Anti virus

Nice easy one for you geeks..... AVG or AVAST ???? Going set my pc back to factory settings and would appreciate your feedback, also on the line of browsers, just tried googlechrome, ( not bad ) but how bout firefox ??? i will be on ie6 when reset, so any input from you guys will be well good. ( cos i ent tht good) thnx in advance for your time and input. :confused

 

i use avast right now, but i don't think there's much difference. Firefox too.

 

The newest version of AVG free is now 9 (I just found that out a few minutes ago.) I've been using 8.5 free up until now with no problems on two XP SP2 systems. I just read a discussion, too, on the AVG free forums about this. AVG free 9 disables Windows Defender, so if you like Defender, you may want to reconsider. I guess Defender and AVG 9's antispyware don't play well together, so MS recommended that AVG disable Defender.

http://forums.avg.com/au-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=23699

AVG is getting to be a BIG download. It's now up to 71 Mb. AVG rolls out its updates to current users in waves, and I haven't been offered 9 yet. I'll wait and see how things go for other people.

I use Firefox and Opera, only use IE for Windows updates, and that's IE7, not 8. When I start seeing reports that IE8 is behaving itself, I'll upgrade. Between Firefox and Opera, I use Firefox more because the speed dial add on has more features than does Opera's. Firefox's speed dial allows you to have groups of speed dials, as many as you want, each in a separate tab, and you can have as many dials per tab as you want. Opera's speed dial has improved, but still doesn't offer groups. Opera has nicer skins, and I like their download manager. Firefox still has a bug re printing web pages, where it won't print the pictures. If you copy and paste from a web page to a MS word doc, Opera won't keep the web page's format. Each has their strengths and drawbacks, so I use both, but Firefox is the default.

Not a fan of Google software, I don't like the way they update behind your back. I like to be asked first. :-D

 

Hi pokerman,

I use avg because I like the command line scanning options. Avast may offer the same.

here's avg's

AVG Anti-Virus supports command line scanning

"AVGSCANX.EXE" /HEUR /ARC /CLEAN /SCAN=%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8


The following errorlevels may be utilized to help with developing any command line scripts you are generating.

ERRORLEVEL == 0 /* everything is o.k. */
ERRORLEVEL == 1 /* user cancelled/interrupted test */
ERRORLEVEL == 2 /* any error during the test – cannot open file etc. */
ERRORLEVEL == 3 /* change identified */
ERRORLEVEL == 4 /* suspicion detected by heuristic analysis */
ERRORLEVEL == 5 /* virus found by heuristic analysis */
ERRORLEVEL == 6 /* specific virus detected */
ERRORLEVEL == 7 /* active virus in memory detected */
ERRORLEVEL == 8 /* AVG corrupted */


Also, note the available command line switches,

/SCAN Scan test /path,path/
/HEUR Heuristic Analysis /path,path/
/EXCLUDE Exclude path or files from scan
/@ Command file /file name/
/EXT test these extensions /for example EXT=*/
/NOEXT do not test these extensions /for example NOEXT=JPG/
/SMART Smart scan
/ARC test archives
/RT test run-time compressions
/CLEAN clean automatically
/TRASH Move infected files to the Virus vault
/QT Quick Test
/LOG Generate a test result file
/ARCW report archives
/RTW report run-time compressions
/MACROW report macros
/PWDW Report password-protected files
/CHANGEW Report changes
/IGNLOCKED Ignore locked files
/REPORT Report to file /file name/
/REPAPPEND Append to the report file
/REPOK report uninfected files as OK
/STOPLEVEL Pause on detection /1-n/
/NOBREAK Do not allow CTRL-BREAK to abort
/NOBOOT Skip MBR/BOOT check
/NOMEM Do not test memory
/MEM Scan active processes
/NOHIMEM Do not test upper memory
/NOSELF Do not self-check AVG
/SKIPRP Skip reparse points (NTFS only)
/SMS Generate report in Management Information File (MIF) format
/? Display help on this topic
/HELP Display help on this topic
/DELAY Cooperative mode (sleep during scanning)



Go to the start button/run and paste in this example command...

C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\AVGSCANX.EXE /CLEAN /LOG /SCAN=c:

click ok.

Techsent

 

I've use Avast! for years now with good results. But AVG has anti-spyware built in, Avast! doesn't so I use Spyware Terminator for that. So ultimately, it's up to personal preference. Try them both and see what works best for you. Not at the same time, of course!

 

funny thing is, the last, i don't know 4 computers i've fixed for malware problems all had avg running, and it never popped up once to tell me there was a problem. not a knock against avg, but still something to think about.

 

In my past experience AVG has had a terrible detection rate when it comes to viruses and spyware. Like smokinggun said, many computer malware problems I have fixed had avg.

I personally like avast better, haven't worked on a computer that had virus problems with avast installed. *knocks on wood*