Good Bye Avast - I need my CPU Back

[Cassy]

I have removed Avast 5 from all 3 systems and installed Avira, now my systems are back to working again.

Good luck with those numerous daily FP's,

I have been running the free version of Avira for several years on several machines, except for a short period when I tested Avast, since I was considering purchasing a family pack.  (I gave up on Avast when I realized that despite 3 different users having reported the same bug in the v. 5 beta, Alwil had decided that we are not worth their trouble.  I don't normally pay money to be treated with contempt, and don't quite trust a company which advertises a feature knowing full well that it doesn't work on a significant number of machines.)  I am now running the free version of Avira 9 on two machines and the beta of Avira 10 on one.  I have NEVER had a false positive on any release version of Avira, and the false positives I reported with one build of the beta were fixed in the next build 2 days later.

corrupt/failed often enormous updates (speaking of CPU usage, you ain't seen nothing yet)

I have never gotten a corrupt update.  I have rarely had an update fail, and in those cases where it did it was always at the time of a major engine update, which apparently can overload the servers which they dedicate to free users.  The problem always straightens itself out in a day or two.  I have never had a CPU usage problem, despite the fact that I tend to run my machines so long that a respectable junk yard will no longer accept them.

the annoying splash screen at startup and the even more so annoying daily "begging" screens to  purchase the full version.

My registry parameters are set to prevent my EVER seeing a splash screen, ad screen, or anything remotely related.

But no worries, mate..... the Avira support staff will promptly, courteously & professionally answer IGNORE your NUMEROUS DAILY FP queries!

As I said, my one FP report (2 or 3 FPs in the same beta build) were fixed in the next build 2 days later.  As to other technical questions and problems which I posted on their support forums, they were always answered very quickly, courteously, and usefully by Avira staffers and/or other forum members.

A request:  I have no objection to people disagreeing with me, but I would prefer not to be the target of fanboy nastiness, which I sometimes see on the this forum.  Thanks for your consideration.

C. 

[bong2x]

  will user always find a way to their satisfaction, if you satisfied to use other product, what the purpose of posting here?
can you tell me what is this all about?
and what the point of this threads? 

[Mikos]

I have removed Avast 5 from all 3 systems and installed Avira, now my systems are back to working again.

Good luck with those numerous daily FP's,

I have been running the free version of Avira for several years on several machines, except for a short period when I tested Avast, since I was considering purchasing a family pack.  (I gave up on Avast when I realized that despite 3 different users having reported the same bug in the v. 5 beta, Alwil had decided that we are not worth their trouble.  I don't normally pay money to be treated with contempt, and don't quite trust a company which advertises a feature knowing full well that it doesn't work on a significant number of machines.)  I am now running the free version of Avira 9 on two machines and the beta of Avira 10 on one.  I have NEVER had a false positive on any release version of Avira, and the false positives I reported with one build of the beta were fixed in the next build 2 days later.

corrupt/failed often enormous updates (speaking of CPU usage, you ain't seen nothing yet)

I have never gotten a corrupt update.  I have rarely had an update fail, and in those cases where it did it was always at the time of a major engine update, which apparently can overload the servers which they dedicate to free users.  The problem always straightens itself out in a day or two.  I have never had a CPU usage problem, despite the fact that I tend to run my machines so long that a respectable junk yard will no longer accept them.

the annoying splash screen at startup and the even more so annoying daily "begging" screens to  purchase the full version.

My registry parameters are set to prevent my EVER seeing a splash screen, ad screen, or anything remotely related.

But no worries, mate..... the Avira support staff will promptly, courteously & professionally answer IGNORE your NUMEROUS DAILY FP queries!

As I said, my one FP report (2 or 3 FPs in the same beta build) were fixed in the next build 2 days later.  As to other technical questions and problems which I posted on their support forums, they were always answered very quickly, courteously, and usefully by Avira staffers and/or other forum members.

A request:  I have no objection to people disagreeing with me, but I would prefer not to be the target of fanboy nastiness, which I sometimes see on the this forum.  Thanks for your consideration.

C. 

Just my thoughts since I too once used Avira before shifting over to Avast. Just for balance.

For a free service from Avira, they do offer very limited coverage. The kind that I will have problems with. It basically does not have the kind of protection that the Free Avast offers. It lacks the Web Guard, the Email scanner, and Network Protection, Chat and even Peer to Peer shields. The free AV from Avira back then offers only basic anti spyware, and basic protection. While some will argue that the AV scans everything read and written in the PC the malware or virus is apprehended even before it can execute in the system. If the lack of features of the free product is a part of their marketing scheme, it sure does not leave a good impression if you ask me, as the paid version does not leave any form of guarantee that the additional features not present in the free version will work.

Not good enough though because prevention is still key. It still does allow it to get into the PC unlike Avast that it stops it even before the suspect file gets into the PC. This is very important.

As for the updates, one thing that really prevented me from ever going back to it: there is always a problem with their updates. I thought those were fixed as Avira claimed it will fix the problem. I still see their forums full of complains about it. Too much for someone getting something fixed. While other AVs do not have that the problem when more or less they have the same number of subscribers, I would not want to take chances on the way Avira do their updates. They continue to have those problems while other AVs don't. There were days that even the manual update failed. That was the last draw on my part. And no claiming of the very good heuristics protecting the PC will convince me that an AV missing the latest updates due to very inefficient servers will justify such situations.

As for the false positive... Well... I had one and it took them also a few weeks before they got it fixed. But after that, I did not bother with them.

[Mele20]

I don't use webshield, etc. Everything is filtered through the Proxomitron and running two proxies chained together reallly slows you down. I am not that happy with ANY AV program. I still have Avira on my host XP computer but it is version 8 that goes unsupported on March 31. I was a beta tester for them for three years until a week ago when they got upset because I mentioned I had put Avast on one of my virtual machines and they banned me from beta! Stunned me as I still have the beta on two other virtual machines (one running XP Pro and one running Win 7 RC and then the Vista one where I put Avast). 

There is a thread in Avira forum currently about how mailguard and webguard are not needed and a Avira engineer (not one of the forum techs) states that webguard is necessary for protection because Guard is not updated as often or as quickly as webguard. That says to me that Avira should just get rid of the free version as they have admitted the protection is weak if you don't use webguard and ProActive which is their zero day protection available in the upcoming ver 10, BUT NOT available to the free users! It was learning this in beta that disgusted me. I started a thread in the beta forum about it and I suspect that was the real reason they decided to ban me from beta because I was very criticial of them leaving zero day protection out of the free version which has very trusting, naive users who really need that protection.

Me, I use ProcessGuard on XP for many years (the original classic HIPS) and on Vista I have the paid version of Online Armour which I use for its classic HIPS. That and the Proxomitron are my main defenses as antivirus programs don't do what I want and that is excellent, fast real time protection without the need for cumbersome things like webshield (guard as Avira calls it). I just use the basics in Avast realtime, on demand scanners and zero day protection.

When I first got Avira Jan 2007, on my first full scan it found 43 viruses! I had come from Kaspersky and the F-Prot for a couple of months and that was very unlikely considering I have never had a virus in over 10 years of having a computer. All 43 were False Positives. Since then I have gotten many FP's and I seldom run full scans on my host machine because of this and how hard it is to exclude in Avira. Avira detects a lot of systinternals programs as trojans and refuses to remove that detection. Then it detects all keygens including Jellybean and detected evID4226 patch for XP SP2 ...I mean...geez....Avira is known for high FP and that is how it rates so high detection wise and why AVComparatives penalizes it (and justly so). Avast used to have the same high FP rate but Avast has cleaned that up impressively and that is one reason I am using Avast on one virtual machine and may put it on the others soon.

Yes, you can violate the EULA and prevent Avira free ad screen but that is unethical. I, and others, have asked repeatedly over the years for Avira to make the ad smaller, make it show once a week, or make it static like Avast's but our comments fall on deaf ears.

[Union_Thug]

@ Cassy:
A request:  I have no objection to people disagreeing with me, but I would prefer not to be the target of fanboy nastiness, which I sometimes see on the this forum.  Thanks for your consideration.

1) Target? HUH??? My comments were directed toward the OP of the thread. AAMOF, I hadn't read your comment(s) and still haven't. How can you accuse me of disagreeing with something you wrote, without me having even quoted what you wrote or even READ what you wrote? If you're that thin skinned as to be "offended" by anonymous comments made on a public forum without any indication that the perceived (by you) "criticism(s)" were even DIRECTED to you, then that's on you. I criticized a product that you use and like.

Sue me.

2) The only person out of you and I who can even begin to be considered a "target" here is----I'll give you a hint: It's NOT YOU, as evidenced by---

"fanboy nastiness"

Now that sounds like one party making a direct attempt at slurring the other. Of course, it can only be considered  an insult if the "sluree" were, you know, actually insulted by the "slurr-or".

I can assure you that I am not.

3) You're uhhh...welcome??? (Scratches head and wonders WTF? was that person THANKING me for???)

4) Don't bother responding. Or respond. Your choice, It's a great country that way. I'll not respond beyond this post to any more (feeble) attempts to draw me into a flame war.  Had you limited your post to what you posted in defense of the PRODUCT, which was actually quite well written, we may have even started a useful dialog here. Stick to writing about the product, you're pretty good at it.

The personal mud-slinging? NOT SO MUCH.

[Cassy]

An interesting post, Union_Thug.  As a matter of fact, nothing in those words of mine you quoted were intended to refer to you.  In fact, they didn't refer at all to anything in this particular thread.

I'm glad that Vlk enjoys these threads as human documents.  He'll love this one, if he sees it.

Vlk, did you ever read Moliere's defense of the line about the ribbon in L'Ecole des femmes?  Or Baudelaire's attack on the judges in the Belgian edition of ales Epaves?

T
C

[Union_Thug]

@Cassy:

Mmm-Kay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6cxNR9ML8k

@VLK:

Is there an "ignore user's posts" easteregg hidden anywhere on this site?

[Cassy]

Me, I use ProcessGuard on XP for many years (the original classic HIPS) and on Vista I have the paid version of Online Armour which I use for its classic HIPS. That and the Proxomitron are my main defenses as antivirus programs don't do what I want and that is excellent, fast real time protection without the need for cumbersome things like webshield (guard as Avira calls it). I just use the basics in Avast realtime, on demand scanners and zero day protection.

In principle, my solution is the same as yours.  I use the free MJ Regwatcher for HIPS, Avira and the free command line version of Asquared for daily scans, and Avira for background monitoring.  I also use Proxomitron, a anti-malware hosts file, and some other odds and ends.

Mele, do you know the ready-made Proxo filters at http://www.buerschgens.de/Prox/ ?  I find them very useful, though they mostly work through JavaScript.

Avira detects a lot of systinternals programs as trojans and refuses to remove that detection.

Odd.  I have two or three small Sysinternals utilities, one of them open almost constantly, and Avira has never flagged any of them.

I suspect that one of the reasons I never get FPs with Avira, while others do, is the use I make of my systems.  I never play computer games for example, and my software tends to be old and simple.   

Yes, you can violate the EULA

Are there really words in the EULA saying that this is forbidden?

T
C

[Humanity_Blows]

God bless...

Hi...

Could we please watch the language? I'm an atheist.  

The "I'm religious and I found your post offensive" card works both ways, pal.  

[YoKenny]

Another topic going nowhere.

[Mele20]

In principle, my solution is the same as yours.  I use the free MJ Regwatcher for HIPS, Avira and the free command line version of Asquared for daily scans, and Avira for background monitoring.  I also use Proxomitron, a anti-malware hosts file, and some other odds and ends.

Mele, do you know the ready-made Proxo filters at http://www.buerschgens.de/Prox/ ?  I find them very useful, though they mostly work through JavaScript.

I had to use Google translate for that page. I may have used Avira for 3 plus years but I can't read or speak German!  That's good there is an active German Proxo community.  I use Sidki's 2/13/2009 filters. http://prxbx.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=44

The sysinternals detections (not on all sysinternals programs) depends on what you have checked for Extended Threat category but all the options there used to be checked by default with Avira. They changed that because of complaints of too many FP's. Still, most users will check all categories during installation.

I believe the EULA says you must not tamper with Avira which includes tampering with avnotify.exe. I have seen many posts in the forum, over three years, from both moderators and Avira technical support personnel assigned to the forum who all insist that it is illegal to tamper in any way with the ad. It was easy to tamper with it in versions 8 and previous but in version 9 Avira attempted to make it tamper proof and there are even more stringent methods used in version 10. That is not to say that there are no ways around it if one is really determined and more than an average user.

[Mikos]

Another topic going nowhere.

Yup...
It figures...
Good thing I am not a moderator here. 

[Cassy]

I just read the EULA which came with my v.10 beta.  It is almost certainly the same EULA which comes with all of the recent versions, since it is dated "1 July 2006".  Even if we ignore any questions about its contractual validity if the end user attempts to validate the contract outside of Germany, there is not even the slightest hint of such a prohibition, or any prohibition even remotely like it, effective on the end user or anyone else on Earth.  If you can find such a prohibition, please quote it and cite a source which someone could at least claim is contractually or otherwise legally binding.  If not, please cite some legal source which would suggest that it would be illegal to block the execution of avnotify.exe in most jurisdictions.  (Many people live in neither the USA nor Germany.)  In fact, I'd like to see some binding law which would prohibit such a block even in the USA or Germany.

A few years ago, a giant software company was "known" all over the internet to be claiming that a certain type of tampering with their software is illegal.  They were even suing a certain shareware company over the question.  The prohibition looked to me to be legally problematic, to say the least.  I eventually got some big-shot lawyer of theirs on the phone and asked.  After a dead silence, he answered that it's not really illegal, but that as a favor to him I shouldn't say that he said so.

T
C

[YoKenny]

I believe the EULA says you must not tamper with Avira which includes tampering with avnotify.exe. I have seen many posts in the forum, over three years, from both moderators and Avira technical support personnel assigned to the forum who all insist that it is illegal to tamper in any way with the ad. It was easy to tamper with it in versions 8 and previous but in version 9 Avira attempted to make it tamper proof and there are even more stringent methods used in version 10. That is not to say that there are no ways around it if one is really determined and more than an average user.

This is precisely the reason I use avast!

@ Cassy

If you and Mele20 want to discuss Avira's EULA why not do it on Avira's forum

Ask yourselves how many users here use Proxomitron never mind have even heard of it.

I have heard of Proxomitron and its not for the average user and a few expert system users may be able to figure it out after several day's time of trial-an-error usage:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://mizzmona.com/images/ptronblue300.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mizzmona.com/proxomitron/&usg=__4gY_MyFxrvM56Df5FIvLjs2mU1g=&h=300&w=300&sz=69&hl=en&start=25&itbs=1&tbnid=lIf0HVYV9N3DUM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dproxomitron%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

[slordax]

well, i have been using avast for a long time. no problems ever. downloaded the new database sometime last week, not sure when, just heard the "virus database" updated voice, and soon afterwards, my computer started eating up ram. system slowed to a snail's pace.  well, after suffering for a week trying to figure it out, i finally restored my system back prior to that d/l and everything went back to normal. soon after d/l auto again, same snail's pace.  when i got my computer's system back, after an hour or so and much holding back my fist into my monitor, i uninstalled avast.  no probs since.  i reinstalled avg, sorry to say, and will continue using it until i get a firm reassurance that my computer will not be repeating the snail routine with avast.  i'll check back from time to time to see if this prob has been resolved. thanks for the past virus-free protection avast and hopefully will again install it, problem free.  not sure which version i had, i know it updates automatically with new database ... the voice reminds me of it. ...