Free AntiVir vs Free BitDefender

[n o s p a m p l e a s e]

At http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=30082.0 , I find AntiVir and
BitDefender are rated higher than Avast and AVG.

I am told there are problems with Free AntiVir update. How is the
update function of Free BitDefender?

Is Free BitDefender better placed as compared to Free Avast?

Thanx/NSP

 

[What's in a Name?]

At http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=30082.0 , I find AntiVir and
BitDefender are rated higher than Avast and AVG.
I am told there are problems with Free AntiVir update.

The only "problem" is a nag screen that comes up during an update.

How is the update function of Free BitDefender? about the same as all others.
Is Free BitDefender better placed as compared to Free Avast?

Bit Defender(free version) is an on-demand scanner.

Thanx/NSP

max

 

[Jeanette]

The only "problem" is a nag screen that comes up during an update.
Bit Defender(free version) is an on-demand scanner.
max

Jeanette wrote:

I use antivir on a couple of boxes here and it updates ok just that
their update is slow and there is a pop up.

 

[Kayman]

The only "problem" is a nag screen that comes up during an update.

Re: Eliminating the 'nag-screen'.
Has anybody tried this?

1- rename file avnotify.exe to avnotify
or
2- delete avnotify.exe and avnotify.dll from the antivir program files
folder
or
3- use Eraser to wipe out files C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition
Classic\avnotify.dll
and C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe

 

[Kayman]

I haven't tried it myself.

Same here. (I'm still on AOL AVS-Kaspersky).

 

[What's in a Name?]

Re: Eliminating the 'nag-screen'.
Has anybody tried this?

1- rename file avnotify.exe to avnotify
or
2- delete avnotify.exe and avnotify.dll from the antivir program files
folder
or
3- use Eraser to wipe out files C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition
Classic\avnotify.dll
and C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs?
I haven't tried it myself.
max

 

[Gabriela Salvisberg]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this jewel:

[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to try if
this works ;-).

Gabriela

 

[rjdriver]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this jewel:

[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to try if
this works ;-).

Gabriela

A lot of grief over a nag screen that can be closed with a single mouse
click.......Especially one that does nothing, and prevents nothing. The
update goes on even if you ignore it. Drag it off the screen if it
bothers you. Close your eyes for the few seconds it takes to update.
Hardly a high price to pay for an excellent free application.


Bob

 

[DaVinci]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this jewel:

[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to try if
this works ;-).

Gabriela

I have AntiVir on an XP Pro box and disallow avnotify.exe with the
security policy editor to prevent the nag screen from opening. I'm not
sure if it's possible with a software firewall.

 

[Kayman]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs?

Yes, your are right, the Sig update process will redownload the two files,
but, schedule Eraser to wipe out the files before sig update.

 

[Vanguard]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this
jewel:

[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it
runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe
and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm
no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to
try if
this works ;-).

Accessing the net is not what the avnotify.exe window is about. It is
nagware to get you to buy their commercialware. You need to use an
IPS (intrusion protection system), like System Safety Monitor or
ProcessGuard, to prevent avnotify.exe from loading in the first place.

Don't what the point would be to use the free version, anyway. The
current downloads available will expire after 3 months, go into "demo"
mode for another month, and then you don't get updates after the 4th
month. So you get a 3-month trial although Avira doesn't tell you
that. Do a download of their latest version into a VM, like in VMWare
Server or Virtual PC, don't do an update, move the clock forward 4.5
months, reboot, and then try to do an update. You'll get an error in
the log saying that you don't have a valid license which results in
not getting an update. Good AV if you buy it. Free version
self-destructs.

 

[What's in a Name?]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this jewel:

[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]

Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to
try if
this works ;-).

Accessing the net is not what the avnotify.exe window is about. It is
nagware to get you to buy their commercialware. You need to use an IPS
(intrusion protection system), like System Safety Monitor or
ProcessGuard, to prevent avnotify.exe from loading in the first place.

Don't what the point would be to use the free version, anyway. The
current downloads available will expire after 3 months, go into "demo"
mode for another month, and then you don't get updates after the 4th
month. So you get a 3-month trial although Avira doesn't tell you
that. Do a download of their latest version into a VM, like in VMWare
Server or Virtual PC, don't do an update, move the clock forward 4.5
months, reboot, and then try to do an update. You'll get an error in
the log saying that you don't have a valid license which results in not
getting an update. Good AV if you buy it. Free version self-destructs.

I don't know about all that self-destruction Mr Flint, but here are your
instructions if you choose to accept them.

Quote from the AntiVir forums.....

"you can download a new keyfile from here:

http://dl1.avgate.net/down/windows/hbedv.key

and copy it to the installation folder of AntiVir (usually it's
C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic). You may need to
overwrite the existing hbedv.key file. Then restart your computer.

From this moment you should be able to update AntiVir. The key is valid
for 3 months, but it will be automatically renewed through updates."

max

 

[What's in a Name?]

On 8/31/2007 8:28 AM, What's in a Name? after much thought,came up with
this jewel:

Mr Flint,
err, Phelps (wrong film)

 

[Vanguard]

I don't know about all that self-destruction Mr Flint, but here are
your instructions if you choose to accept them.

Quote from the AntiVir forums.....

"you can download a new keyfile from here:

http://dl1.avgate.net/down/windows/hbedv.key

Did that. The file download link is on the same page as the product
download link. Didn't help. Product still expired after 3 months
(into demo mode and then refused sig updates after 4 months). See
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2qtwto (Google Groups copy of my prior 2
posts on testing the expiration). In the 2nd post, 2nd step should've
said, "Download new hbdev.key file and installed it."

Even if it had worked to extend the license, this is worse than
nagware which AntiVir became after Avira got their hands on it. Not
only are users inflicted with popup "buy us" nag windows but they need
to periodically go grab another license key file? And do so again
after the next 3 months? And again, and so on?

So, yes, I did chose to accept the instructions. Didn't work for me
to extend the license, though. I installed the product Aug 20 but the
expiration remained the end of November with or without the supposedly
newer hbdev.key file.

It has good coverage, maybe the highest, for its scan modes. I'd only
recommend it as a 3-month trial and keeping it only by buying it to
get past its nuisances.

 

[Vanguard]

Mr Flint,
err, Phelps (wrong film)

Damn. I preferred Mr. Flint since he got lots of beautiful women and
actually did something in those movies (campy but action nonetheless).

 

[What's in a Name?]

Vanguard on 8/31/2007 in

in message news:[email protected]...

Did that. The file download link is on the same page as the product
download link. Didn't help. Product still expired after 3 months
(into demo mode and then refused sig updates after 4 months). See
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2qtwto (Google Groups copy of my prior 2
posts on testing the expiration). In the 2nd post, 2nd step
should've said, "Download new hbdev.key file and installed it."

Even if it had worked to extend the license, this is worse than
nagware which AntiVir became after Avira got their hands on it. Not
only are users inflicted with popup "buy us" nag windows but they
need to periodically go grab another license key file? And do so
again after the next 3 months? And again, and so on?

So, yes, I did chose to accept the instructions. Didn't work for me
to extend the license, though. I installed the product Aug 20 but
the expiration remained the end of November with or without the
supposedly newer hbdev.key file.

It has good coverage, maybe the highest, for its scan modes. I'd
only recommend it as a 3-month trial and keeping it only by buying it
to get past its nuisances.

I don't think that the November expiration means much. I installed
AntiVir on my son's box 2 years ago and there has been no issues with
downloads(it still updates regularly) or the expiration date(Nov). For
me,the "nag" screen is no big deal(a small price to pay for a great
product. I just installed it the other day on my W2K laptop(which I
flatten/install every so often) and it has the Nov. date also. I guess
that when it gets close to the expiration date it just gets a new one.

max

 

[Gabriela Salvisberg]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:53:51 -0400 schrieb rjdriver:

A lot of grief over a nag screen that can be closed with a single mouse
click.......Especially one that does nothing, and prevents nothing. The
update goes on even if you ignore it. Drag it off the screen if it
bothers you. Close your eyes for the few seconds it takes to update.
Hardly a high price to pay for an excellent free application.

Well, it doesn't bother *me*, because I'm not using Avira Antivir. If I
was, I'd allow the popup or buy the product.

Gabriela

 

[Vanguard]

in message

I don't think that the November expiration means much.

Except that when I went past the 4-month trial period then sig updates
would abort with a not-valid license error. Not much point to using
an AV product that doesn't get updated. Could be Avira has changed
their licensing again to only permit 3-month trials in the latest
version that you can download.


By the way:
Could you please shorten your quote intro line to eliminate all the
fluff. It looks amateurish to be inserting the newsgroup, datestamp,
message-ID, and an inane phrase. That and eliminate the leading space
character before the ">" quoting character. Wastes space, adds more
lines, requires more snipping and space deletion in replies, and makes
you look unprofessional.

 

[What's in a Name?]

in message


Except that when I went past the 4-month trial period then sig updates
would abort with a not-valid license error. Not much point to using an
AV product that doesn't get updated. Could be Avira has changed their
licensing again to only permit 3-month trials in the latest version that
you can download.

Could be,I'll let you know in a few months.

By the way:
Could you please shorten your quote intro line to eliminate all the
fluff. It looks amateurish to be inserting the newsgroup, datestamp,
message-ID, and an inane phrase. That and eliminate the leading space
character before the ">" quoting character. Wastes space, adds more
lines, requires more snipping and space deletion in replies, and makes
you look unprofessional.

It is my feeble attempt at humor.

max

 

[n o s p a m p l e a s e]

Am Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:15:35 -0500 schrieb What's in a Name?:

On 8/30/2007 6:01 PM, Kayman after much thought,came up with this jewel:
[delete or rename avnotify.exe and .dll to prevent the update
commercial popup in Antivir]
Doesn't the updater just rebuild avnotify.exe/.dll every time it runs? I
haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I think that they're rebuilt. But if someone has some "desktop
firewall" software, wouldn't it be possible to prevent avnotify.exe and
the DLL from accessing the net, so Antivir can't load the ads? I'm no
Antivir user (have KAV on my Windows boxes), so someone else has to try if
this works ;-).

Gabriela

I have AntiVir on an XP Pro box and disallow avnotify.exe with the
security policy editor to prevent the nag screen from opening. I'm not

How to access WinXP Pro "security policy editor"?

Thanx/NSP