5 replies to this topic

[bubbabeernuts]

I use the free version of Avast's free antivirus program, and so far, I've been very satisfied. I actually tested it against AVG antivirus by trying to download infected software programs through Kazaa, using two separate PCs for the test. Avast on one, AVG on the other.

Just about every version of the Windows IRC client that you find on Kazaa has some kind of virus on it, so that made it simple to conduct the test.

Avast made AVG look like a bitch.

In the first few seconds of whatever download, the Avast alarm would go off, and the disembodied voice program in the software would announce that a virus had been found. Avast caught a virus 30 times in a row; AVG only caugtht a virus once.

But there's one thing I'm looking to get a consensus on. Avast has an automatic update feature that will take care of business at random. Does anyone know if that particular feature has ever been compromised in any way by hackers, or by the company itself? This puppy seems to work great, and I'd hate to think I've been deluding myself into thinking I was safe.

[Trilobite]

I have a small collection of potential viruses (six to be exact) that I use to test antivirus software with. Of these 6 viruses, Avast identifies 1 of them as Win32:Trojan-gen, Symantec identifies 4, McAfee command-line antivirus identifies all 6 and F-Prot (DOS) misses all of them as viruses but identifies 1 of them as ‘a security risk or a "backdoor" program’. I have not tested AVG yet.

McAfee identifies these possible viruses as:

Proxy-Hino.dldr Trojan
Downloader-IQ Trojan
VBS/Psyme Trojan
trojan or variant Exploit-MhtRedir
trojan or variant StartPage-AX
trojan or variant Reg/Seeker

I do not know weather McAfee is overly sensitive and these are false positives or if the other virus scanners are just not detecting these possible viruses.

Update: I have not been able to test AVG antivirus as they demand personal information in order to download their “free edition”. For this reason alone, I would not recommend AVG antivirus.

Edited by Trilobite, 28 May 2004 - 03:06 PM.

[NAMOR]

Update: I have not been able to test AVG antivirus as they demand personal information in order to download their “free edition”. For this reason alone, I would not recommend AVG antivirus.

The only thing that really matter is the email address (so they can email you a key).

[Johann]

Well, I got infected by CWS while using Avast. So I think that a change is mandatory. Would need advice what is the best. Anything else than MacAfee?

[dave38]

Well Coolweb is not a virus, or even a trojan so it is not really surprising that it is not found by Avast. No other A/V program will detect it either!

I am using AVG, free edtion, and find it good. Now the update problem has been sorted, it updates about twice a week, and seems to detect things that are missed by some other pprograms.

Mcaffee, and Norton seem bloated by comparison, and use a lot more system resources.

[lonewolf]

If i was going to use a free anti-virus (which i have done) i would probably use both AVG and Avast. Just choose one as your primary and one as your secondary. In the secondary disable all scanners ect... and use it as a on-demand scanner only.