avg versus avast, which is best freeware antivirus

M

Mike Henley

I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too many
things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well, found a few
viruses that microtrend housecall completely missedd, and i like a few
features such as the p2p and IM protection, the boottime virus check,
and the database thingie too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.
 
H

H-Man

Mike Henley said:
I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too many
things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well, found a few
viruses that microtrend housecall completely missedd, and i like a few
features such as the p2p and IM protection, the boottime virus check,
and the database thingie too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.

I've just recently switched from AVG to AVAST!
IMO Avast has a much superior email scanner. Updates are not as frequent
though so that may or may not represent a problem. I prefer Avast to AVG.
HK
 
I

Ionizer

Mike Henley said:
I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too many
things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well, found a few
viruses that microtrend housecall completely missedd, and i like a few
features such as the p2p and IM protection, the boottime virus check,
and the database thingie too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.

Here's one independent test comparison for you, over a period of time:
Avast- 7 passes, 17 fails:
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml?avist.xml
AVG- 2 passes, 19 fails:
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml?avg.xml
Both received a passing grade in the most recent tests.

Ian.
 
B

Boomer

Mike said:
I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too
many things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well,
found a few viruses that microtrend housecall completely
missedd, and i like a few features such as the p2p and IM
protection, the boottime virus check, and the database thingie
too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one
of the two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free
antivirus that is even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I
wonder what you guys think.

Hopefully you have read through the anti-virus group also.
Just a suggestion. :)
alt.comp.anti-virus
 
K

Klein

I've just recently switched from AVG to AVAST!
IMO Avast has a much superior email scanner. Updates are
not as frequent though so that may or may not represent a
problem. I prefer Avast to AVG. HK

Me too -- switched to Avast. I got worried because AVG was
missing too many ITW viruses in the VB100 test, whereas Avast
misses none. Could change in the future, so I'm watching
closely.
 
M

Malu'

Tue, 14 Oct 2003 08:16:50 -0600
H-Man ha scritto:
I've just recently switched from AVG to AVAST!

I switched some months ago.
IMO Avast has a much superior email scanner. Updates are not as frequent
though so that may or may not represent a problem.

Instead I find the updates very frequent and small, much more then AVG.
I prefer Avast to AVG.

Ditto.
 
B

Bob Adkins

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.

Last time I tried AVG it had 2 problems. It had no real-time scanner or
e-mail scanner, and it had no definition update. One had to download the
entire 3-4 MB program just to get a definition update.

Avast has been good. Little I would change except the interface, which looks
like it was created on the planet Neptune.

Bob
 
B

bassbag

Last time I tried AVG it had 2 problems. It had no real-time scanner or
e-mail scanner, and it had no definition update. One had to download the
entire 3-4 MB program just to get a definition update.

Avast has been good. Little I would change except the interface, which looks
like it was created on the planet Neptune.

Bob
Must have been a long time ago to have no real time scanner.The updates
now only download new defenitions (not the entire database ) and are
usually around 59kb
me
 
B

bassbag

I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too many
things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well, found a few
viruses that microtrend housecall completely missedd, and i like a few
features such as the p2p and IM protection, the boottime virus check,
and the database thingie too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.
Avg 6s email scanner is not as good as avast (avg 7 is though...but not
free).For lower spec machines i find AVG to be much easier on resources
and much faster scanning.Personally i dont think theres that much between
them detection wise.I tried avast again a few weeks ago and must say its
much better than my last experience with it (i have a low spec
machine).If you have a good spec macine then you will gain nothing by
reverting to AVG , other than perhaps the gui and preferences being a bit
simpler to understand and set (IMO :) )
me
 
D

dszady

Tue, 14 Oct 2003 08:16:50 -0600
H-Man ha scritto:


I switched some months ago.


Instead I find the updates very frequent and small, much more then AVG.


Ditto.

Seconded
 
M

Mike Henley

H-Man said:
I've just recently switched from AVG to AVAST!
IMO Avast has a much superior email scanner. Updates are not as frequent
though so that may or may not represent a problem. I prefer Avast to AVG.
HK

Apart from email, as i don't use outlook or outlook express, and
instead i use AOL and web-email such as hotmail or netscape, i think
both aol and msn scan emails for viruses, and i don't open spam,
attachments or chain mail.

I wonder how the two, or any other freeware antivirus, How do they
compare for someone who doesn't need email scanning.
 
G

George

Mike Henley said:
I've been impressed by avast to the extent that i uninstalled my
norton 2002 which i've kept updated but it intereferred with too many
things and crashed my system too often. Avast works well, found a few
viruses that microtrend housecall completely missedd, and i like a few
features such as the p2p and IM protection, the boottime virus check,
and the database thingie too.

I'm yet to try AVG but it looks interesting; i wonder which one of the
two, or if there's yet another free and nag-free antivirus that is
even better, is the best freeware antivirus. I wonder what you guys
think.

Been using AVG for months. Tried Avast after reading good reviews in
here but didn't like it that much and went back to AVG. Detection wise I
don't think there's that much between them.
 
M

Maureen Goldman

Bob Adkins said:
Last time I tried AVG it had 2 problems. It had no real-time scanner or
e-mail scanner, and it had no definition update. One had to download the
entire 3-4 MB program just to get a definition update.

For the last month AVG updates have been approx. 60K. First time it
happened, I assumed the connection had failed.
 
D

Dan Boyd

In
George said:
Been using AVG for months. Tried Avast after reading good reviews in
here but didn't like it that much and went back to AVG. Detection
wise I don't think there's that much between them.

I have used both programs, currently using Avast on my computer and AVG on the wifes.
Have never had any problems with either of them.
Try them both, and decide which one you like the best.
 
B

Big-pallooka

George said:
Been using AVG for months. Tried Avast after reading good reviews in
here but didn't like it that much and went back to AVG. Detection wise I
don't think there's that much between them.
Just formated my hard drive and reinstalled Win XP (and other programs)
because the AVG email scanner picked-up Worm Virus (Bugbear?) but could not
identify it with system scan nor remove it. Uninstalled AVG and tried
(individually) AntiVir and Fprot. Neither identified the worm during
scanning. I tried all the free small individual utilities (about 6) and none
could identify the worm or remove it. Each time I opened Pegasus Mail I
could see the email containing the worm actually reproducing itself! Freaky!
Now trying AntiVir but sounds like I should give Avast a go.
Regards
Dave
 
B

Brady

Klein said:
Me too -- switched to Avast. I got worried because AVG was
missing too many ITW viruses in the VB100 test, whereas Avast
misses none. Could change in the future, so I'm watching
closely.

What is the VB 100 test
 
D

Dan Boyd

In
Malu' said:
Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:28:03 -0500
Dan Boyd ha scritto:

How many?

Lucky man!

No, I won't comment this one...


Sorry, I couldn't help it! ;)

It was rather funny when you look at it sideways. :^))
 
M

Maureen Goldman

Big-pallooka said:
Just formated my hard drive and reinstalled Win XP (and other programs)
because the AVG email scanner picked-up Worm Virus (Bugbear?) but could not
identify it with system scan nor remove it. Uninstalled AVG and tried
(individually) AntiVir and Fprot. Neither identified the worm during
scanning. I tried all the free small individual utilities (about 6) and none
could identify the worm or remove it. Each time I opened Pegasus Mail I
could see the email containing the worm actually reproducing itself! Freaky!
Now trying AntiVir but sounds like I should give Avast a go.

I'm not under the impression that AVG deals with any email system
except OE. I use Pegasus as well, wish that it did. (There is a
Pegasus-related scanner that can be added for attachments when saved
or opened, which can be configured for the various AV types.)
 

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