Conficker lurking in updates?

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JB writes: Dear Woody, Is it good to take Adobe Flash player updates? And is AVG 8.5 Free better than AVG 8.0 Free? How do we know these updates aren’
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Has anyone had problems getting the free 8.5 AVG upgrade to install? I’ve downloaded the file a couple times and I get a message that it will update over the next few hours, to check back then. When I check back, the old version is still up and running. I don’t remember getting this type of message in the past when I’ve upgraded.

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For Adobe Flash Player, be sure to upgrade to the latest release of Flash Player 10.

I am very reluctant to recommend AVG since I use either Avira or NOD32 which use smaller antivirus updates than AVG and some other commercial antivirus programs. I still have not fully recovered from the several “false positives” detected by the AVG free program I used a few years ago and it screwed up my computers AND conflicted with a Roxio CDUDF driver (yes, I’m still a little bitter about using AVG, Woody). Hope AVG 8.5 doesn’t mess up other programs or find some ridiculous false positives.

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Dave –

You need to re-start Windows. If it still won’t install, tell me what error message you get and I’ll Google it.

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EP –

There are people who swear at AVG (Seth is one of them). Avast! is a great program, too.

I just finished writing about installing AVG 8.5 in Windows 7. There are a couple of tricks, like disabling SafeSearch. But it seems to go in pretty well. And I’ve upgraded all of my XP and Vista machines to 8.5 without a hitch.

Of course, your mileage may (nay, will!) vary.

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Dave –

I recently updated AVG to 8.5 without a hitch and without any messages to come back later. It went just like a ‘normal’ d/l and install.
Now, I have to find the switch to turn off its penchant for displaying a WARNING window for each and every new screen I surf to. I did not get those with 8.0, although I may have when that app was first installed; can’t remember.

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RK-
I think I used to get the same messages you’re referring to. AVG was set to automatically scan for tracking cookies, and almost every time I went to a website, it would pop up. When I clicked remove (to remove the cookies), it would tell me the file couldn’t be found. Maybe the website deleted the cookie right away or something, but I disabled that feature. It’s part of the Resident Shield, if you want to take a look.

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Woody:

I have restarted windows several times but the upgrade never installs. I don’t get an error message. This is what occurs:

I download the file AVG8FUPG.EXE
I get a message telling me the download has finished.

I don’t get a desktop icon to click to install (or any other instructions). So, I use windows explorer and find the file in my downloads folder (BTW, the file won’t show up when I do a “search”; yet it’s in my download folder??).

I double click on the file and get a message that says:

“Thank you for using AVG. You will be automatically updated to new version 8.5. The AVG user interface should reflect these changes within a few hours”.

However, no changes ever occur, even after shutting down my computer and restarting.

FYI – I have VISTA Home Premium. I’ve never had problems upgrading before.

Thanks for your help.

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Dave –

It sounds like you may be hitting the same problem people had when updating AVG 7.5 to 8. If so, it’s easy to solve:

Rename C:Program FilesAVGAVG8updatecomps.cfg to, oh, updatecomps.cfg.old

Run the updater again, and reboot.

Does that get rid of the problem? If so, the update configuration file was corrupt.

If it doesn’t get rid of the problem, you can uninstall AVG 8 and then install a fresh copy of AVG 8.5.

And if THAT doesn’t work, you can always switch to Avast. Seth would appreciate that piece of advice….

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To all, including Woody —

I have said this before, but it remains the best strategy for updating any security software:

1) Go on line. Download the program (new version) installer to your Windows Desktop. This way,if you have to reboot or if the process fails at some point, you can just restart, clean up, and try again without redoing the download. Now go off line for the removal and installation procedures.

2) Off line, use RevoUninstaller in Level Four Mode to completely remove your current version of the software. This would also remove any corrupt updater files and any Registry errors or other junk which can interfere with installing the new version. When prompted to reboot, do not do so, but run Revo through the other three steps, letting it remove all Registry entries it wants to. (Revo makes a System Restore Point before doing anything, so this is completely safe.) Now you can do a clean install of your new version.

3) Still off line, reboot, run CCleaner and the CCleaner Registry cleanup, and run the new version installer. I have never had a security program fail to install from a fresh install like this, unless some other program has locked the Windows System kernel area (almost always another security program).

4) Now it is safe to go back on line. Get the current Program and Definitions updates, and you are fully protected. The security software will probably also run more smoothly now as a little bonus for the effort.

This should work for AVG, Avast, and Zone Alarm, but not for the paid security suites from the major vendors. They all have special removal requirements, and are frankly, a waste of time and effort to maintain. BTW, Comodo Firewall or the CIS Suite also work just fine using this fresh install method.

Hope all this helps.

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Woody:

The file you told me to look for and rename (updatecomps.cfg) was not in the AVG8 directory. So I took your other suggestion and uninstalled the 8.0 version, and downloaded and installed the 8.5 version. Everything appears to be OK.

Thanks so much for the help!

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I’m here to bash AVG. No surprise there.

What surprises me is that anyone thinks AVG *can* put out an upgrade. I used’em and recommended ’em for 7 years, prior to last July, and they were *good*… but since July ’08, they seem to have fired all their sane/sober programmers, hired drunken monkeys to fill in, put semi-sane marketing weenies in charge, and taken a long leave of their senses.

Imho, since AVG 7.x, the only “upgrade” AVG has offered is an “up-SET-grade”. It’s best to dump them in favor of an alternative free AV, not continue down the mediocrity-slicked path to Hades with AVG.

Woody has said he’s learned how to disable AVG’s many bad features (like pre-checking every link on every webpage you visit, in case one might lead to malware), but he’s missed the point: AVG’s core program is now a big sinkhole where a legitimate AV should be.

Let’s recap AVG’s nonsense since last July:

a) In one 6-week period, its core AV identified parts of Windows XP, Adobe Flash, and ZoneAlarm’s firewall…as VIRUSES. That’s not just bad programming: that’s a strong hint that Grisoft’s programming department’s been washing down their liquid lunches with olives and cherrybombs, or possibly that every day is prank day when you work for Grisoft in ’08/’09.

b) Its main screen has, since last July, always included a “the sky is falling” scary pseudo-fact about viruses in a message banner at its bottom. This scary bedtime story is apparently designed to turn you into a frightened rabbit and presumably to increase your perceived need for AVG.

c) The two times I’ve installed it on clean machines (previously scanned with AVG 7.x and the latest copy of Avira AV), it has reported 144+ “warnings” which turned out to be nothing more than 144 cookies that it couldn’t/didn’t-try-very-hard-to identify. Had I been less of a geek and more easily persuaded, I would’ve thought that the machine was moments from imitating the more nauseating parts of John Hurt’s chest-bursting-alien performance in “Alien”. That sort of “sky-is-falling” irresponsible mislabeling is totally unacceptable.

Now that Avira appears to work on Win7 (It’s been on a PC in Shop 2 for over a week, Woody!) there’s little reason to even glance in AVG’s direction unless you need a good laugh.

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