AVG Free or Avast Home?

[Guest]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

I've downloaded both and tried both on my HP and both seem very good, but I
don't want to wait until one of them screws up my system to find I choose the
wrong program.

For anyone that has used either for awhile could post their experience it
would be useful (to many people I think).

Info that maybe helpful:

HP Pavilion dv9500t
Vista Home Premium
2.2 Intel Centrino Duo
2 GB RAM (2 cards)
Intel 4965AGN wireless
Bluetooth
Office Professional 2007 (heavy use of Outlook)
IE7 used heavily
ISP: Verizon DSL

Information on PC is private but not sensitive, no financial stuff, etc.

Any other recommendations for upgrading firewall and spyware protection
would also be welcome.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Spirit]

I have tried both AVG and Avast and prefer Avast. I have only
Internet Mail - Network Shield - Standard Shield and Web Shield
running or 4 of the 7 available since I don't use Outlook, Instant
Messaging, or P2P software.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

I've downloaded both and tried both on my HP and both seem very good, but I
don't want to wait until one of them screws up my system to find I choose the
wrong program.

They are both good and neither one is at all likely to screw up your
system. I prefer Avast!, but others whose opinions I respect prefer
AVG. You can't go wrong with either.

 

[Kayman]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

Another excellent AV apps for your consideration
Avira AntiVir® PersonalEdition Classic
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

 

[Bruce Chambers]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

I've downloaded both and tried both on my HP and both seem very good, but I
don't want to wait until one of them screws up my system to find I choose the
wrong program.

For anyone that has used either for awhile could post their experience it
would be useful (to many people I think).

Info that maybe helpful:

HP Pavilion dv9500t
Vista Home Premium
2.2 Intel Centrino Duo
2 GB RAM (2 cards)
Intel 4965AGN wireless
Bluetooth
Office Professional 2007 (heavy use of Outlook)
IE7 used heavily
ISP: Verizon DSL

Information on PC is private but not sensitive, no financial stuff, etc.

Any other recommendations for upgrading firewall and spyware protection
would also be welcome.

Thanks!!!!

I've used both, and was completely satisfied with them. Neither have
ever caused me any problems. I finally settled on AVAST, primarily
because it was Vista-ready first, and it it seems to be updated (both
the application, itself, and the definition files) more frequently.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Guest]

This has always been the never-ending debate among these two major freeware
av. With regards to the PROTECTION here are my observations :

Avast in my opinion, is MUCH better at detecting virus files inside
compressed (zip'd) archives. Even AVG's complete scan will NOT detect ALL
infections inside the Zip files. And if the compressed files are .rar or
other formats, AVG's odds of detection are even less.

Next : Detection of email borne viruses in AVG is at best average. If you
have Outlook Express 6 client as part of Windows XP, you could easily end up
downloading and saving some common email borne viruses. Its only at the time
of extraction or saving the extracted infection that AVG gives a warning !
AVG even with using the Outlook Express plugin, u could download the virus to
your machine as an eml file, and it wont even warn when you open the eml
file.

 

[James Truelove]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

I've downloaded both and tried both on my HP and both seem very good, but
I
don't want to wait until one of them screws up my system to find I choose
the
wrong program.

For anyone that has used either for awhile could post their experience it
would be useful (to many people I think).

Info that maybe helpful:

HP Pavilion dv9500t
Vista Home Premium
2.2 Intel Centrino Duo
2 GB RAM (2 cards)
Intel 4965AGN wireless
Bluetooth
Office Professional 2007 (heavy use of Outlook)
IE7 used heavily
ISP: Verizon DSL

Information on PC is private but not sensitive, no financial stuff, etc.

Any other recommendations for upgrading firewall and spyware protection
would also be welcome.

Thanks!!!!

I used AVG for a couple of years and only changed to Avast because it was
Vista compatible - the way I look at it free is a bargain which ever one you
use!
James

 

[Guest]

I went with AVG for one reason, Avast had a bug that was leaving ghosts or
'left-overs' of the menu after right-clicking on an object. Went to the
Avast free forum and found many are having the problem, but no solution.

Thank you very much for all you input!

 

[Noddy]

This has always been the never-ending debate among these two major
freeware
av. With regards to the PROTECTION here are my observations :

I've got Avast on one PC and AVG on another. Avast has better protection but
also uses more resources, slows down web browser. For that reason I prefer
AVG.

 

[Guest]

In another thread I posted my rant about McAfee and Norton, now I need a
replacement and want to try one of the free programs.

It seems that AVG and Avast are the front-runners in this category. I've
done a search and gathered much info, but I'm still undecided.

I've downloaded both and tried both on my HP and both seem very good, but I
don't want to wait until one of them screws up my system to find I choose the
wrong program.

For anyone that has used either for awhile could post their experience it
would be useful (to many people I think).

Info that maybe helpful:

HP Pavilion dv9500t
Vista Home Premium
2.2 Intel Centrino Duo
2 GB RAM (2 cards)
Intel 4965AGN wireless
Bluetooth
Office Professional 2007 (heavy use of Outlook)
IE7 used heavily
ISP: Verizon DSL

Information on PC is private but not sensitive, no financial stuff, etc.

Any other recommendations for upgrading firewall and spyware protection
would also be welcome.

Thanks!!!!

NEITHER! i have done my research on Free Anti-Viruses versus paid
anti-Viruses. Guess who lost. AVG and Avast. i used both, my computer kept on
having viruses, i could tell since suspicious behavior was going on, i had a
strong password and a good Firewall. one experience with Avast, i could not
log into my account, once i did, my screen turned green with a X in the top
left, and a hit OK, once i did, i got kicked off. An Experience with AVG, i
had a trojan, but it did nothing, so my system suffered. Ans with Antivir, i
wouldnt update for me, or detect any viruses, my background kept on changing
colors and doing weird things.

I acctually Recommend NOD32 or Kapersky. they are way better than Mcafee,
Norton, AVG, Antvir, and Bit Defender.

Research Test Results on NOD32 and Kapersky's Virus detection rate. Also
NOD32 has Pre-detection.

With NOD32, i was looking at e-mail, and a pop-up pops up, and NOD32 comes
up saying a Trojan was detected on the pop-ups website.


Please choose wisely. I did and Chose NOD32. BTW, AVG is the worst out of
the free-ones.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I'll look into NOD32, thanks again!

NEITHER! i have done my research on Free Anti-Viruses versus paid
anti-Viruses. Guess who lost. AVG and Avast. i used both, my computer kept on
having viruses, i could tell since suspicious behavior was going on, i had a
strong password and a good Firewall. one experience with Avast, i could not
log into my account, once i did, my screen turned green with a X in the top
left, and a hit OK, once i did, i got kicked off. An Experience with AVG, i
had a trojan, but it did nothing, so my system suffered. Ans with Antivir, i
wouldnt update for me, or detect any viruses, my background kept on changing
colors and doing weird things.

I acctually Recommend NOD32 or Kapersky. they are way better than Mcafee,
Norton, AVG, Antvir, and Bit Defender.

Research Test Results on NOD32 and Kapersky's Virus detection rate. Also
NOD32 has Pre-detection.

With NOD32, i was looking at e-mail, and a pop-up pops up, and NOD32 comes
up saying a Trojan was detected on the pop-ups website.


Please choose wisely. I did and Chose NOD32. BTW, AVG is the worst out of
the free-ones.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

NEITHER! i have done my research on Free Anti-Viruses versus paid
anti-Viruses. Guess who lost. AVG and Avast. i used both, my computer kept on
having viruses, i could tell since suspicious behavior was going on, i had a
strong password and a good Firewall. one experience with Avast, i could not
log into my account, once i did, my screen turned green with a X in the top
left, and a hit OK, once i did, i got kicked off.

That may have been *your* experience, but *my* experience, and that of
the many others I know who use Avast, is that no such problems have
ever occurred. I run Avast on all three computers here, and all have
been completely problem-free.

An Experience with AVG, i
had a trojan, but it did nothing, so my system suffered. Ans with Antivir, i
wouldnt update for me, or detect any viruses, my background kept on changing
colors and doing weird things.

I have much less experience with AVG, but judging from all the
satisfied AVG users I know, and whose opinions I respect, your
experience again is atypical.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

"romanom" wrote:

NEITHER! i used both, my computer kept on having viruses, i could
tell since suspicious behavior was going on, i had a strong password
and a good Firewall. An Experience with AVG, i had a trojan, but it
did nothing, so my system suffered. Ans with Antivir, i wouldnt
update for me, or detect any viruses

With NOD32, i was looking at e-mail, and a pop-up pops up, and NOD32 comes
up saying a Trojan was detected on the pop-ups website.

Sounds like you're expecting the av to cover for poor "safe hex".

When an av pops up out of the blue saying it caught something, don't
get the warm fuzzies because it's protecting you.

Rather, feel a cold shiver because you just walked into something that
might have bitten you if the av had missed it.

When I "look at email", I don't have "pop-ups popping up". More on
the mechanics of that? What email app and/or web mail site, etc.?

Your mileage hints at missed malware that is already resident and in
effect when you attempt to install these various av. For example,
lack of suspicious activity doesn't exclude resident malware, and
failure of an av to update itself is pretty suspicious in that regard.

On your AVG vs. trojan mileage, it's unclear whether the trojan was
already resident at the time you installed AVG?

-- Risk Management is the clue that asks:

"Why do I keep open buckets of petrol next to all the
ashtrays in the lounge, when I don't even have a car?"

 

[Crazy Noddy]

NEITHER! i have done my research on Free Anti-Viruses versus paid
anti-Viruses. Guess who lost. AVG and Avast.

Yea, they would say that because there is no money to be paid from
supporting free AV progs. I've been running AVG for years and have never
been infected with a virus. I don't even use it's real-time scan, I just
scan files when I download them. If you are getting infected all the time
using the free ones than I can only surmise you don't know what you are
doing or you are a shill for the pay for AV's.