AVG Anti-Virus.....New Version.

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Bluefront
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AVG Anti-Virus.....New Version.

Post by Bluefront » Wed May 14, 2008 1:48 am

Get it soon. Shortly the old 7.5 version will not update any longer. It's still free, and now combines the anti-virus program with their anti-spyware and malware program. The new version is working fine for me so far.....nice program, nice price. :D

Techno Pride
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Post by Techno Pride » Wed May 14, 2008 3:05 am

there appears to be some confusion over AVG 7.5 support. I'm getting popups (you read that right :?) that support for 7.5 will end on 31st May, but official word from the AVG forums is end of 2008.

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Wed May 14, 2008 6:42 am

I tried AVG a couple years ago and installed in on a bunch of systems. Found it lacking by slowing down the system too much and not being able to remove many of the things it detects.

It wasn't bad, though it was much better than anything else for the price. However, now most broadband ISPs include free licenses for many of the retail A/V solutions. This should have been done a LONG time ago along with adware removal tools.

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Post by sjoukew » Wed May 14, 2008 8:18 am

It modifies Google result pages and adds "OK/NotOK" icons to every link. This costs an incredible amount of bandwidth and I find if verrryyy annoying!.
You can disable this functionality luckily, else I would get rid of the entire virus scanner as well.
Besides that is runs still beautiful as always, no complaints.

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Re: AVG Anti-Virus.....New Version.

Post by Arvo » Wed May 14, 2008 11:21 am

Bluefront wrote:now combines the anti-virus program with their anti-spyware and malware program
sjoukew wrote:It modifies Google result pages
Da*n, it is really becoming bloatware :evil: How I hate such all-in-one programs... Soon AVG will bring any PC to its knees (like Symantec, Kaspersky, F-Secure and other big AV packages already do).

Can these components at least turned off?

Not that I ever will be using any AV (or other anti-***ware) programs, but sometimes I need to setup other PCs to run fast and have AV installed at same time. AVG was almost usable so far (some functions turned off), what I should choose next? ClamAV?

Bluefront
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Post by Bluefront » Wed May 14, 2008 11:55 am

During the install of 8.0, you are given the option of a Google Tool-bar thing.... which I did not do. I suppose that is related to the Google problem. I don't find the AVG program to be much of a resource hog. I run it on a VIA board...no problem. Besides....it's FREE. :D

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Wed May 14, 2008 12:01 pm

Symantec A/V (client edition of the commercial package) I've found to be quite good, I never really notice it running as it doesn't slow my system down while scanning. The scanning is very quick (for the daily scan) and updates seamlessly. Of course, it'll cost you.

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Post by Plissken » Wed May 14, 2008 6:20 pm

The new AVG Free 8.0 has serious problems. No longer is it the clean, lean AV machine. Now it adds registry protection, website protection, and something else I can't remember. Anyway, when you turn these things off (because they are not needed and slow down the system) it put's an exclamation point icon in the system tray. The problem - you can't turn the icon off! It's like: "Alert! Alert! You have disabled unnecessary features!"

I always loved AVG Free. Now I'm looking for something else.

Matija
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Post by Matija » Wed May 14, 2008 9:47 pm

There isn't really a need for any AV programs if you know how to use your computer, and since you are on SPCR, you do.

Techno Pride
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Post by Techno Pride » Thu May 15, 2008 2:07 am

Matija wrote:There isn't really a need for any AV programs if you know how to use your computer, and since you are on SPCR, you do.
What if SPCR's 3rd party ad providers are compromised and start serving 0day malware?

then again, if that's the case, any antispyware utility will not help.

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Post by mellon » Thu May 15, 2008 5:42 am

sjoukew wrote:It modifies Google result pages and adds "OK/NotOK" icons to every link. This costs an incredible amount of bandwidth and I find if verrryyy annoying!.
Just out of curiosity: how does this cost "an incredible amount of bandwidth"? I'd guess it only checks the domain names against a list that it has stored locally, and then adds the locally stored icons into the html page before the browser gets it. No bandwidth lost here.

I might be wrong of course, I won't be using the new bloaty version as this indeed sounds annoying ;)

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Post by Bluefront » Thu May 15, 2008 7:27 am

mellon....just try it. When you do the install, just don't install the Google thing. I don't like the program to auto-update, or scan for problems at a set time. So I scheduled everything to run at night when all the computers are off. Then there is an option not to run until the next scheduled time. So I am in control of the thing. I see no difference in performance running this new version, compared to 7.5.

Plissken
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Post by Plissken » Thu May 15, 2008 7:58 am

Matija wrote:There isn't really a need for any AV programs if you know how to use your computer, and since you are on SPCR, you do.
Unless you have a wife who also uses the computer, and can't resist opening email attachments :(

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Thu May 15, 2008 8:53 am

I didn't know about the Google thing - it doesn't seem to do it with Opera. I had to start IE to see what everyone was talking about. Can't really complain about AVG8.0 so far.

Also, I'm trying a new firewall from http://www.tallemu.com/ which seems better than any other freebie I've used.

Matija
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Post by Matija » Thu May 15, 2008 9:19 am

Plissken wrote:
Matija wrote:There isn't really a need for any AV programs if you know how to use your computer, and since you are on SPCR, you do.
Unless you have a wife who also uses the computer, and can't resist opening email attachments :(
Put her under a limited user account. Problems gone. :)

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Thu May 15, 2008 10:17 am

I use AVG Free AV but I configure the program so that no processes run in the background. I am willing to forgo realtime protection in favor of speed. A guide to configuring the new 8.0 version of AVG Free for unobtrusiveness can be found in the Windows XP Tweaking Companion on the Tweak Guides web site.

Nick Geraedts
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Post by Nick Geraedts » Thu May 15, 2008 11:19 am

I don't see why people use AV software at all. I've been running without any third-party security software on any of my systems for close to two years now, and I haven't had a single problem yet. Keep your windows up to date, don't visit shady websites, and don't open email attachments that you don't trust. If you're really paranoid, run your web browser within a sandbox if you're going exploring on the web. (SandBoxie is great for this) Just don't forget to dump your sandbox contents if you've downloaded anything.

The first line of security is you, not your AV program.

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Post by NyteOwl » Thu May 15, 2008 12:02 pm

and I haven't had a single problem yet.
Famous last words :)

But truth to tell, I don't run a virus scanner on my main machines either. Then again they aren't running Windows :P

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Thu May 15, 2008 12:06 pm

I don't run any A/V on my personal machines, but any machine I build for anyone else or at work gets it. I don't want the naggy phone calls about someone who has 9 toolbars on their IE install (though I default to Mozilla).

dragmor
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Post by dragmor » Thu May 15, 2008 7:22 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote:I don't see why people use AV software at all. I've been running without any third-party security software on any of my systems for close to two years now, and I haven't had a single problem yet. Keep your windows up to date, don't visit shady websites, and don't open email attachments that you don't trust. If you're really paranoid, run your web browser within a sandbox if you're going exploring on the web. (SandBoxie is great for this) Just don't forget to dump your sandbox contents if you've downloaded anything.

The first line of security is you, not your AV program.
You must not have kids or other people in your household using your computer.

Otherwise you would be more worried about some random DVD/CD or files copied of a USB key than something from the web.

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Post by qviri » Fri May 16, 2008 5:03 am

Techno Pride wrote:What if SPCR's 3rd party ad providers are compromised and start serving 0day malware?
Use a browser that can't be compromised remotely, problem solved.

... avast, anyone?

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Re: AVG Anti-Virus.....New Version.

Post by Sizzle » Fri May 16, 2008 7:42 am

Arvo wrote:
Bluefront wrote:now combines the anti-virus program with their anti-spyware and malware program
sjoukew wrote:It modifies Google result pages
Da*n, it is really becoming bloatware :evil: How I hate such all-in-one programs... Soon AVG will bring any PC to its knees (like Symantec, Kaspersky, F-Secure and other big AV packages already do).

Can these components at least turned off?

Not that I ever will be using any AV (or other anti-***ware) programs, but sometimes I need to setup other PCs to run fast and have AV installed at same time. AVG was almost usable so far (some functions turned off), what I should choose next? ClamAV?
Kasperksy AV is relatively lightweight compared to those, unless you've looked at the Internet security Suite or whatever it's called.

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Fri May 16, 2008 9:05 am

I don't see how anyone can be certain that his computer is not infected if he does not employ AV software. I agree that good practices will likely keep one virus free but periodic manual scanning is a wise choice. If AVG Free 8.0 is configured not to run in the background there is no downside to running it.

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Post by sjoukew » Fri May 16, 2008 10:43 am

mellon wrote:
sjoukew wrote:It modifies Google result pages and adds "OK/NotOK" icons to every link. This costs an incredible amount of bandwidth and I find if verrryyy annoying!.
Just out of curiosity: how does this cost "an incredible amount of bandwidth"? I'd guess it only checks the domain names against a list that it has stored locally, and then adds the locally stored icons into the html page before the browser gets it. No bandwidth lost here.

I might be wrong of course, I won't be using the new bloaty version as this indeed sounds annoying ;)
I installed BWMeter and did a test.
The test is a google page with 100 results and the search term "test"
With AVG Save Search: UP: 250kb Down 4400kb.
Without AVG Save Search: Up 12kb, down: 105kb.

I call this "incredible".......
So I think this answers the question if it does anything locally ............

Erssa
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Post by Erssa » Sat May 17, 2008 10:16 am

Nick Geraedts wrote:I don't see why people use AV software at all. I've been running without any third-party security software on any of my systems for close to two years now, and I haven't had a single problem yet. Keep your windows up to date, don't visit shady websites, and don't open email attachments that you don't trust.
Well this applies to sex as well. Married people could claim they don't need condoms for protection, but the truth is you can never be too careful when there are other people involved. Even innocent looking .jpg coming from a reliable source can contain a virus.

I didn't use AV software for many years for the reasons you listed, but with modern day computers dual cores etc... having a free AV software doesn't really slow your computer down.

I use AVIRA, I think it has the least bloat and performswell in AV-comparisons. Btw, the link you just clicked could contain a virus. Do you trust me?

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Post by Arvo » Sat May 17, 2008 11:28 am

I trust Opera browser and even when it does let something in (unlikely, but always possible), I trust myself and my abilities to notice and kill any nastyware ;)

I didn't click your link either.

What about using AV software, then that creates false sense of security. Most seriously infected PCs, what I have cleaned, had some kind of AV software running.

I've not used any AV software in my home PC for years, at the same time all my family members are used that PC in administrative rights. Yes, I know, this is not wise ;)

Well, they have got some viruses, but this is rather educational experience - they noticed that after some stupidity from their side PC started behave erratically. Then I logged in, cleaned PC and threatened install Linux, if this happanes another time. No problems for many months after such event :)

And we have even played "controlled infection" game. My younger daugther wanted to install some cool looking "free" screensaver, of course she asked my permission. We sit down and started installation. First we did uncheck three screenfuls of adware (honestly asked about installation) and then installed it. Once screensaver kicked in, my firewall started to give alerts of it attempts to access suspicious internet sites. We both agreed that it is better to unistall this thing. Of course it needed some residual cleaning too.

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Post by Nick Geraedts » Sat May 17, 2008 11:33 am

Michael Sandstrom wrote:I don't see how anyone can be certain that his computer is not infected if he does not employ AV software. I agree that good practices will likely keep one virus free but periodic manual scanning is a wise choice. If AVG Free 8.0 is configured not to run in the background there is no downside to running it.
I can be certain that there is no malware on my system because it behaves the way it should, and my web-traffic logs don't show any unusual traffic.
Erssa wrote:Well this applies to sex as well. Married people could claim they don't need condoms for protection, but the truth is you can never be too careful when there are other people involved. Even innocent looking .jpg coming from a reliable source can contain a virus.
The sex thing is a trust issue... and slightly different than the malware topic. An innocent looking JPG file that's embedded in a webpage cannot load a virus on your computer. The file has to be downloaded and then run manually from outside the web browser.
Erssa wrote:I didn't use AV software for many years for the reasons you listed, but with modern day computers dual cores etc... having a free AV software doesn't really slow your computer down.
So because computers have become more powerful, it's alright to install resource-grabbing software to do something that should be handled by you? I'm going to go against my usual viewpoint here and say that it's the same mentality that people have been complaining about Vista. "We need a fancy graphics card just to have Aero?" Ring a bell anyone? AV coders are about as sloppy as they come, and I really don't understand why. Here's a system that should be seemless and have LOW requirements, and yet almost every anti-virus out there slows down systems considerably.
Erssa wrote:I use AVIRA, I think it has the least bloat and performswell in AV-comparisons. Btw, the link you just clicked could contain a virus. Do you trust me?
I do trust you enough not to post a malware link on a public forum. I've always kept a copy of AntiVir/Avira on a USB key for emergency situations with friends and whatnot. I've never had to use it on any of my personal systems yet. *touch wood*
Arvo wrote:What about using AV software, then that creates false sense of security. Most seriously infected PCs, what I have cleaned, had some kind of AV software running.
*cough*Norton*cough*
Truer words could never be spoken.

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Post by Arvo » Sat May 17, 2008 12:12 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote:An innocent looking JPG file that's embedded in a webpage cannot load a virus on your computer.
Yes it can, unless browser is tightly sandboxed.

It was about year or two ago, when there was some windows image drawing library exploited. Remotely, just by displaying (GIF? WMF?) image on the screen. This exploit was really used.

It was the only time, when I really updated my windows boxes just for sake of security. I didn't want for some badly crafted signature image just take my PC over, after all...

Of course no AV software couldn't protect you against this exploit.

Erssa
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Post by Erssa » Sat May 17, 2008 12:44 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote:
Erssa wrote:I use AVIRA, I think it has the least bloat and performswell in AV-comparisons. Btw, the link you just clicked could contain a virus. Do you trust me?
I do trust you enough not to post a malware link on a public forum. I've always kept a copy of AntiVir/Avira on a USB key for emergency situations with friends and whatnot. I've never had to use it on any of my personal systems yet. *touch wood*
I might not do it out of malice. For example I irc a lot. Sometimes (very rarely) my friends paste some "funny" links, which turn out to be infected. There's no guarantee someone here wouldn't pass on a virus link without knowing any better. Or I could have done it out of malice just to teach you Anti-AV people a lesson...

But I understand where you are coming from. I could easily live without AV programs, but it would mean I would have to skip some stuff just to be safe. Hey, sometimes it's fun to browse those shady websites...

mellon
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Post by mellon » Sat May 17, 2008 2:20 pm

sjoukew wrote:
mellon wrote:
sjoukew wrote:It modifies Google result pages and adds "OK/NotOK" icons to every link. This costs an incredible amount of bandwidth and I find if verrryyy annoying!.
Just out of curiosity: how does this cost "an incredible amount of bandwidth"? I'd guess it only checks the domain names against a list that it has stored locally, and then adds the locally stored icons into the html page before the browser gets it. No bandwidth lost here.

I might be wrong of course, I won't be using the new bloaty version as this indeed sounds annoying ;)
I installed BWMeter and did a test.
The test is a google page with 100 results and the search term "test"
With AVG Save Search: UP: 250kb Down 4400kb.
Without AVG Save Search: Up 12kb, down: 105kb.

I call this "incredible".......
So I think this answers the question if it does anything locally ............
Hey, this is really interesting. If AVG AV actually increases the traffic about 20-40x, where does this bandwidth actually come from? If these numbers are correct simply doing a google search with 1Mbit/s DSL line would take 4 seconds just to transfer the data!

Also the extra data wouldn't be coming from google but probably from AVG servers, which doesn't make that much sense as they would be paying a lot more for their bandwidth than before just to support their nonpaying AVG Free customers.

So basically what I'm saying is that either AVG is doing something very strange and inefficient both technology- and businesswise or the numbers that BWmeter reports do not actually reflect what moves in/out of the network interface. It could be that AVG modifies the data on a lower lever than where BWMeter does the monitoring. Overall I'm tempted to give it a go by perhaps using my switch's monitoring port and/or Wireshark to see what actually happens in the network interface.

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