Grail Knight
Who Dares Wins
Premium
join:2003-05-31
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to SqueeksDad
Re: AVG 8?????
quote:
They just had to ruin a good program didn't they?
One step back does not ruin a program IMO.
They can turn it around with the next version although there are some that like this version. The ones that pay for it.
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"When the questions get tough the tough pull a MuMu". - unknown |
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jabarnut
Light Years Away
Premium,MVM
join:2005-01-22
Galaxy M31
4 edits | reply to Gemstone
Well, I've got to tell you folks.
Armed with a fresh Acronis Image, I decided to do some extensive experimenting this weekend on the oldest of the 4 machines I own (A 900mhz Duron, with 1 Gig of PC133 SDRAM...yes, you read it right).
I had used Avast and Avira AntiVar in the past, but decided to try them again (Along with AVG 8), and compare them on an old machine.
Guess which program I liked the best? (At least as far as the Program that ran the smoothest, updated the fastest, and showed the smallest footprint).
That's right...AVG 8.
Avast showed a very noticeable performance hit (much more so than the other two), even with everything turned off but the standard shield.
I realize many say there is no performance hit at all when they use Avast, but try it with a 900mhz Duron. (Especially compared with the other two AV's).
Avira was ok, but just the way I remembered it. A little buggy, and the update servers were horrible at certain times. Also showed a *slight* performance hit, and some other minor annoyances that I just don't like, and never did.
After installing AVG 8 (with the proper tweaking), I definitely liked it the best.
Of course, the important thing here was doing a custom install as shown in this thread:
»AVG 8 Free Better Than 7.5 After Tweaking.
Installed without the "Link Scanner", email scanner, or Office Plugins, AVG 8 runs great...almost as good as AVG 7.5, but with a nicer interface.
And yes, I realize it's not all about performance (or lack of it), but the detection rates are all in the ballpark as far as the freebies. (I know you Avira fans, Avira is usually a little better, but they're all close enough as far as I'm concerned).
So, there you go.
After all my complaining in this and other threads about the major changes with AVG 8, turns out it runs great on that machine, and I'll probably end up staying with it.
I also realize it should work fine "right out of the box" like AVG 7.5 did (and as mentioned in the other thread), but the tweaks are easy, and well worth it.
So forgive me Grisoft for all my complaining.
It's not bad...not bad at all. 
(Oh, and while I'm at it, please forgive me for my usual long winded post too). 
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I had a life once.....now I have a Computer and a Modem. |
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FiOS Dan
Premium
join:2001-07-06
Redondo Beach, CA
 ·Verizon FIOS
|  Not long-winded at all jabarnut. I read it with great interest and I must say it is most encouraging. For several days now I have been considering doing exactly what you have done, namely running AVG 8.0 on one of my PCs that I affectionately refer to as my "test rig". Now I will do so for sure. Many thanks.
--
Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
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traveler55
join:2005-04-09
Mount Vernon, WA
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to jabarnut
Yes, I did the same here (900 Thunderbird 512 of pc133). I tried both Avast and Avira, for some reason AVG 8 just ran smoother. Maybe it is because I have used AVG since 1998 and it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but I like this one.  |
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captokita
Premium
join:2005-02-22
Calabash, NC
| reply to Gemstone
Well, when you think about it, when AVG was version 6 and moved to 7, there were many issues/bugs that surrounded that launch as well. So it's natural for a program to go through a "buggy" adjustment period.
So far, 8 has been great for me in my personal use, all my scans are set for when I'm not using the machine, so I honestly don't care how long it takes to do it. As long as it's catching things and working, I'll be happy with it. |
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isobuster
join:2005-03-21
1 edit | reply to Gemstone
what about clamwin? »www.clamwin.com
it's a free open source antivirus, but the only problem is that it doesn't have real-time resident scanning, so you'll have to manually do scan (right click and scan, or select folders, etc.). So how important is a real time scanner? |
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jabarnut
Light Years Away
Premium,MVM
join:2005-01-22
Galaxy M31
4 edits | reply to Gemstone
Sorry to bring back a 4+ day old thread, but since my last report above (concerning the "extensive experimenting" I did), things have changed a bit, and I felt that this was the most relevant thread to post an update.
Bottom line (after removing my foot from my mouth), it that AVG 8 still needs some work for sure. 
There have since been comments in other threads as well, where people who initially had it working ok (with the "tweaks"), are now finding that it's just not cutting it.
It's still not ready for prime time in my opinion.
Since my last post, I've had my start menu freeze, and some other annoying problems that I won't bore you with right now. (FWIW, removing AVG 8 solved ALL of the problems).
I can't really be absolutely sure, but I also think it messed up my internet connection in the process of doing an automatic update during first boot in the morning.
I had to reset my Router (among several other things), to get everything back up and running again on my home network).
I've since gone to Avira on my older machine, and I'm pretty happy with it. (As mentioned in my earlier post, Avast is just too hard on my older Hardware, although I like it in other respects).
Avira is running pretty well, and while there are still a few things I'm not crazy about, it's working a heck of a lot better than AVG 8 did.
I think AVG 8 has some potential, but definitely still needs some work.
So, that's that.
Regardless of what my observations were in my last post (as of right now at least), I'm thinking that AVG 7.5 was a heck of a lot better than AVG 8.
Therefore, Avira AntiVar has now become my AV of choice...(for now, anyway.)
The other thing about AntiVar, is that it doesn't try to be something more than it sould be. (A mistake I think Grisoft made with AVG 8, the more I played around with it).
Sure hope Avira doesn't make the same mistake.
Thanks for suffering through yet another long and boring post.
Take from it what you will, and toss the rest.
--
I had a life once.....now I have a Computer and a Modem. |
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Smith6612
Premium
join:2008-02-01
united state
 ·Dish Network
·Verizon Online DSL
·FrontierNet Intern..
| reply to Gemstone
I agree with the posts here stating on how AVG is messing up a good program. I run AVG 75 Free on 3 computers as well, including my gaming system and it works a heck of a lot better than Norton and McAfee will ever run. Now because of this, I guess I'm going to have to switch these computers over to Avast and then send out several e-mails to some people I know about this. |
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jmorlan
Hmm... That's funny.
Premium
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to jabarnut
said by jabarnut  :I can't really be absolutely sure, but I also think it messed up my internet connection in the process of doing an automatic update during first boot in the morning. I had to reset my Router (among several other things), to get everything back up and running again on my home network). Was this a wireless connection? Did you see an intermittent wireless connection that disconnected every few seconds and could not be made stable?
These are symptoms that I originally attributed to XP SP3, but which I now think may have been caused by AVG8 or possibly by a combination of AVG8 and an installation of SP3.
--
If America has an official philosophy, it surely includes the belief in individualism, competition, private property, democracy, freedom, and a deep faith in education. This social philosophy is called "liberalism." GKM (1936) |
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jabarnut
Light Years Away
Premium,MVM
join:2005-01-22
Galaxy M31
4 edits | said by jmorlan :Was this a wireless connection? Did you see an intermittent wireless connection that disconnected every few seconds and could not be made stable? These are symptoms that I originally attributed to XP SP3, but which I now think may have been caused by AVG8 or possibly by a combination of AVG8 and an installation of SP3. Actually, it was ALL of my connections. (I do have a wireless Router for my Laptop, but hadn't used the Laptop since I installed AVG 8 on this particular CAT5 wired Desktop machine, so I'm not sure if I had that same wireless problem or not).
However, when I first booted up the machine with AVG 8, it froze the machine half way through the AVG update, and I lost my connections on all my machines. (Even though all lights were synced on both the Modem and the Router).
Even rebooting the Modem and resetting the Router had no effect.
It wasn't until I completely unplugged the AVG 8 computer from the network, and reset everything again, that I got it back up and running....nothing else worked. (And you can believe me when I say I tried everything).
By the way, I've had SP3 on all my machines for quite a while now and never had any problems, not even with the wireless Laptop.
It may have been a strange coincidence, but I really don't think so.
I've never had a problem where a reset of the entire Network didn't fix it before, and I haven't had any problems at all since I removed AVG 8 from that computer.
And I'm also positive that it wasn't an outage with my ISP (Just so happens I know some people in the Headend at my ISP).
I've had a lot of other problems with the AVG 8 computer as well...(Start menu freezing, programs not loading, etc).
Now that I've removed AVG 8, everything is running fine again, like it always has.
Beats me, but I won't be trying AVG 8 again for a while...I do know that much.
Anyway, headed out for the weekend.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend folks.
--
I had a life once.....now I have a Computer and a Modem. |
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WeenieBoy
join:2003-06-25
Pasadena, MD
·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| reply to Gemstone
Well I tried it on my desktop for about 15 minutes. I have used it on 2 other computers and did notice slow down but turned off link scanning. BUT on my desktop
1) Rebooted NOTHING would run
2) Attempted restart failed.
3) Power cycled above problems went away but was unable to download anything
4) Uninstalled AVG
5) Installed AVAST everything ok (for now)
Like I said 2 other computers operate did not exhibit the problems like on my desktop but are slower than 7.5. I will probably switch all my machines to AVAST. I had no issues with AVG until version 8. But hey you get what you pay for. |
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ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium
join:2001-08-02
Michigan City, IN
·Comcast
| reply to Gemstone
I think AVG is not as good as people say it is..I had AVG Pro awhile back (couple months) and heard about Avast..installed that and did the boot-up scan and it found a virus that AVG didn't see.
Been with Avast ever since.
--
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYueIC1pjM |
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WeenieBoy
join:2003-06-25
Pasadena, MD
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
| reply to Gemstone
You know looking at this forum, I notice a lot of threads on AVG 8 all complaining about this and that. I just wonder
1) if anyone at AVG reads this forum
2) Are they aware of all the complaints
3) Did they do any product testing before deploying ?
They had a good product which they made worse. Yes people have found links on how to not install features but that leads me to wonder why they choose NOT to make those features options under the installer not switches to the installer. After all they offered a custom install why not there ? |
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Tyreman
join:2002-10-08
1 edit | yes its true you gotta wonder if hey do they look on forums.
I gotta say for geting mine running okay now it makes you wonder.
Look the hoops you had to jump thru to get it run okay. |
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Gemstone
join:2000-12-20
Babylon, NY | reply to Gemstone
The AVG 8 "NAG" screen has started to pop up again every day here... It still says that update support will stop on May 31st...
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Go Mark Martin! |
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DougCuk
@as9105.com
| reply to Gemstone
The AVG Free support forum states updates for AVG v7.5 will continue until December 31st 2008 - »freeforum.avg.com/read.php?1,123812
The AVG v8 Technical FAQ also gives this December date »www.grisoft.com/ww.faq.num-1350#faq_1350
And yet the installed (v7.5) program continues to hassle users with a garish popup proclaiming your AntiVirus will expire on May 31st 2008. AVG Technologies are well aware of this contradiction but seem to feel this is an acceptable marketing ploy. For a leading company in the security industry to resort to this kind of misleading tactics is very worrying. |
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Gemstone
join:2000-12-20
Babylon, NY | reply to Gemstone
I'm curious to see if the "nag" screen goes away after the 31st... It's VERY annoying...
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Go Mark Martin! |
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FiOS Dan
Premium
join:2001-07-06
Redondo Beach, CA
·Verizon FIOS
| It's more than annoying on my rigs. The "nag" screen freezes both my scheduled spyware scan and email monitor. I have to use Task Manager to abort the scan and close-and-reopen the monitor. I've about had it with AVG because of this.
--
Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
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ianw22
@sky.com
| reply to jmorlan
said by jmorlan
Was this a wireless connection? Did you see an intermittent wireless connection that disconnected every few seconds and could not be made stable?
These are symptoms that I originally attributed to XP SP3, but which I now think may have been caused by AVG8 or possibly by a combination of AVG8 and an installation of SP3.
[/BQUOTE :How have you got round it? I installed AVG 8 and it caused me problems with internet loss. I have since uninstalled it but am still having problems with my internet connection. I have to reboot the router to be able to connect to the internet. Disconnecting and reconnecting to the router doesn't work, it has to be a router reboot. What has AVG 8 done to my settings? I'm annoyed with them, good product for years but they've lost a user here. |
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jmorlan
Hmm... That's funny.
Premium
join:2001-02-05
Pacifica, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by ianw22 :
How have you got round it? I installed AVG 8 and it caused me problems with internet loss. I have since uninstalled it but am still having problems with my internet connection. I have to reboot the router to be able to connect to the internet. Disconnecting and reconnecting to the router doesn't work, it has to be a router reboot. What has AVG 8 done to my settings? I'm annoyed with them, good product for years but they've lost a user here.
Do you have SP3 installed? You could try to roll it back to SP2. Removing SP3 solved my original problem. I believe that leaving AVG8 actively running while I installed SP3 may have resulted in a bad SP3 installation.
My final solution after rolling back to SP2 was to update the wireless driver; remove AVG8; install SP3 from a CD; then install AVG 7.5. No more problems.
--
If America has an official philosophy, it surely includes the belief in individualism, competition, private property, democracy, freedom, and a deep faith in education. This social philosophy is called "liberalism." GKM (1936) |
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