Avast vs other program

[rikki438]

Hi you guys said u love Avast

I have used it and think its great... but one thing that makes me wonder is can a free program be as good as the paid for programs?

People say that AVG, PcCillin, Norton and McAfee are not as good but Ive used Norton and McAfee and both have been excellent - are these programs surely not just all as good as each other? Panda... bit defender... McAfee... Norton etc....

I had one or two viruses seep through which Avast didnt pick up but Bitdefender online scanner found...

But maybe that was due to an update not having got through... im not sure...

Still this is v good program...

Just wonder why ppl say not as good as McAfee surely theyre all the same bar AVG which i had real problems with

[neal62]

To answer your question. In my opinion, Yes a free program such as Avast can be better than a pay program. I have used McAfee, and Norton which I paid for. I also used AVG (free) and now am using Avast Home. I have seen countless times where Avast catches infections that Norton has yet to identify on pcs that are brought in to my work place with infections on them. For my reasons and purposes I use Avast due to its great ITW and other detection capabilities and also because of the forum here that I can participate in. The other virus programs including the ones I paid for to my knowledge do NOT have forums that a user can participate in and learn valuable information and receive great assistance. Hope this sheds some light on just one other users beliefs concerning your question.

[Lisandro]

Rikki, neal said everything  
I used McAfee, Norton, AVG and then avast!
Believe, this is the paradise of antivirus  

Fast updates, strong protection... if you fell strange because it's free, try and buy the Professional version: you'll be able to schedule scanning and configure even more your protection.

[Staind]

Yea, I have a paid copy of Norton and Mcafee. After finding Avast I haven't found the install CDs for them since.

[Tipton]

Avast is a very good AV, and the fact it is free does not take from its abilities. I used to think that free software always came with a catch. Not true at all. Some of the best software on my system is free. I do encourage to donate some funds if you are able though.  

Douglas

[dadkins_1]

Avast Home surpasses Norton and McAfee on so many levels...and it is offered for free. It does not take over your system like Norton does, yet it detects and removes things that they do not. My Vaio came with PC-cillin, not bad, but when the subscription expired I could not re-new it because of payment problems(they only accept credit cards, I don't do credit). I went on a quest for a new AV product...

Comcast offered me McAfee free for a year, so I uninstalled avast and installed McAfee.

It locked my system at the Windows screen, I went to Safe Mode and uninstalled it - reinstalled it once again(might have been a bad install). Nope! I was looking at the Windows loading screen for an hour.

Avast is in my system to stay, period.

[bman]

Hi guys!
Some history:
avast! is very good program, which almost doesn't have competition.
In years '96 and '97 avast appeard in VB tests and was great.
Avast was the first AV, which has taken 100% in all categories
I'm very sutisfied with avast! 4 Home version.
avast! has the best update service that I have ever seen.

[LordDragonDan]

I have used other av programs. None were free and none were as good as Avast. Avast has a vested interest in killing viruses since they make most of their money by protecting servers. Also, how many IT professionals have add Avast to the list of A-V products to consider after trying the home or pro version or reading a review? Avast found 3 viruses on my wifes pc after loading Avast. She was using McAfee. This forum also allows Avast to know about bugs, user concerns and wishes in a fast manner. Just check out Nortons. Have they fixed their latest problem yet?

Avast rules!
 

[Waldo]

Avast wins hands down !  

but :

I strongly believe there are no bad AV's outthere anymore. Every big vendor, be it Norton, Macafee, Bitdefender, Panda , sophos, Kaspersky, Pc cilling, etc... they ALL offer great protection.

The only problem with those major AV's is that there bloated with tools nobody needs, and make your pc crawl and most of them offer no good support either.

Avast plays in the same game as those majors AV's and leaves those other free AV's way behind.

Although the new Antivir PE offers a very strong and good heuristic now. If you can live & handle the false positives.


Waldo

[Lisandro]

Avast wins hands down !  
Waldo

Wellcome back brother!  

[KezzerDrix]

Yo, Rikki

How about some facts

Check this site.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml
Don't simply go by how many pass/fails a particular brand name has, some vendors have a longer history; is all that amounts to.  Check to see that your OS passed 100% with Avast in the 2003 or 2004 tests.  If you are a Windows user you will be pleased.

Also check out Avasts' award page
http://www.avast.com/i_kat_13.html

Did you read this page?
http://www.avast.com/i_idt_153.html

Avast! is not free.   Anyone who uses computers for a profit including large corporations, pay good money to have Avast! as their protection.  They only offer it free to non-4-profit home users.
There are many reasons to try and trust Avast!  It truly is one of the most inovative, forward looking companies in the Anti-Virus Business.

Kezz

[F4]

It would be a lot better if avast improves the ability ot detect more spyware like NOD32 does.

I know avast is an Anti-virus program not Anti-spyware program. But when it comes to a real-live situation that spyware can be everywhere, an average user don't even know what is a difference between virus, trojan, worm and spyware when an anti-virus program detects something they think this is a virus.

If avast fails to detect a common spyware then they would think that avast fails to detect a virus too.

[RejZoR]

They'll impliment heuristic engine someday. Hopefully very soon.
Than its detection rate will increase much. At beginning maybe not,since you have to "learn" all good and bad parts of parasites and normal programs so you get less or none false positives.
They are doing a great job without heuristic module now,and i think they'll handle it very good later

[DavidR]

It would be a lot better if avast improves the ability ot detect more spyware like NOD32 does.

My personal view is that Avast should do what it does best, protect against viruses. In this instance I'd much prefer a master tradesman, rather than a bloated, jack of all trades, master of none.

There are certain things that nod32 does better, but I don't think it has the level of overall protection, email, outlook, p2p and IM, nod32 doesn't do all that (as far as I am aware). Otherwise why would you be using/trying avast instead of nod32 (cost perhaps)?

Adaware and Spybot S&D are great, provided you keep them up to date.

But one of the best froms of protection on the net is common sense 1st, avast 2nd and a good firewall 3rd. For most cases spyware is a hassle but much less important in the scale of harm it can do.

[CharleyO]

Well said, David.      

Avast should leave the spyware detection to Ad-aware, SpyBot-S&D, and other similar (but less effective) programs.

I, for one, do not want to see avast! become a bloated, try-to-do-it-all, junk-ware program that certain other av programs have become.