I finally tried Avast! 4 Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Corliss
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J

John Corliss

The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Scanning was slower, but that might have been because it did a more
thorough job.
The report said that it couldn't scan several archived files because
they were "password protected". On the other hand, maybe this is the
case also with AVG but it just doesn't tell you.
The system resource hit was larger than AVG (at least on my system.)
They claim to be able to scan email in programs other than Outlook or
Outlook Express. I don't know, because I didn't take the time to try
it out. My ISP provides excellent AV protection.

And finally:

Running uninstall locked up some things until I did a ctrl-alt-delete
and shut down the one running Avast! module. To be fair, they did say
that this would be necessary.

I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but
I'm used to AVG.
 
John said:
The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Scanning was slower, but that might have been because it did a more
thorough job.
The report said that it couldn't scan several archived files because
they were "password protected". On the other hand, maybe this is the
case also with AVG but it just doesn't tell you.
The system resource hit was larger than AVG (at least on my system.)
They claim to be able to scan email in programs other than Outlook or
Outlook Express. I don't know, because I didn't take the time to try it
out. My ISP provides excellent AV protection.

And finally:

Running uninstall locked up some things until I did a ctrl-alt-delete
and shut down the one running Avast! module. To be fair, they did say
that this would be necessary.

I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but I'm
used to AVG.
Click to expand...

After similar experiences, I am sticking with AntiVir Personal Edition.
It does not scan emails, but my ISP also provides good protection, so
I don't need that feature. (Actually, I don't think anyone does unless
they are using Outlook Express!) Compared to both Avast and AVG, AntiVir
is small, compact, and easy on system resources.
 
Michael said:
After similar experiences, I am sticking with AntiVir Personal
Edition. It does not scan emails, but my ISP also provides good
protection, so I don't need that feature. (Actually, I don't think
anyone does unless they are using Outlook Express!) Compared to both
Avast and AVG, AntiVir is small, compact, and easy on system resources.
Click to expand...

I have tried to make it scan my e-mail. I tried to set it up just as
instructions. It says an icon in the tray will tell you when it is
working and a message will be in the e-mail that it has been scaned. I
have neither.
What I do like is it updates its self, download, installation, and all
and it tells you it did it. With AVG it was a great undertaking to do
that, at least it was for me.
L.D.
 
After similar experiences, I am sticking with AntiVir Personal Edition.
It does not scan emails, but my ISP also provides good protection, so
I don't need that feature. (Actually, I don't think anyone does unless
they are using Outlook Express!) Compared to both Avast and AVG, AntiVir
is small, compact, and easy on system resources.
Click to expand...

Avast runs best on Windows 2000 and XP. Never a glitch on my system, and I
used it for ~6 months. It IS heavy. I went to a very light and quick
commercial software because I liked it better, not because Avast wasn't
good. It's still my favorite fully-featured Freeware AV program.

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.
 
John Corliss said:
The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Scanning was slower, but that might have been because it did a more
thorough job.
The report said that it couldn't scan several archived files because
they were "password protected". On the other hand, maybe this is the
case also with AVG but it just doesn't tell you.
The system resource hit was larger than AVG (at least on my system.)
They claim to be able to scan email in programs other than Outlook or
Outlook Express. I don't know, because I didn't take the time to try
it out. My ISP provides excellent AV protection.

And finally:

Running uninstall locked up some things until I did a ctrl-alt-delete
and shut down the one running Avast! module. To be fair, they did say
that this would be necessary.

I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but
I'm used to AVG.
Click to expand...

To get Avast to check emails you need to change your account information
such that it retreves email form the proxy Avast sets up. Then it will
scan the email as it comes in. This is much better than AVG's where I
had many virus laden attachments come in via email, AVG only alerted me
once I tried to save them to disk (my ISP does no virus scanning). The
method Avast uses should work with most any email client, AVG's
apparently only works with OE, and IMHO not very well with OE6. I ended
up ditching AVG for Avast! for this reason alone, the update scanner and
automatic update notification is also good for newbies, who often forget
to update daily or even weekly, and the default AVG update URL is slow
as ever. You can only rectify this by manually editing the URL.INI file
yourself, try to explain that process to a beginner over the phone.
Avast might be bigger in the britches, but it does a lot more for your
resource dollar.
HK
 
Avast runs best on Windows 2000 and XP. Never a glitch on my system,
and I used it for ~6 months. It IS heavy. I went to a very light and
quick commercial software because I liked it better, not because Avast
wasn't good. It's still my favorite fully-featured Freeware AV
program.

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.
Click to expand...

I'm running Win 98 and have never had a problem with it. It does scan my e-
mail quite nicely, too. I did not have to do anything special to enable
this feature.

All of which goes to confirm my hypothesis that Windows 98 is actually run
by gremlins.

--Mike
 
I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but
I'm used to AVG.
Click to expand...

I have been running AVast for 2 or 3 three years now without a glitch,
it happily scanns Pegasus MAil aemal and the auto update feature is great.
I will admit it is slightly heavier on resources than AVG but it is
protecting where AVG could not. The VRDB is cool and again can take a little
bit more resources but in the long long it is worth it.


--
----------------------------------------
Quantum Illusions: http://quantum.2ya.com
FORT Freeware: http://freeware.quantum.2ya.com
Pegasus Mail Support Site: http://pegasus.quantum.2ya.com
DATA Solutions: http://datasolutions.quantum.2ya.com

If you truly want to contact me click the link
http://quantum.2ya.com/email.htm

The future is our past and our past is our future.
 
John Corliss said:
I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but
I'm used to AVG.
Click to expand...
I use both Avast and AVG. I use AVG to scan periodically just as a double
check while Avast is my primary software. For my needs, Avast is
preferable. It updates the virus list several times a week automatically
while with AVG I need to do that manually. It also clearly scans my email.
I've never had any glitches with it.
 
John Corliss said:
The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Scanning was slower, but that might have been because it did a more
thorough job.
The report said that it couldn't scan several archived files because
they were "password protected". On the other hand, maybe this is the
case also with AVG but it just doesn't tell you.
The system resource hit was larger than AVG (at least on my system.)
They claim to be able to scan email in programs other than Outlook or
Outlook Express. I don't know, because I didn't take the time to try
it out. My ISP provides excellent AV protection.

And finally:

Running uninstall locked up some things until I did a ctrl-alt-delete
and shut down the one running Avast! module. To be fair, they did say
that this would be necessary.

I'm running AVG again. Live and learn. Avast! is okay, I guess, but
I'm used to AVG.

--
Regards from John Corliss
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware,
nagware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses
or warez please.
Click to expand...

Avast does use more resources than AVG,however you can improve its resource
issuse by changing teh skin to a "lite" one .All skins can be downloaded
through Avast.Also The tray icon should show all the time ,howver ther is
another icon that will show periodically ,which is the VRDB icon.Is it that
one that you may be referring to?.You can merge that icon with main avast
one to show just one.If your standard scanner is set to scan "all files"
then it will use more cpu power etc as its scanning evrything (mostly
unessacary)Set standard shield to high through the tray icon.Im also using
98 and also a user /ex user of AVG .Persoanlly (after initial setup
/tinkering) i prefer avast.
me
 
I have been running AVast for 2 or 3 three years now without a glitch,
it happily scanns Pegasus MAil aemal and the auto update feature is great.
I will admit it is slightly heavier on resources than AVG but it is
protecting where AVG could not. The VRDB is cool and again can take a little
bit more resources but in the long long it is worth it.
Click to expand...

Anyone have the configuration to scan email using avast, forte agent
and spampal ? Have found two good pages with step by step
instructions - but many still seem to struggle - including me :-)

The email scan is what attracts me - although norton used to do this,
it took an age, and was horrible in other ways.

Currently using either payware (free to me as it is licensed for home
use by my work) or a free promo version of etrust as a standby right
now)
 
bassbag said:
Avast does use more resources than AVG,however you can improve its resource
issuse by changing teh skin to a "lite" one .All skins can be downloaded
through Avast.Also The tray icon should show all the time ,howver ther is
another icon that will show periodically ,which is the VRDB icon.Is it that
one that you may be referring to?.You can merge that icon with main avast
one to show just one.If your standard scanner is set to scan "all files"
then it will use more cpu power etc as its scanning evrything (mostly
unessacary)Set standard shield to high through the tray icon.Im also using
98 and also a user /ex user of AVG .Persoanlly (after initial setup
/tinkering) i prefer avast.
me
Click to expand...

No, I merged the two tray icons. Then I rebooted and remaining tray
icon had vanished. I started Avast! and did something (forget what)
and the tray icon reappeared. I then rebooted again and tried to
duplicate what I'd done, but was unable to do so. The tray icon
refused to come back. At that point, I'd had enough and removed the
program. Regarding Avast! vs. AVG, your mileage may vary. However, on
my system, resource useage is critical and I don't like Avast!'s
requirements. I'm sticking with AVG for the time being.
 
John Corliss said:
No, I merged the two tray icons. Then I rebooted and remaining tray
icon had vanished. I started Avast! and did something (forget what)
and the tray icon reappeared. I then rebooted again and tried to
duplicate what I'd done, but was unable to do so. The tray icon
refused to come back. At that point, I'd had enough and removed the
program. Regarding Avast! vs. AVG, your mileage may vary. However, on
my system, resource useage is critical and I don't like Avast!'s
requirements. I'm sticking with AVG for the time being.
Click to expand...

On my machine, AVG was the resource hog. Changing to AVAST was like
disconnecting a HUGE anchor.
 
The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Click to expand...
its quite simple: you haven't a clue about computers.

you've proven it time and time again, and now you're merely a re-run.

hth!

--
"John Corliss is a sick human being. We shouldn't hate him, we
shouldn't make fun of him, we shouldn't treat him as a pariah or a
net.idiot--above all, we shouldn't flame him. We should reach out to
him as a brother, with love and compassion, and operate on his brain."

- Gene Ward Smith
 
Hi,

Here's the setup info I wrote for Avast/SpamPal:
http://www.spampal.org/usermanual/antivirus/avast/avast.htm

There is another way of setting up Avast but try this way first :)

Cheers,

Steve
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve - this was one of the 2 very useful pages I found - but
unfortunately it did not work for me - followed it step by step, but
maybe the problem lies with forte agent - where you still have to
delve into an ini file to change port settings !

what was the other way - I might be persuaded to have another go :-)

Thanks
 
The tray icon showed up sometimes, other times (usually) it was missing.
Resident shield was difficult to get going.
Click to expand...

No problems here, though I must agree, AVAST seems to have a lot of
useless modules that are a little difficult to turn off. In Win2k/xp , i
turned them off in services.
Scanning was slower, but that might have been because it did a more
thorough job.
Yes

The report said that it couldn't scan several archived files because
they were "password protected". On the other hand, maybe this is the
case also with AVG but it just doesn't tell you.
Yes


The system resource hit was larger than AVG (at least on my system.)
Yes

They claim to be able to scan email in programs other than Outlook or
Outlook Express. I don't know, because I didn't take the time to try
it out.
Click to expand...


Yes, though I never use such features. Viruses borne through email are
very easy to spot without virus-scanners.




Aaron (my email is not munged!)
 
[email protected]# said:
No, I merged the two tray icons. Then I rebooted and remaining tray
icon had vanished. I started Avast! and did something (forget what)
and the tray icon reappeared. I then rebooted again and tried to
duplicate what I'd done, but was unable to do so. The tray icon
refused to come back. At that point, I'd had enough and removed the
program. Regarding Avast! vs. AVG, your mileage may vary. However, on
my system, resource useage is critical and I don't like Avast!'s
requirements. I'm sticking with AVG for the time being.
Click to expand...
Mmm maybe the installation wasnt quite right as the icon shouldnt just
disappear really.Your quite right that avast uses more resources though in
fairness it has many more options than AVG .Id say avast is probably on a
par with AVG 7 resource wise (on 9xx machines).I think antivir is probably
the leanest.I always had problems with it though.
me
 
No problems here, though I must agree, AVAST seems to have a lot of
useless modules that are a little difficult to turn off. In Win2k/xp , i
turned them off in services.
Click to expand...


Thanks--I just did the same and that addresses some of the problems I've
been encountering. Is this use of services not documented somewhere?!

Dan
 
I also tried the program under winxp and encountered the following
problems:

* program did not accept my registration code for many attempts, finally
worked

* don't see a method of disabling "schedule boot time scan". Is it
possible?

* when I set resident protection to "disabled" and reboot, avast resets
resident protection to "standard" and tries to execute "ashserv.exe."
Avast is not remembering the resident protection setting when set to
"disabled."

Other than that, it seems slower than the avg, which doesn't bother me.
The other problems are serious. Is there a workaround?



Dan
 
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