Author Topic: Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test  (Read 36583 times)

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Debaser72

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2004, 06:17:33 PM »
By the way: the only real problem I have with Avast! is its enormous hunger for CPU.
Many times I get a CPU use of 50% or more (AMD 2400+)!

And in fact, when there are big files (like ISO-Images), I have to turn of the standard scanner, otherwise I can not access the files (eg when mounting ISO with Avast! "online", I can not access the virtual CD-Drive)

Offline RejZoR

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2004, 06:22:14 PM »
Do you have set Scan All Files? Set to scan only infectable,because scanning files like ISO images is just a waste of CPU power and memory. Such files cannot be infected in any way.
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Debaser72

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2004, 06:23:57 PM »
I have to check this...see you tomorrow ;->

Beaky

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2004, 11:05:52 AM »
Reading the arguments here reminded me of Auto road tests, well I drive a Vauxhall Astra, which probably never made anyones top ten review or Auto of the year! But to me its a great car. its economical to run and always gets me to my destination and has never lets me down. This is the same situation with Avast, you could argue the merits about which Antivirus is the best and who has the best features the fastest scans etc. for ever and everyone would still have a different opinion.  Obviously any industry tries to set standards so that can evaluate their product against others, don't forget that Alwil subscribe to the V100 test and their stated goal is to detect 100% in the wild viruses.  So Avast failed to make the grade by missing one in the wild fle, does this make it a bad product?  Well not in my book, I have used Avast for over two years and yes I have also previously tried others but in the end it was Avast for me.  

I run Avast together with Sygate Firewall and have never experienced any problems with either product, which is supprising as I surf the net daily. To date Avast has found several worms which it sucessfully removed from my email and keeps my computer clean.  To verify this, I regularly run other online scanners and check my drives and have only ever found one worm that Avast missed which was lurking in a Java file. On this occasion I found that re-setting the scanner on Avast to the highest settings cured the problem and Avast also found the same worm, so lesson learnt I now run at the highest settings possible.

When I originally set up Avast I also experenced a  problem getting Avast to read emails, so I emailed Alwil support and was very impressed to receive a personal and detailed reply which sorted out my problems (didn't know about the forum in the early days!).  So from my experiences, although Avast  may not always get the 100% award it is still a very good product and can be used with confidence also support is second to none, you won't find better anywhere!

Cheers,

Beaky
« Last Edit: June 06, 2004, 05:58:12 PM by Beaky »

Debaser72

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2004, 12:12:16 PM »
"But to me its a great car. its economical to run and always gets me to my destination and has never lets me down."

That's THE main problem here.,..its not about "ME"!
What about your car, when some died because of some malfunction? Still a car you recomend, because you are satisfied?

A mass product can never be about "ME", it has alway to be about "US" and "THEM". It has to work for many people and in many situations..not for one.

Beaky

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #20 on: June 04, 2004, 02:10:20 PM »
Excuse me!

Of course it is about me,  I make my judgements based on my experience and I make my own decisions, although this concept will probably stick in your throat it called  "consummer choice".  I too would have a problem if we were all being forced to use the same Antivirus scanner, but clearly this is not the case. You too are free to use what ever scanner you decide is right for you, and you are also right to question why your chosen scanner does not make the grade!  But I fail to see where you are comming from with your "them" and "us" statement, as far I am aware Alwil is a small company fighting the big corporations in the market place, so using  your logic this must be an "us" verses "us" situation!

The point I was making in my earlier post was simply that based on my experience Avast is up to the task as is my car, so don't judge something simply based on one criteria look at the whole picture.  

Debaser72

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #21 on: June 04, 2004, 02:52:14 PM »
"so don't judge something simply based on one criteria look at the whole picture. "

Which is impossoble, if you look only whats good for you.
Only reviews, tests and so on will give xyou a whole picture. Fact is, that most negative tests are from "bad" people, most postive tests are to be seen on the startsite of the products homepage.

I think, that the discussed test is very objective, since there is no judgment from human beiings (which do or dont like a GUI...), only a testing of the engine which is the heart of every antivirsuproduct. I can be flashy,m have a supergui and the supoort is excellent...nothing of that does any good when system get infected by KNOWN viruses!

Beaky

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2004, 03:50:54 PM »
Agree, as Alwil submit Avast4 to the V100 test, you would expect it to achieve the benchmark. So now it has missed as it has before, what are you going to do, stay or go?

Me, I am going to stick with Avast, I have tried some of the others and had various problems, with set up, or scanners causing system crashes, or slow running, or I simply did not feel safe.  Now this is where you and I differ I have based my decision to stay with Avast because of my passed experience, when Avast failed the V100 test before was I infected, no!  Could I be infected, yes of course I could, but there again what are the chances?  

No scanner is an 100% guarantee that you will never be infected, I suppose logicaly you will argue that because it failed a list of know viruses my chances of infection are greater.  Okay, I agree, but look it missed one file, and what about the staus of the Wild List in between the V100 tests, does it not grow daily?  Just because an Antivirus product caught all of the viruses on a certain day does this mean it is 100% safe until the next test?  Of course not, you will still have have to make a judgement by looking at the list of scanners that made the grade, consider the product history and how many times it won an award, your own circumstances and critera in order to make a decision!


Offline Vlk

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2004, 03:56:27 PM »
The main problem is that you don't actually see the [full] results of the tests. The only thing you see is whether it got the VB100 mark or not. If it did not, you can't find out why (because you don't subscribe to the magazine - or you do?).

Take the last two tests that avast failed:

- the first one was failed because the reviewer was not able to turn the on-access scanner on properly <g>
- the second (the latest, June 2004) failed because avast missed the HTML version sample of a virus (LoveLorn). The HTML version in itself is not dangerous at all -- it just contains scripts that can flush the virus body to another file (this time, binary file). Of course, avast _does_ catch the binary version so there's really no risk whatsoever... :-\

I'm certainly not saying that VB tests are useless, but to judge the quality of the product given just the number of PASS/FAIL's would be very short-sighted.


Also, realize that there's just about 3-4 test yearly so the overall number of PASS/FAIL's represents the whole history. Do you really care if the product passed the tests back in the ninetees? I mean, it can be interesting but shouldn't IMHO be taken too seriously...

Just my €0.02 worth :)
Vlk
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Debaser72

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2004, 03:58:16 PM »
I WANT to stick, but sill i ask: how can it be? Is is the engine or is there a fault in the definition file?

I never had more updates than with Avast!...so I only want to know, why they can miss known viruses.

I think thats a perfectly legal question which should be answered directly, no philosophical discussion :-)

rloschmann

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #25 on: June 04, 2004, 04:06:14 PM »
Well vlk just answered !!

The HTML file is not the virus so avast didn't catch it. But avast does catch the binary virus. That's what we want !!  8)

dadkins_1

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #26 on: June 04, 2004, 04:07:29 PM »
I tested quite a few AV products against one of the worst applications there is(Kazaa). I won't name names, but most failed miserably... the "Big Names" brands, LOL!

...funny, I always have to clean up the messes left by the "others" by re-installing avast! 4. Now I don't even bother testing...avast is it, period.

Just for kicks, after my weekly scan, I hit a few of the bigger online scanners. Clean as a whistle! Always.  ;D

A friend used to use a big name AV (starts with an "N") and was having issues, he now swears by avast!4 after me suggesting it as an alternative. Found 4(four) viruses after installing and running avast...

...and the help you recieve in this forum is second to none!  ;)

The VB tests, as stated before, should be used but not treated as gospel.

Bernie

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #27 on: June 04, 2004, 06:45:19 PM »
Full ack dadkins_1!
What's the use of a product of a big company starting with "N" winning nearly all tests when it's not able to fully detect or remove the Blaster Worm?

I work in a big company using "N". "N" has confirmed that they have difficulties to detect/remove it. Had the same expierience with some of my second job clients that had "N" installed.
After I installed Avast! I got rid of that problem AND it mostly found other things that "N" did miss!

So much to tests...

The Maxx

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #28 on: June 04, 2004, 07:42:24 PM »
I have to agree that Virus Bulletin seems to be a load of crap.  I noticed this that AVG passed while Avast failed....

Grisoft (AVG): Passed 5, Failed 20 (PASSED)

Avast: Passed 9, Failed 19 (FAILED)

How can that be when Avast passed more and failed less?  Unless I'm missing something, it smells and sounds pretty fishy to me.

Beaky

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Re:Avast! fails again in the Virus Bulletin Test
« Reply #29 on: June 04, 2004, 08:08:59 PM »
Obviously there must be some value in obtaining a V100 award or all of the Antivirus companies would not submit their software for review?

The point is the V100 award  rightly or wrongly is a recognised bench mark, but to judge any product on the result of this test alone in my view is a big mistake. I don't believe that the people conducting the tests are in the pocket of anyone, but all the same, experience of actually using some products with a V100 award in the real world, and you seriously have to question the value of the award.  

I hope Avast4 does well in the next test, but even if it doesn't I will continue to use it, as I really do believe that it offers an excellent level of protection!
« Last Edit: June 06, 2004, 05:56:45 PM by Beaky »