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I am inclined to agree with most of what polonus says above. These programs change all the time ... sometimes for good but unfortunately, sometimes for not so good. So, as polonus says, a change may make one program #1 this week but another change might make the same program #10 next week. And this may not be a change in the same program (though it could be) but a better change in still another program.
Although, polonus, I do not think av testing is completely futile. Surely, testing could be a lot better. But, without testing, many programs may not be changed by the natural competitive nature to be better. I do not think this would be the case with the Avast team because I think (and they have shown) that they truely care about providing the best av service that they can. This is shown not only in the Avast av but also in this forum ... by both the users and the participation of the the Avast programmers as well. But, there are those programs that would just crawl along at a snail's pace if they were not spirred by the competitiveness of tests to do better ... even if the tests are faulty and without good standards.
And, we, as members of the computer/Internet community, need those other av programs because not everyone will use the same one. We know that no matter what, some computers just do not react well to some programs while a seemingly similar computer does. A lot of that has to do with the ... ummm, person ... sitting at the keyboard. It is better that those others have some kind of av than none at all. So, it is better to have the competitiveness of these tests to "spir on" the less than optimal av's.
But, I do agree that the user base, user loyalty, and user comments actually give a better indication of how good an av program is. People talk about these things whether it is good or bad. After all, without the above user items, how long would any program last? Well, some will last because there are those people/corporations that think if it is paid for and no free version, it must be better. All of you know examples of that. Many of us are here now because some of those "paid only" av programs failed us when we needed them most.
The truth is that in life, money is not everything. Yes, money is nice to have plenty of but it is not the "cure all" some think it to be. Sure, money needs to be made in order to stay in business. Great service is also needed or there will be no money to be made. And this is the strength of Avast. I feel very fortunate to have left those "paid for only" av's and found Avast/awil ... an av company that truely cares about their customers ... even the customers who use only the free version.
OK ... that's my 2-cents worth and I am sorry making this post so long. I will now step down off my "soap-box."
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