How efficient is Avast actually?

[yardbird]

I have had Avast Internet Security for many years and so far I have been really pleased with the program.

However, today I discovered that my computer behaved a bit odd and when I checked the Task Manager, I saw that a certain dllhost.exe program was trying to activate over and over again.

So I ran a full scan with Avast but nothing came up.

Then I tried with Malwarebytes free and it discovered 34 potential threats!

Threats which Avast didn't discover.

So I quarantined those threats in Malwarebites and the computer became normal again.

But what I wonder is why this Malwarebytes free program found 34 threats which my Avast which I pay for didn't?

This has made me worry. 

[schmidthouse]

Hi
I'm sure others will chime in, however, I would be interested in knowing what the 34 threats were that you quarantined.

[Pondus]

let me guess .... 34 PUP detections ?   

PUP = Possible Unwanted Program.  and avast PUP detection is default off

No security program have 100% detection or zero false positive
What is considered PUP by one vendor may not be by another security vendor, it depends what criteria they have for classing something a PUP

avast criteria is not listed online to my knowledge but you find Malwarebytes here   https://www.malwarebytes.com/pup/

also what looks like 34 potential threats! may not be that since malwarebytes will list evry location in your computer where a program have written code, so one detected program may look like many. Other security programs may list detections different

[schmidthouse]

Quote:

"let me guess .... 34 PUP detections ?   

PUP = Possible Unwanted Program.  and avast PUP detection is default off"


Yup most likely.

[yardbird]

Well, yes 33 PUP's and one Adware Install Core.

But my Avast PUP detection is on and has been so since many years. 

Here's the list:


PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\CLSID\{10ECCE17-29B5-4880-A8F5-EAD298611484}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\REI_AxControl.ReiEngine.1, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\TYPELIB\{FA6468D2-FAA4-4951-A53B-2A5CF9CC0A36}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\INTERFACE\{9BB31AD8-5DB2-459E-A901-DEA536F23BA4}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\INTERFACE\{BD51A48E-EB5F-4454-8774-EF962DF64546}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\WOW6432NODE\INTERFACE\{9BB31AD8-5DB2-459E-A901-DEA536F23BA4}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\WOW6432NODE\INTERFACE\{BD51A48E-EB5F-4454-8774-EF962DF64546}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\CLASSES\INTERFACE\{9BB31AD8-5DB2-459E-A901-DEA536F23BA4}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\CLASSES\INTERFACE\{BD51A48E-EB5F-4454-8774-EF962DF64546}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\CLASSES\TYPELIB\{FA6468D2-FAA4-4951-A53B-2A5CF9CC0A36}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\WOW6432NODE\TYPELIB\{FA6468D2-FAA4-4951-A53B-2A5CF9CC0A36}, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\REI_AxControl.ReiEngine, I karantän, [354], [327197],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\CLASSES\APPID\REI_AxControl.DLL, I karantän, [354], [327193],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\APPID\REI_AxControl.DLL, I karantän, [354], [327193],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\REIMAGE\Reimage Repair, I karantän, [354], [336077],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.AdvancePCCare, HKLM\SOFTWARE\PCV-VAR, I karantän, [1077], [478156],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKU\S-1-5-21-504670421-1641282158-493180277-1000\SOFTWARE\Reimage, I karantän, [354], [357494],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\WOW6432NODE\APPID\REI_AxControl.DLL, I karantän, [354], [327193],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.InstallCore, HKU\S-1-5-21-504670421-1641282158-493180277-1000\SOFTWARE\CSASTATS\ic, I karantän, [446], [586068],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKU\S-1-5-21-504670421-1641282158-493180277-1000\SOFTWARE\LOCAL APPWIZARD-GENERATED APPLICATIONS\Reimage - Windows Problem Relief., I karantän, [354], [327203],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKU\S-1-5-21-504670421-1641282158-493180277-1000\SOFTWARE\REIMAGE\PC REPAIR, I karantän, [354], [327204],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.PCVARK, HKLM\SOFTWARE\ZWZpeG15cGMuY29t, I karantän, [468], [556569],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\CLASSES\APPID\{28FF42B8-A0DA-4BE5-9B81-E26DD59B350A}, I karantän, [354], [332494],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\WOW6432NODE\APPID\{28FF42B8-A0DA-4BE5-9B81-E26DD59B350A}, I karantän, [354], [332494],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\APPID\{28FF42B8-A0DA-4BE5-9B81-E26DD59B350A}, I karantän, [354], [332494],1.0.11586
PUP.Optional.Reimage, HKLM\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\CLSID\{801B440B-1EE3-49B0-B05D-2AB076D4E8CB}, I karantän, [354], [327206],1.0.11586

"Karantän" is Quarantine in Swedish, just for your information.

Anyway, did some sweeps with Malwarebytes (the result above) then with adwcleaner (which manages to find som leftovers from Iobit Advanced System Care which I uninstalled years ago, then with Avast again with scanning settings changed from medium to high (no problems detected) and Malwarebytes again (no problems detected this time).

Since I still trust Avast and its products, I downloaded Avast Cleanup Premium for a 60 days trial, scanned the computer and  removed some unnecessary stuff. I might buy this program since it seems to function well. 

I did at least get rid of that annoying problem with dllhost.exe starting and closing all the time. So I guess I got rid of what caused the problems.

Are there any more precautions I should take in this case?

While I'm still at it, I do have some problems since the end of last year with Windows Update which refuses to install the monthly security updates, however it updates everything else. But that has nothing to do with Avast, it seems to be a Microsoft problem due to all complaints about the same problem on many forums. Anyone of you out there who have encountered that problem and have any solution for it.

I have Windows 7 64-bit OS.

[Pondus]

"Karantän" is Quarantine in Swedish, just for your information.

I know, har ingen problemer med og lese svensk   

But my Avast PUP detection is on and has been so since many years.

As i said above, they may not have the same PUP criteria as malwarebytes, also avast is a antivirus program so the priority is malicious stuff and the annoying stuff comes second

[bob3160]

Avast actually does both. How strictly it blocks Malware depends on your settings.
https://www.avast.com/c-malware