Free anti-virus software
Peter Ward
grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
won't install at all. What else?
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
Ok, that settles it. I'm going to have a drink right now.
- Jesper Lauridsen
Snidely
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
Avast? They have a free version for home use.
BTW, I run AVG on my older (XP) machine -- and it keeps soaking up the
CPU cycles, and I have to pause the scan to get other things done. It
seems to *sometimes* pay attention to my suggestion that it run at
lower priority ... and then it pegs the needle again.
/dps
Boron Elgar
>Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
>grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
>won't install at all. What else?
Hmmm. I can send you the tech support letter they sent me this morning
in reply to my complaint about it repeatedly trying to override my
Firefox settings. Will that help?
I have been mightily POed at AVG this week.
Boron
Greg Johnson
>Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
>grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
>won't install at all. What else?
I'm trying Avira for exactly that reason. It seems ok so far.
John Hatpin
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
Avast seems to do a good job, but it's no good for us Agent users, who
need to exclude Agent's directories from virus checks for some reason.
It's all been very silly. I'm on 8.5 AVG, holding off until the last
minute to upgrade, and yesterday it popped up and said it needed to
reboot Windows to complete the upgrade. Next to the OK button was a
timer counting down. Shit ...
So, I stopped what I was doing and closed everything down, except
there was a big copy over the network that had been running for over 6
hours and only had a few minutes to complete. I watched that damned
timer count down to zero, then nothing happened. So I waited until
the network copy had finished, rebooted and I'm still on 8.5. WTF?
But anyway, if it weren't for the Agent thing, I'd be on Avast
already, even before this latest idiocy. It'll probably be fine for
you.
--
John Hatpin
http://uninformedcomment.wordpress.com/
Cheetah99218
"Peter Ward" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.256d3cf55...@news.enta.net...
I've been using Avira for quite awhile now, and I like it very much.
landotter
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
Simplest thing to do for virus protection on Windows is to not run
everyday as an administrative user. Unix got this right back when
computers were made of mica and mastodon droppings.
Bob Ward
<RemoveThi...@gmailAndThisToo.com> wrote:
>
>Avast seems to do a good job, but it's no good for us Agent users, who
>need to exclude Agent's directories from virus checks for some reason.
Why is that? I've never done this, and I haven't seen any problems.
Rick B.
news:03c6g559a6msgvqor...@4ax.com:
> I have been mightily POed at AVG this week.
Mmm. Anybody know what "multiple runtime compression" is, and why AVG thinks
it's bad? The only hits I got on the phrase were basically from people asking
the same question.
John Hatpin
I don't know why, but AVG (for some people at least) screws up the
data files. Nick told me about this.
Bob Ward
<RemoveThi...@gmailAndThisToo.com> wrote:
>Bob Ward wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:56:25 +0000, John Hatpin
>> <RemoveThi...@gmailAndThisToo.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Avast seems to do a good job, but it's no good for us Agent users, who
>> >need to exclude Agent's directories from virus checks for some reason.
>>
>> Why is that? I've never done this, and I haven't seen any problems.
>
>I don't know why, but AVG (for some people at least) screws up the
>data files. Nick told me about this.
Or perhaps something else is doing it and AVG gets a bum rap. I've
used Agent and ACG for quite a while and never had a problem.
Boron Elgar
wrote:
I haven't seen that yet, but the email AVG sent told how to get rid of
the toolbar permanently, , and then, after following those
instructions, it gave ANOTHER set of instructions that needed the
toolbar (by now permanently uninstalled) to be accomplished.
Time to ask for a refund. I had just renewed and jumped to 9.0.
Boron
Sano
news:lvadnVY1aIcTp57W...@giganews.com:
I've used their self-booting rescue system, http://www.free-
av.com/en/products/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html -
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ccf6l4 - and just noticed their other
freebies.
Booting outside XP is the best way to find rootkits and such
things. Otherwise I don't run any av fulltime. I'm the only user on
my machines. ;)
John Hatpin
Setting AVG to exclude those directories stopped the problem from
happening. It seems very unlikely to me that anything else was
causing the problem, especially when it's a known issue.
Bob Ward
wrote:
(That you are aware of, at least...)
Nick Spalding
on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:07:05 -0000:
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
It installed fine here as an update to 8.5 both on this Vista machine
and an XP laptop. I've never had any focus-grabbing behaviour from any
version.
--
Nick Spalding
Nick Spalding
on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:43:52 -0800:
AVG (and I expect any other virus scanners) quarantines files they find
containing suspect material. Agent's files contain a lot of binary
fields which can be mistaken for nasties and if they get quarantined
Agent doesn't like it a bit.
--
Nick Spalding
Peter Ward
>
> On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:07:05 -0000, Peter Ward <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> >Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> >grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> >won't install at all. What else?
>
> Hmmm. I can send you the tech support letter they sent me this morning
> in reply to my complaint about it repeatedly trying to override my
> Firefox settings. Will that help?
I suspect not, it's nothing to do with FF, but thanks. The problem I've
encountered has been asked about on their forums, several times, and
they just bat it aside most unhelpfully.
> I have been mightily POed at AVG this week.
You and me both, then.
It has been useful, but currently appears to be worth less than I paid
for it (it's occupying too much of my valuable (to me) time).
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by
faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits.
- Dan Barker
Peter Ward
>
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
Thanks for all the replies. I've decided to use Avira, but made a note
of Avast just in case. All installed and running and ticketyboo!
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
...C&W, which is so obvious it doesn't need analysing and is never
magical to start with anyway.
- John Hatpin
Boron Elgar
wrote:
This is the first time I have had any sort of bother from AVG and I've
used it from XP to Vista to Win7.
This latest version's gripes stem from garbage that AVG, in agreement
with Yahoo, is plopping down as default settings, and unpredictably
so, in that these things are not showing up immediately.
My search engine default was changed to Yahoo (2-3 weeks after
install, when I opened a blank page in Firefox, all of a sudden
instead of a blank page, I was getting a Yahoo search window and AVG
logo, and when I typed in an address in the URL line, such as
"Amazon," instead of going right to Amazon.com, it was dripping me
into a completed Yahoo search on the word "Amazon," with AVG logs
splatted all over the page. This stuff was not defaulted to in the
install, where I'd be on the lookout, but defaulted to days and days
and days AFTER the install.
AVG suddenly thought it was AOL. I have it under control now.
Boron
Chris
news:7fj7g5lh4b6h0tp9i...@4ax.com...
On my Vista and XP laptops, both with V9 installed, I've found that despite
disabling the automatic update, it still still grumbles and tries to update
every four hours. I've set my firewall to stop it, just to check what it's
trying to install.
A minor annoyance to me, but one that I could do without.
John Dean
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
I still have AVG Free 8.5 and it's fine. Still supported, still updating the
database.
--
John Dean
Oxford
John Hatpin
Until the 1st December. According to my copy, that's when 8.5 will
crawl into a hole and die.
Peter Ward
There was an option when I installed it (originally and with each recent
attempt) to "install the AVG toolbar", which I declined, and which had a
sub-option to make Yahoo the default search engine. I think something
like that was there on the previous version as well.
> AVG suddenly thought it was AOL. I have it under control now.
So have I. Drastically so. It was good while it lasted.
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?
- Barry Cryer
Nick Spalding
on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:44:05 -0500:
I refused all blandishments to install crap on my toolbar or anywhere
else, so far it has believed me. Mine is the free version.
--
Nick Spalding
Peter Boulding
<r808g5tglgmk97gp1...@4ax.com>:
>I refused all blandishments to install crap on my toolbar or anywhere
>else, so far it has believed me. Mine is the free version.
Likewise.
--
Regards, Peter Boulding
pjbn...@UNSPAMpboulding.co.uk (to e-mail, remove "UNSPAM")
Fractal Music and Images: http://www.pboulding.co.uk/ and
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=794240&content=music
Boron Elgar
wrote:
>> AVG suddenly thought it was AOL. I have it under control now.
>
>I refused all blandishments to install crap on my toolbar or anywhere
>else, so far it has believed me. Mine is the free version.
The problem was not that I neglected to refuse installation of this
crap. In fact I deliberately declined installation of the toolbar. A
week or so later the toolbar appeared, along with a message saying AVG
was sure I must have forgotten to install it, so they were going to be
kind enough to do it for me, nyah, nyah.
I uninstalled it, and a few days later it appeared again. Lather
rinse, repeat, then suddenly all sorts of other takeovers began to
happen, without me doing anything at all. This necessitated an email
to AVG and a recommendation to use the re-install fix. We'll see how
long it lasts. If it doesn't, I will pull it off the computers
altogether, demand a refund, and find something else. We've got 5
computers networked with it. No one else, though, has had my mess-ups
so far.
Boron
Boron Elgar
>Boron Elgar says...
>>
>> My search engine default was changed to Yahoo (2-3 weeks after
>> install, when I opened a blank page in Firefox, all of a sudden
>> instead of a blank page, I was getting a Yahoo search window and AVG
>> logo, and when I typed in an address in the URL line, such as
>> "Amazon," instead of going right to Amazon.com, it was dripping me
>> into a completed Yahoo search on the word "Amazon," with AVG logs
>> splatted all over the page. This stuff was not defaulted to in the
>> install, where I'd be on the lookout, but defaulted to days and days
>> and days AFTER the install.
>
>There was an option when I installed it (originally and with each recent
>attempt) to "install the AVG toolbar", which I declined, and which had a
>sub-option to make Yahoo the default search engine. I think something
>like that was there on the previous version as well.
I think my problem may be connected to my 32 bit Win7 upgrade and the
9.0AVG and use of Firefox. Cascade of events, probably, but had I
been given the opportunity to turn down anything to do with toolbars
and default search engines, I did it right at the AVG install. That
this all showed up weeks later is the mystery and annoyance.
>
>> AVG suddenly thought it was AOL. I have it under control now.
>
>So have I. Drastically so. It was good while it lasted.
It sure was. Deja-AVG.
Boron
John Dean
> John Dean wrote:
>
>> Peter Ward wrote:
>>> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it
>>> kept grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and
>>> now it won't install at all. What else?
>>
>> I still have AVG Free 8.5 and it's fine. Still supported, still
>> updating the database.
>
> Until the 1st December. According to my copy, that's when 8.5 will
> crawl into a hole and die.
I don't see any date restrictions - just a window suggesting the upgrade.
--
John Dean
Oxford
John Hatpin
I get a nag screen popping up daily which gives that date.
Peter Ward
I did, that's why I upgraded^W attempted to upgrade. It says that no
updates will be provided after that date, so it won't actually stop
working.
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
Either he stops drinking or I'm going to start.
- Lars Eighner
John Hatpin
> John Dean says...
> >
> > John Hatpin wrote:
> > > John Dean wrote:
> > >
> > >> Peter Ward wrote:
> > >>> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it
> > >>> kept grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and
> > >>> now it won't install at all. What else?
> > >>
> > >> I still have AVG Free 8.5 and it's fine. Still supported, still
> > >> updating the database.
> > >
> > > Until the 1st December. According to my copy, that's when 8.5 will
> > > crawl into a hole and die.
> >
> > I don't see any date restrictions - just a window suggesting the upgrade.
>
> I did, that's why I upgraded^W attempted to upgrade. It says that no
> updates will be provided after that date, so it won't actually stop
> working.
Well, without updates, an AV tool is just a paperweight. No, an
ashtray. Sorry, a doorstop. Hang on, what is it?
John Hatpin
Here's a paste of the popup's text:
"NEW AVG 9.0 is now available!
Upgrade deadline December 1
AVG 9.0 replaces all existing versions, so upgrade your installation
now!
Upgrading is easy!
Benefit from the enhanced security of new version 9.0 and stay
protected from the latest web threats. "
John Dean
Aha! Ta!
So is Peter the only one with a problem?
--
John Dean
Oxford
N Jill Marsh
<john...@fraglineone.net> wrote:
>Aha! Ta!
>So is Peter the only one with a problem?
I haven't upgraded yet, for two reasons. One, I like to wait until I
hear about the problems, and two, I'm not entirely sure about the
alarmist pop-ups. The last time they said "no updates" they meant
software updates and not have support, not the virus updates. I kept
AVG7 going for several months when 8 came out and continued to get
regular virus updates.
nj"easy enough"m
--
Welcome, stranger, to the humble neighbourhoods.
John Hatpin
I think that's the wisest approach. Let's see what happens to AVG8.
Bill Turlock
I'd _love_ to get 8.5, but it won't run on XPSP1. I'll install
that RSN.
Nick Spalding
on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:11:28 -0500:
AVG9 installed flawlessly here on both a Vista desktop and an XP laptop
and seems very little different from 8.5.
--
Nick Spalding
Nick Spalding
on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:09:01 -0800:
XP is now at SP3.
--
Nick Spalding
Boron Elgar
wrote:
>N Jill Marsh wrote, in <tj69g5ptlet9uovjg...@4ax.com>
And it works perfectly on the Vista HP laptop at 64 bit and on another
Win7 64 bit desktop.
Mine is the only computer (Win7 32 bit) on which it decided to lose
it's mind. Though most of the problem is with Firefox, its firewall
will not sit tight either. The workarounds AVG sent about that are
useless, too.
Boron
Peter Ward
No. I found several threads on the AVG forums reporting the faults I've
encountered, but that says nothing about how prevalent it is overall.
--
Peter, from outside the asylum
I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
http://blowinsmoke.wordpress.com/
Just wait, and it will get worse.
- Greg Johnson
Stan
> On Nov 17, 3:07ï¿œpm, Peter Ward <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>> Any hints. ï¿œI've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
>> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
>> won't install at all. ï¿œWhat else?
>
> Avast? They have a free version for home use.
>
> BTW, I run AVG on my older (XP) machine -- and it keeps soaking up the
> CPU cycles, and I have to pause the scan to get other things done. It
> seems to *sometimes* pay attention to my suggestion that it run at
> lower priority ... and then it pegs the needle again.
>
> /dps
I used AVG, then Avira, but I switched to Avast two weeks ago because
it doesn't seem as resource piggy as AVG and it has full time scanning
(on-access?), which Avira doesn't have. I haven't noticed any slow down
at all with Avast.
--
Stan "clean and healthy" in NJ
Bill Turlock
Like I said, RSN�
groo
> Peter Ward says...
>>
>> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
>> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
>> won't install at all. What else?
>
> Thanks for all the replies. I've decided to use Avira, but made a note
> of Avast just in case. All installed and running and ticketyboo!
>
Leroy. Now we just need to remember who to blame if Avira turns into a
piece of dung.
--
"I was nimble as a cat. I always managed to land on all fours." - Dr.
Tobias Funke on "Arrested Development"
hpjeannie
> Any hints. I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> won't install at all. What else?
We like Spybot and Ad-Aware. CCleaner is also good (Crap Cleaner).
Jeannie
Hactar
Snidely <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 17, 3:07�pm, Peter Ward <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> > Any hints. �I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it kept
> > grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and now it
> > won't install at all. �What else?
>
>
> BTW, I run AVG on my older (XP) machine -- and it keeps soaking up the
> CPU cycles, and I have to pause the scan to get other things done. It
> seems to *sometimes* pay attention to my suggestion that it run at
> lower priority ... and then it pegs the needle again.
"Priority" -- at least in Linux and I suspect XP and other semi-modern OSes
too -- doesn't mean "low CPU use", it means "if any higher-priority
processes want the CPU, it yields". So if all you're running is
SOL.EXE, AVG gets darned near 100% of the CPU.
--
-eben QebWe...@vTerYizUonI.nOetP royalty.mine.nu:81
A. A Top Poster \ http://www.fscked.co.uk/
B. Who's there? \ writing/
A. Knock-knock -- from bob...@xxx.com \ top-posting-cuss.html
groo
> Snidely wrote the following on 11/17/2009 :
>
>
>> On Nov 17, 3:07�pm, Peter Ward <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>>> Any hints. �I've just attempted to reinstall V9 of AVG because it
>>> kept grabbing focus, and that's what they suggested to fix it, and
>>> now it won't install at all. �What else?
>>
>> Avast? They have a free version for home use.
>>
>> BTW, I run AVG on my older (XP) machine -- and it keeps soaking up
>> the CPU cycles, and I have to pause the scan to get other things
>> done. It seems to *sometimes* pay attention to my suggestion that it
>> run at lower priority ... and then it pegs the needle again.
>>
>> /dps
>
> I used AVG, then Avira, but I switched to Avast two weeks ago because
> it doesn't seem as resource piggy as AVG and it has full time scanning
> (on-access?), which Avira doesn't have. I haven't noticed any slow
> down at all with Avast.
>
I have been having problems over the last few months with my laptop
computer getting more and more sluggish. It's not exactly a high end
machine to start with (more like a netbook, but not really), and it was
just getting slower and slower. I was getting to the point where I
figured I needed to do a clean re-install, but was putting it off, since
it's a royal PITA.
The other night, I removed AVG and installed Avira. Now my laptop is
back to its former performance. This is before running a scan with
Avira, so I have to credit AVG with the former performance issues.
--
"Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice." -
Hamilcar Barca