say it does well, then how do you explain the VBlist or those other testing sites that always place Avast near the middle of the field, and not the top?
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I'd say it should do as good as 4.8. Might be a bit more before all the goodness of 5 is visible as the newer definitions being added daily to take advantage of the newer scan engine.
That's my point. Avast 4.8 is always placed near the middle of the pack, never at the top. Why is this the case, if in the Avast labs they think Avast is doing as well as Norton 2010 or Kaspersky 2010?
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Look at av-comparatives.org.
Avast is in the top products.
av-comparatives is (in my opinion) the most independent and unbiased organisation to test av products, so I trust their statements. Very good and thorough reviews.
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That's my point. Avast 4.8 is always placed near the middle of the pack, never at the top. Why is this the case, if in the Avast labs they think Avast is doing as well as Norton 2010 or Kaspersky 2010?
ioyuioynx,
I suspect the main purpose of your questions is predominantly just argumentative.
Does it really matter what anyone else thinks about a product, and are you going to take their word for it anyhow?
One may gain some initial benefit reading product reviews and comparisons, which may or may not be biased for all sorts of reasons, but in the end it comes down to whether a product does what you personally want of it. If it does you use it, if it doesn't you move on. Asking the Ford Motor Co how they rate their vehicles against their competitors is a pointless exercise.
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Well...lets see then.....
I have attached some screenshots of the latest AV-Comparatives results. Avast is in the top three in only one test.
Do you trust that?
The product of the year 2009 was Symantec.
If Avast is close to Symantec, why were you guys 2nd or 3rd?
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That's my point. Avast 4.8 is always placed near the middle of the pack, never at the top. Why is this the case, if in the Avast labs they think Avast is doing as well as Norton 2010 or Kaspersky 2010?
ioyuioynx,
I suspect the main purpose of your questions is predominantly just argumentative.
No, not at all. I apologise if it sounds that way.
Contrary to what you may think...I quite like Avast, and have recommended it to lots of people.
I just want it to be the best....thats all. :-)
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You should then define first what are the mesurement requirements to be "the best"?
For me, personally, I define it like this: very high detection rate of the live-shields, low system impact, inexpensive, good overall coverage.
My conclusion is this (again, only my personal rating): avast has a high detection rate without many FP, it uses very few system resources, it is free and it has all the features that need to be paid in other solutions (e.g. mail scanning and web shield compared to avira).
This makes it "the best" foe me.
Of course one may come to other conclusion. If you want 100% detection, you will maybe use avira and take a higher FP-rate.
I just think that avast is the best overall-package, well balanced between efficency and impact (both on my computer and my purse) ;D
And again: only my opinion and personal rating.
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Same here...
In terms of coverage, it is Avast that provides the best so far, covering many of a regular net users vulnerability as a Tool for protection.
I also believe in its advocacy that the free product should not in any way be inferior from the paid version. I believe this approach will encourage a lot to get the paid one since if the free product is good, how much more if you get the paid version.
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Think twice before asking request .. avast is free. So dont ask more than should..
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Keep in mind that we've had all kinds of discussions (and arguments) about the validity and usefulness of comparative a-v tests, probably going clear back to the first introduction of avast and of the forums here. While there's obviously not a unanimous consensus, there does seem to be widespread agreement (here, anyway) that how well the product works for you is a much greater factor than how it performs in third-party testing. And especially in how those testing results are reported and ranked.
As for me, I've been quite happy with avast for years, and in particular I don't think any competing product can match it for support and assistance, particularly in these forums. Sure, v5 is still having "growing pains", but the Alwil folks are doing a marvelous job of dealing with those as quickly as possible. Look how far they've come just from 377 to 418, in a very short time-span.
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Yeah, I agree.
However, those tests do have some sense. I'd rather have an AV product with a detection rate above - lets say - 90% than one of those below 80%...
But it's true: the important part is your personal like and/or dislike - and the support you can find in case you need it.
And there are two great forum: the antivir forum (also in German language, of course) and this forum.
So my choice is avast. If I had problems with english language, I'd probably switch to antivir. Lucky me, I do speak English. ;D