AOL active virus shield - any good?

A

Art

http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?

I know it uses the Kaspersky engine, but does anyone know if it loads the
usual array of AOL dll's and exe's which tell other files to phone home
with loads of your personal surfing habits?
Click to expand...

I've been using it for qute awhile, and I've not been able to detect
any such activities. Just don't opt for the Toolbar during
installation.
Can it be used in conjunction with another virus program?
Click to expand...

It will refuse to install if it finds other av or even some version
of KAV on your PC. I did once take a look at AntiVir after AVS
was installed with no problem. But it's not a good idea in general
to try to have two realtime av running simultaneously.

More importantly, I've been able to use various other products
which are not av such as Ewido, Spybot S&D, AdAware ... and
a few others along those lines (antispyware and anti Trojan)
with AVS installed ... which is really all you should be concerned
about.

AVS dosen't include a couple of the protection modules KAV 6
includes (which is why it's free) but I consider it to be a top
notch basic file scanner.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
R

Ron Lopshire

heatherjames said:
http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?

I know it uses the Kaspersky engine, but does anyone know if it loads the
usual array of AOL dll's and exe's which tell other files to phone home
with loads of your personal surfing habits?

Can it be used in conjunction with another virus program?

How about Dr. Web's Cureit?
Click to expand...

Heather,

AVS is a 100% KL product, with an AOL skin. Just don't install the AOL
Security Toolbar (uncheck this option during the installation.) You
cannot change the AVS skin, that would be a violation of the EULA.

Eric Howes was complaining about the AVS EULA, but AOL has since
cleaned it up. Even if AOL gives you the creeps, I wouldn't worry
about it. I have a KIS 6 license, but I installed AVS in November for
purposes of evaluation. I could not tell the difference (other than
cosmetics) between the two when setup identically.

Although some have reported using AVS/KAV 6 with another AV installed,
I wouldn't myself. And if you have any problems, no one will help you
with such a setup. I know that many have used other on-line AV
scanners with AVS/KAV 6 installed (might have to temporarily disable
protection), but I don't about Dr.Web CureIt.

There have been reports of conflicts between AVS and some PFWs. I
found that I could get the S-K PFW 4.3 to work, if I uninstalled the
PFW, installed AVS, and then re-installed the PFW. And AVS, of course,
worked fine with the WinXP FW. Here is some KL Forum info about KAV 6
playing nice with other PFWs. Most should apply to AVS, as well.

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=16036

If you want to try AVS (or KIS 6 - 30-day free trial), go for it. Just
stay away from the AOL Security Toolbar. Eric still doesn't like that.

Ron :)
 
H

heatherjames

Heather,

AVS is a 100% KL product, with an AOL skin. Just don't install the AOL
Security Toolbar (uncheck this option during the installation.) You
cannot change the AVS skin, that would be a violation of the EULA.

Eric Howes was complaining about the AVS EULA, but AOL has since
cleaned it up. Even if AOL gives you the creeps, I wouldn't worry
about it. I have a KIS 6 license, but I installed AVS in November for
purposes of evaluation. I could not tell the difference (other than
cosmetics) between the two when setup identically.

Although some have reported using AVS/KAV 6 with another AV installed,
I wouldn't myself. And if you have any problems, no one will help you
with such a setup. I know that many have used other on-line AV
scanners with AVS/KAV 6 installed (might have to temporarily disable
protection), but I don't about Dr.Web CureIt.

There have been reports of conflicts between AVS and some PFWs. I
found that I could get the S-K PFW 4.3 to work, if I uninstalled the
PFW, installed AVS, and then re-installed the PFW. And AVS, of course,
worked fine with the WinXP FW. Here is some KL Forum info about KAV 6
playing nice with other PFWs. Most should apply to AVS, as well.

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=16036

If you want to try AVS (or KIS 6 - 30-day free trial), go for it. Just
stay away from the AOL Security Toolbar. Eric still doesn't like that.

Ron :)
Click to expand...


Wow. Great info.

So what you're saying is that the AOL AVS is almost as good as the
Kaspersky product. Does it clean the system, after finding a virus, or
just block it when it first tries to attack - or do you have to buy the
full Kaspersky product for that?

Why go for the Kaspersky free trial for 30 days if AVS is free?
 
W

Walter Mautner

heatherjames said:
http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?


I know it uses the Kaspersky engine, but does anyone know if it loads the
usual array of AOL dll's and exe's which tell other files to phone home
with loads of your personal surfing habits?
Click to expand...
It just works fine, no homephoning so far unless you forget to uncheck
the "install aol security toolbar" option. Never even got a single spam
with the (disposable) e-mail addies I gave them for receiving a bunch of
keys, and have used that scanner for "decontaminating" and securing some
other pcs as well.
Another great thing is, it comes without the "internet security" bloatware
and just does its job.
Can it be used in conjunction with another virus program?
Click to expand...
Yes, but only one resident scanner, where KAV has a nice feature: it only
scans a file once, with ntfs, and saves the checksum in a ntfs stream. At
the next time the file is touched and has to be scanned, first a checksum
comparison is made and the file is scanned again only when it differs from
the former one.
How about Dr. Web's Cureit?
Click to expand...

Never heard.
 
R

Ron Lopshire

heatherjames said:
Wow. Great info.

So what you're saying is that the AOL AVS is almost as good as the
Kaspersky product. Does it clean the system, after finding a virus, or
just block it when it first tries to attack - or do you have to buy the
full Kaspersky product for that?

Why go for the Kaspersky free trial for 30 days if AVS is free?
Click to expand...

YW. AVS uses the KAV engine and current KL (released hourly or more
often) signatures. As Art points out, it does not include the PDM or
Web AV. Yes, you can set up AVS to quarantine/remove malware. And you
can add files to the Trusted Zone, but manipulating the TZ is somewhat
crippled in AVS. I am currently using KAV 6 with the same settings as
AVS, and I don't recall any KL Forum posters complaining about having
to upgrade from AVS to KAV in order to do something. AVS is _not_
nagware or ransomware.

If you are in the market for a different AV app, I would suggest that
you download, install and evaluate AVS. Take your time, and then if
you want to evaluate KIS/KAV 6, you will know what you are looking
for, and won't have to waste a lot of time learning how to use the
GUI. You can devote your time to investigating the PDM and Web AV
modules. And since it is a free evaluation, you might as well install
KIS which also includes AH, AS, and Anti-Spam.

I never recommend that anyone evaluate _any_ AV app, unless s/he is
seriously considering purchasing/using it. Some AV apps are just too
damned hard to get rid of (i.e., NIS/NAV). And it is pointless to
install an app with a 30-day free trial, and then wait 3 weeks to take
it out for a test drive.

BTW, a major upgrade to KIS/KAV will be released at the end of January
to coincide with the release of Vista. At this time, or shortly
thereafter, a new heuristics engine will be added to the KAV engine.
How this affects AVS, only the marketing bozos know. [g]

Ron :)
 

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