True, I think you misunderstood the issue. I know that new viruses are like their real parent (human viruses), they are released - even mutate! - by the 10's everyday, but that isn't the matter here. The thing is, ask.com toolbar and its "friends" are old malware, and they used to be less problematic before - they asked you before installing. Now, a lot of those "sloware" install silently and without asking, turning quick computers into XT's (if you are 10 years younger than me, XT is an old computer system which runned on 12Mhz 8086 processors, you can imagine how fast they were.) Back to the point, I have a very young niece who loves to install everything that blinks on facebook, so every two months her middle class notebook have to be cleaned, and I'm so very tired of that. But, i've found out that Windows Defender is very light but don't detect (bad word here). The other solutions require three or four softwares which are memory hogs, and when they are actually running (like scanning or something), the computer slows down a lot, and since it's a notebook, they always begin working when they shouldn't, because the machine isn't always on. And I am yet to meet a young girl that can wait 30 minutes to get into facebook. So, long story short: Avast IS is a GREAT av, she's running the free version, and if the full (or even better, the IS version - which have a GREAT firewall), i'd buy it for her. But if it doesn't, I'd have to go with NOD. I was looking at NOD specs right now, and I haven't analyzed another AV for a looong time, since i was almost fully satisfied with Avast, and ESET smart security does everything Avast IS does, have a anti-stealing thing that avast doesn't (at least in my version), and detect at least all major crapware. For the first time in two or three years I'm thinking about switching AV's again. Darn, I'm downloading the trial and setting up a VM to test it right now! I have 5 or 6 months of license yet, and I was about to buy a new 5 pc's one. Now I ain't so sure. Damn I talk too much.
About PUP: Don't you think that a thing that silently installs into your system, run stealthily, gives you hell if you try to remove it, monitor your activities and you-know-what else, send to a computer in a country we don't even have extradition treaties with, to send you "relevant ads" - which is what they say, who knows what they really do with all that data - isn't *at least* a "potentially unwanted program"? By my definition it should be classified as a virus, and a bad one! I have 6 computers which I'm always restoring - I use a disk cloning thing, so it's easier, but it is still a pain. So, I think my AV of choice should at least catch those things before they turn the comp into a turtle. uf!!!
If I understood your meaning here - "Why didnt you in-built avast browser cleanup in avast AV to get rid of toolbars?" - it does get rid of them. but they come back. all the time. Baidu malware for example, gives hell to the AV - I always use a specific tool to remove it, because I am yet to find an AV which can deal with it. But OK, it changes all the time. But if someone can create a list like this
http://www.calendarofupdates.com/updates/index.php?s=8253296681c615e7ec8180fdb7292da5&app=calendar&module=calendar&cal_id=1&do=showevent&event_id=44514, AV's can simply use it - they can detect by the name of executable, install window title, whathever - or they can use the tool they have specifically to do it: the viral scan and heuristics. They DO detect viruses that ain't yet "in the wild" - I myself submitted three viruses found by Avast heuristics that were very specific - they targeted brazilian internet banking websites, two of them only worked on FireFox, the code was a mess and they came by mail inside an executable called "bank_important_thing.exe" - but the link always says "whathever.jpg or .pdf or .xls. Avast never let me run them, lest download ( i did it inside a VM because I like to know about those things, specially to teach my family not to get scammed online). And, since I like to think of me as a nice guy, I submitted them via IS. And two or three db actualizations later (guess 2 days for the one which took more time), Avast was naming them, not by heuristics, but they were inside the virus DB. It is very fast. Another point for Avast. It led me to buy the full IS, rather than AV (using free version at the time).
About the guide and link, again you misunderstood me. I have no toolbars or such in my system. I just want to know: can Avast detect them? If yes, why it isn't detecting my "infected" files that I'm using for testing? If not, God, WHY? It surely SHOULD! they are BAD as viruses are bad.
That led me to think: most AV's don't detect those badware. Are they being asked politely not to? Or paid not to? Good question.
I won't use an AV which works like a politician.
God I'm so sorry I write so much.
