Author Topic: questions about Avast  (Read 15078 times)

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bobginger

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questions about Avast
« on: November 27, 2010, 01:50:14 AM »
Hello,
 I am not a current user but I am considering switching to Avast free edition and have some questions. Please excuse me if terminology is incorrect.
1)I noticed somewhere(CNET I think)someones XP system had trouble recognizing Avast.
2)Can Avast scan browser links when I do a web search?(I mainly use Mozilla Firefox)
3)Can Avast scan emails?(I use Gmail & Incredimail)
4)Do these programs conflict with Avast;
  Zone Alarm, Spybot S&D, Malewarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware
 
Thanks in advance, Bob
« Last Edit: November 27, 2010, 01:51:56 AM by bobginger »

Offline schmidthouse

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2010, 02:36:37 AM »
Hi bobginger and welcome. I am sure a moderator or Tech will respond to your questions as soon as they can...usually pretty quickly as long as its not 2am in the morning ;)
I will say though that what works or does not work on one persons PC is totally different on the next PC. It will of course depend on your OS configuration, the software programs presently running on your system and any security programs installed no or uninstalled in the past as well as how they were uninstalled ie. via Add and Remove or Vender Uninstall option or Utility.
Thats all for me as I'm not sure which of the programs you mentioned play well or don't play well with your present configuration(other programs running at the present)
Someone very knowledgable will certainly respond. :)

bobginger

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2010, 02:56:40 AM »
Hi,
 I am using windows xp with latest updates,
            avg 2011(would be uninstalled)
            zone alarm
            spybot S&D(without resident shield)
Bob

Offline schmidthouse

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2010, 03:45:22 AM »
Well you are on the right track...I mean the Mods or whoever is responding to your questions will certainly ask you for that kind of info. For example read my signature at bottom of post. Most all the moderators and Tech people have similar. ;)

Probzzie

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2010, 05:28:14 AM »
Forgive if I'm speaking out of line. But Avast does check browser link and email as they have real time shields offering this protection(Web Shield and Mail Shield) Avast has a total of 7 Real time shields that will run when installed.
Also Avast is anti-spyware in itself as long as spybot is not running a real time shield i'm sure there would not be any conflicts.
I have a system runnin XP-SP3 and Avast with no problems. Try it I believe you won't look back! I love how running this Anti Virus has given me back the speed of my computer as it doesn't take all my memory to run it :D

Offline Asyn

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2010, 08:27:50 AM »
1)I noticed somewhere(CNET I think)someones XP system had trouble recognizing Avast.
2)Can Avast scan browser links when I do a web search?(I mainly use Mozilla Firefox)
3)Can Avast scan emails?(I use Gmail & Incredimail)
4)Do these programs conflict with Avast;
  Zone Alarm, Spybot S&D, Malewarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware

1. XP is no problem.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. Mbam & SAS work well with avast, I wouldn't use ZA or Spybot though.
asyn
W8.1 [x64] - Avast Free AV 23.3.8047.BC [UI.757] - Firefox ESR 102.9 [NS/uBO/PB] - Thunderbird 102.9.1
Avast-Tools: Secure Browser 109.0 - Cleanup 23.1 - SecureLine 5.18 - DriverUpdater 23.1 - CCleaner 6.01
Avast Wissenswertes (Downloads, Anleitungen & Infos): https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=60523.0

SafeSurf

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2010, 09:33:54 AM »
Hello bobginger and welcome to the forum.

The Avast Evangelists (forum helpers) are always here to assist you 24/7 with any issues or questions you may have and are quick to respond.  Moderators rarely post on the forum but will read.

If you look at my Signature (down at the bottom of my post), I also have XP SP3 and run Avast Free with Firefox and use gmail with no issues.  However gmail does use it's own antivirus to scan since it is webmail, therefore it bypasses Avast (it can't be scanned by 2 AV's.  Most webmail servers have their own internal AV and scan all mail, so you can verify this with your mail server.

If you uninstall AVG, make sure you use the AVG vendor's uninstaller tool, then reboot.  I'm not sure what version you have, but here is one list uninstaller: http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools.

If you uninstall Spybot SD w/Teatimer: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html. In addition, you need to go into Advanced settings to disable the resident protection (2 areas to possibly disable – Teatimer and some IE blocking), then de-immunize if the immunity has been set.  That takes a minute or more sometimes.  The run the program’s own uninstaller, which should be in the Add/Remove Programs.  Also see http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=65833.30 - See Post #31.

There have been multiple issues with ZA (on their side) causing conflicts.  There are other FW's to select from that do not conflict with Avast -- Online Armor, Outpost, Comodo (without AV) to name a few.

1. Save a copy of newest version of Avast (5.0.677) for the version you need and save it to your HDD:
Freehttp://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_free_eng.exe
2. Disconnect from the Internet at this time.
3. Reboot.
4. Install the newest version of Avast and reboot.
5. Get Internet access and register your copy Free:
    Free – http://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php
9. Update the Avast definitions.

Enjoy your new product and let us know if you have any additional questions.  :)



Offline schmidthouse

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2010, 05:08:57 PM »
Hello bobginger and welcome to the forum.

The Avast Evangelists (forum helpers) are always here to assist you 24/7 with any issues or questions you may have and are quick to respond.  Moderators rarely post on the forum but will read.

My appologies SafeSurf. An error in terminology. Certainly didn't mean to mislead. ;)

bobginger

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2010, 06:16:55 PM »
Hi again,
 I am using XP pro SP3, Pentium(R)D CPU 2.80 GHz, 960 MB of RAM
Mozilla/5.0 Firefox/3.6.12,AVG 2011,Zone Alarm(latest),Spybot S&D(latest). Tea Timer is already disabled, but the rest of Spybot would still conflict?
 I am leaning towards changing to Avast but have not completely decided, it will be alot of uninstalling.
 In the Avast free edition is the safe surf included? According to the product comparison it does not look like it. 
I retrieve my emails from gmail with incredimail, so you are saying I don't need to scan the emails.I don't log into gmail or open emails there, they are opened in incredimail. 
Thanks Bob

Offline essexboy

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2010, 06:24:52 PM »
Quote
In the Avast free edition is the safe surf included
Do you mean webshield ? If so it is integral to all versions

Offline Asyn

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2010, 06:27:16 PM »
1. Tea Timer is already disabled, but the rest of Spybot would still conflict?
2. In the Avast free edition is the safe surf included? According to the product comparison it does not look like it. 
3. I retrieve my emails from gmail with incredimail, so you are saying I don't need to scan the emails.

1. Sometimes. You would have to try it, but SafeSurf already gave a good uninstall-guide. Btw, Spybot is obsolete, if you run Free Mbam...! (Which is state of the art atm...)
2. Web-Shield and Network-Shield is included, don't know what you mean with 'safe surf'..?
3. The Mail-Shield scans mails received (POP3/IMAP) with a mail client.
asyn
W8.1 [x64] - Avast Free AV 23.3.8047.BC [UI.757] - Firefox ESR 102.9 [NS/uBO/PB] - Thunderbird 102.9.1
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Avast Wissenswertes (Downloads, Anleitungen & Infos): https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=60523.0

swarnava

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #11 on: November 27, 2010, 06:28:35 PM »
safe surf means sandbox not available in avast free..check avast.com..in  home page you will find the difference between free pro & internet security

Offline schmidthouse

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2010, 07:45:54 PM »

 I am leaning towards changing to Avast but have not completely decided, it will be alot of uninstalling.
 In the Avast free edition is the safe surf included? According to the product comparison it does not look like it. 
Hi bobginger. Just curious about AVG AV..was there a problem with the program...or maybe a function not available thats available in Avast AV.
Also I did read somewhere that there is an AVG uninstll Utility Tool that is also recommended as an added step to Uninstalling the AVG software...For what its worth. ;)

bobginger

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #13 on: November 27, 2010, 10:05:35 PM »
Hi Schmidthouse and others,
 In AVG there is what is called "Link Scanner", here is what it does. In the search bar of my browser I type lets say "audiogon"
(a audiophile website name), the browser lists possibles after each there will be either a green, yellow, or red symbol. Green safe, yellow questionable, red known bad. Is there a equivalent in Avast free?
 Avg recently released AVG 2011(10)on 10/27/10 about, many people including myself upgraded from avg 9.5 to 10. In the past avg's major updates ie 7.0 to 8.0 to 9.0, have gone fairly simple. I have had to completely uninstall/reinstall 2 times because of 'general error' about updates and the email scanner does not work.(look at the avg forum. lots of unhappy people) Their uninstall utility from the web page works well.
 The other issue is Zone Alarm which works well now, is that to completely remove it you need to go into the safe mode and look for all these hidden files, multiple restarts, etc. One time with ZA they said to uninstall/reinstall, when I did the uninstall I lost internet access and to do a system restore.
 In short I am checking out other options, for the most part AVG,ZA,& Spybot have worked ok. But with these ??? about avg I may switch.
 I am not very comfortable digging deep into my system, I feel to completely uninstall ZA & AVG I would be on the computer for hours.
Sorry about the long reply,
Thanks Bob
     

bobginger

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Re: questions about Avast
« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2010, 10:25:16 PM »
In summary, I have not really had system problems or viruses,etc that I know of for years, mainly problems when avg or za has a major update.
Thanks Again :)