Is AVG still a trusted product?

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I have the free version of AVG. I would like to know if I should upgrade, or switch to another antivirus program. they keep pestering me to add more protection for more reasons than I thought possible.

 

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I used AVG free for many years, but have found it to be quite bloated and a dreg on the system in recent times. I have switched to Bitdefender Free and it seems to do a good job and doesn’t use so many resources. Haven’t tried some of the others. It requires once a year registration.

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Charlie, MrJimPhelps, Microfix

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I use Bitdefender Free on the one Windows 7 Pro box that I still run.  It is light and quiet, with no nags or pop-ups, and seems to run happily on this OS.  No issues so far in a couple years of use.

It is probably the best light AV option for those still running Win 7, where you do not have the option to run the latest version of Windows Defender.  Microsoft Security Essentials on Win 7 was consistently among the lowest tier for detection scores on 3rd party AV tests.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Charlie, Microfix

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Thank you PKCano , I will check that out.

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Here’s some resources on security software that may help your decision:

1. https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/
2. http://pcmag.com/antivirus-reviews-and/44373/guide/the-best-free-antivirus-protection-of-2018
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp
3. http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/security/best-antivirus-software/

They are all within the last 3 months.

Edited to update link #2

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cesmart4125, Elly, samak

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Hi Kirsty!

Sorry to say, but the PC Magazine link is broken! 🙁

Here’s the new link I found by digging around their site using part of your link for starters: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp

Although it looks different, it gets one to the same page as your link intended to, reviews of free antivirus solutions for 2018. The article was written on January 10th of this year.

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samak

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Thanks and sorry! It worked last night, but today, I got your linked page too, but with a security certificate warning I didn’t get yesterday 🙂

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Elly

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Here’s another one:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/dynamic-tests/

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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Elly, Kirsty

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Avast bought them out and destroyed the product (not that AVG was doing their reputation any favors since 2013). The AVG virus detection engine has been replaced with some mangled avast like engine. Not all detected viruses are alerted to or removed. All logging has been eliminated (did that last scan detect anything, were false positives deleted? AVG2017: “No idea”).

AVG 2012 was quite good for it’s time, AVG 2013-2016 added popup ads for registry cleaners (both in house AVG and 3rd party), other popup ads, a toolbar (installed via a popup with one click) which closes all browsers then installs a toolbar which changes your homepage search engine and re-enables itself once a week. (there is a decline button on the popup but it is very small).

The 2017 version (mangled by avast) removes most of the basic function of the antivirus. If avast bought them out they should have just said support for AVG 2016 ends on X day, switch to avast to be protected. (Instead of “we mangled your protection but everything looks the same”).

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Wow, am I a dunce for missing this.  Had no idea AVG was bought out.  Used it for a lonnng time & recently switched when the zen thing got too demanding.  Now I’m extra glad I did.  Thanks for the embarrassing update.

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As scary as all the 2013-2016 stuff sounds if you do it right it can be disabled.

It still leaves the “single click no-confirmation upgrade to 30 pro trial” by clicking on the always there banner ad — after 30 days you have no protection. “upgrading” to this trial (with a single click and no confirmation) takes about 60 second and cannot be canceled, reverting back can take 20 minutes and can only be done as an uninstall option to go back to free (or a clean install of AVG= 1 reboot for uninstall, 2-9 reboots for runs of the AVG removal tool, another reboot to re-install + update reboots).

And if all those problems were fixed forever in the (broken)2017+ version(s) the 2016 version with the above problems would still be infinitely preferable.

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better move away from AVG in the long run

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I’ve personally had good luck combining Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (paid) with AVAST free.  In an article on WS, the Patch Lady mentioned she uses MBAM.  Others on the Windows Secrets Forum have had an excellent experience combining MBAM with Microsoft Security Essentials (and later Windows Defender).

/showthread//161323-Running-simultaneous-virus-checkers?s=d011d722345dbe6522683ac5446a76c8&highlight=multiple+antimalware

At one time, MBAM  could be combined with Norton; before attempting this, please read the link above.  Another contributor, Sudo, believed it was possible;  however, after I ran into major problems, I didn’t attempt it a second time.  Norton’s reps flat out told me they don’t want people combining their product with MBAM.

AV-Comparatives is my most frequently consulted resource.  They’re connected with the Austrian government and the University of Salzburg.  You’ll probably want to start with their “real world tests.”  MBAM isn’t mentioned here because Malwarebytes doesn’t believe “static tests” are an appropriate test for their product, which relies heavily on heuristics.

Before I forget, another good resource is PC World.  Best of luck picking your antivirus!

 

 

 

 

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has any one seen this i think it need’s more light shining on it.

Avast and AVG Force Update CCleaner not only that they did it in a silently, stealthily & sneakily installed an .exe file onto our M/C’s with no prior knowledge or notification of any kind.

1 of AVAST reply on their forum about this matter and give confirmation. Avg forum still saying it no thing to do with them.

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=217752.msg1457538#msg1457538

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It is starting to look like Avast is beginning to think that if it knows better than users what is good for them, it is OK to sneak in an update.  It looks like they forgot all about getting informed consent before installing an executable on a private PC.

They have also had reports of CCleaner updates installing Avast without permission.

Looks like a mess up with parent company business practices, rather than technology.

Just curious, what is a M/C?  Have never seen that before…

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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m/c = Machine,  sorry about that old bad habit, should just have said pc or computer.

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Elly

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I’ve used AVG Free for years in the distant Win 98SE/ ME/ 2k/ XP era and found it adequate for a layer of security, never having had a virus for all those years (via the internet). The introduction of additional bloat and then being aquired by Avast! killed it for me. Moved to Avast! Internet Security Suite (full version via a bargain offer) for a year after trying the free version. I was dissappointed to find that around 50% of the suite was just unecessary bloat with internal FUD recommendations and constant pestering pop-ups.

Nowadays, I find that the best form of AV is end-user awareness together with firewall rules and the excellent free/ paid malwarebytes products. Lets just say I’m content with what we have now and that I do check out alternatives every couple of months on AV-Comparatives

Rest assured, neither of the previous AV’s will grace our SSD’s / HDD’s again.

NOTE: all AV’s were custom install, never trusted standard installation for anything. I like to know EXACTLY what’s being installing on our PC’s.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Is AVG still a trusted product?
In my opinion, no.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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I just checked out the PC Mag. ratings and found that as of Apr. 14, Avast Free and AVG Free are now the top two, editor recommended antivirus products!  The Zen is gone now and the nagging is bearable and somewhat controllable.

I have the AVG Free and have it set to auto-download new virus signatures, but let me do the program updates manually, which it does.  I just wish it would let me know via the systray icon when a program update is available.  It’s certainly not a perfect world (understatement of the year).

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Boy, did I speak too soon!!  I updated my AVG FREE Program yesterday and everything went as it usually does.  I rebooted and all was good.  I’ve done this many times before.

Well – today I went to scan a file and this is what came up:

Now every time I click on the desktop icon or systray icon that is what I get!  It’s not April 1st so unless things change soon it’s goodbye to AVG!  I’m wondering now if they even still have AVG Free.  Wow the stupid thing still says AVG Free at the top.  Dumb.

 

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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You need a working anti-virus program. Without anti-virus software your computer is at immediate risk.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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This isn’t even AVG’s newest problem, this is a “classic” AVG problem (there is a place if you click once that gives you a no-confirmation upgrade to the trial version).

Back before Avast destroyed all the good parts of AVG (when they bought them out) this and a few other problems were tolerable faults weighed against AVG’s pluses (free, acceptable detection rate, behavior based detection, low false positives, ok GUI — formerly good in 2012, acceptable logging). Now the only good that is left is “free”.

Be sure when you uninstall AVG that you:
uninstall
reboot
run the AVG removal tool (https://www.avg.com/en-us/utilities)
reboot
run the AVG removal tool again
reboot

Sometimes additional runs are warranted, but it’s hard to know when without careful checking.

I do remember at least two instances that went something like this:
uninstall
reboot
run the AVG(2015) removal tool
reboot
AVG(2015) removal tool runs on its own at boot and removes more
run the AVG(2015) removal tool manually — more traces removed
reboot
run the AVG(2015) removal tool — more traces removed
reboot
run the AVG(2015) removal tool — nothing new removed that counts
reboot
run the AVG(2014) removal tool
reboot
AVG(2014) removal tool runs on its own at boot and removes more
run the AVG(2014) removal tool manually — more traces removed
reboot
run the AVG(2014) removal tool — nothing new removed that counts
reboot
run the AVG(2013) removal tool…

I’ll stop there, but I ended when I got to the 2012 tool, followed by manually removing some file/registry traces of the annoying AVG toolbar (which optionally can hijack your homepage and search settings in all browsers). The point is sometimes the removal tool doesn’t get everything on the first run.

They improved the function of the removal tool in the 2016 version (last real AVG), but the GUI was terrible (and also was not screen reader accessible, there were like 12 buttons, none labeled, tabbing to buttons didn’t work)

Even with all that (when installed and configured properly and not malfunctioning or in trial mode) AVG fell into the acceptable (often better) to use if you need/want a free anti-virus. AVG 2017+ (free or paid) is utterly worthless. Even if all the bads/minuses were removed, there are no goods/pluses left, Avast is at fault and I can’t recommend their (existing) product as a result.

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Task Manager shows the Avgui.exe process running, the Security section in Action Center tells me that AVG is protecting my computer, the little icon in the systray indicates that AVG Antivirus Free is on and protection is turned on.  So, I apparently still have AVG Free Antivirus (notice the AVG Antivirus Free in the screenshot), I just can’t access it or run  scans.

I’ve gone through the process (year after year) of uninstalling the older version and then downloading and installing the new version of AVG (2018?)  It looks like I’ll have to do it again this year.  I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to go through all that again!  I’m thinking that I won’t, and go with something else if this kind of thing is going to happen!

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Yesterday my AVG Free corrected the flaw by itself and I now have the correct main dashboard screen back, and can do scans, etc.  I checked and I have the correct update too.  So, at least for now, all seems to be well.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Forgive me for jumping in here, after so much time has elapsed.

We need to keep 1 PC running with Windows XP, because HP never updated their device driver for our HP ScanJet model 5400c .

Quite out of the blue, AVG Antivirus FREE for XP is now causing excess CPU utilization:

one of the core OS processes causing the high CPU usage is “csrss.exe” :

Client/Server Run-Time Services

If I remove AVG Antivirus FREE completely, and re-install it normally, that high CPU utilization disappears, BUT only for one day.

When I do a COLD START the following day, the excess CPU utilization re-appears with the same suspect:  “csrss.exe”

I’ve tried the comparable program from Avast, but it also causes the exact same problem.

AVG Tech Support offered to try remote access, but our policy here does not allow any remote accesses of any kind (too much sensitive information in our databases).

I also tried DISABLING AVG’s automatic update of new virus definitions, but that test did not result in any changes to the high CPU utilization.

At this point, I’ve run out of patience, and testable theories, and I thought I should try mentioning our problem here.

Many thanks for your patience;  my patience disappeared yesterday.

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Try adding csrss.exe to AVG’s File / Folder exception list.

1 user thanked author for this post.

SupremeLaW

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Thanks for that one suggestion.

Will I need to RESTART XP after adding that exclusion?

When I search all of C: on that XP PC, the ATTRIB command finds 3 copies;

fortunately or not, all three are bit-wise identical when compared with the FC command.

Do I need to exclude all three, or merely the one in system32?

C:\Windows\system32\csrss.exe

Because a Google search describes the latter as a core XP OS program, I hesitate to touch it.

Thanks again!

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I added that exception:

*\csrss.exe

and the same pattern still shows in Task Manager:

AVGSvc.exe %CPU + csrss.exe %CPU =

almost 50% of a dual-core 3.4GHz CPU is a LOT of CPU churning!

 

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I use Windows XP offline without an AV of any sort.
No external connectivity at all (isolated) and all data transfers are internal, thouroughly pre-scanned and checksummed beforehand before landing on Bliss!
Although I have had previous experience with Avast and AVG and learnt from it.
(scroll above)

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Charlie, SupremeLaW

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Re:  “all data transfers are internal”

A similar thought occurred to me yesterday:

Our XP PC has 2 integrated NICs, 1 of which is not in use.

I should be able to add an unmanaged gigabit switch

and wire a Windows 10 workstation’s NIC #2 to that same switch.

Then, the XP PC will only see the shared E: partition on the Windows 10 PC and there should be no path from the XP PC to the Internet.

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Microfix

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With no AV, you WILL notice an OS performance increase, especially as I have it installed on an SSD [albeit unsupported on XP] but there are utilities out there to manually trim the SSD every once in a while 😉
I recently fell in love with XP again, no junkware to avoid, deprovision or fuss about etc..nothing gets in the way!

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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SupremeLaW

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good news and bad news:

The bad news is that AVG Antivirus FREE for Windows XP is simply not cooperating:

the “csrss.exe” overhead returns, no matter what setting I try to change.

 

The good news is that I took a chance with other antivirus software that is totally new to me:  PANDA DOME

https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/homeusers/free-antivirus/

The .exe installed perfectly the first time on our Windows XP SP3 PC.

The only thing that caught my attention was the minimal overhead it experiences when copying files from our Windows 10 workstation, over the LAN in our home lab.

When I get more experience with PANDA DOME, I may be able to minimize that overhead by customizing specific settings.

My best guess is that it treats incoming files as a possible threat, and scans each incoming file for malware etc.

Another nice feature that happened automatically was a pop-up window that detected an external SATA drive connected via USB 3.0 cable, when I switched it ON.

I’ve tried to find a User Manual in .pdf format, but still no luck after a cursory search.

One last thing:  the website http://www.pandasecurity.com is laid out beautifully.  They must fully realize that an IT website says a lot about the quality of the software they offer.

So far, so good.  If this software continues to function correctly, it just saved me hundreds of accumulated hours of XP system development.  The host ASUS motherboard continues to run and run without a glitch.

Hope this helps.

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I did a quick test with a Linksys 8-port unmanaged switch.

But, because that switch was not connected to our router, DHCP did not work (of course).

I’ll need to try STATIC IPs on both NICs.

Last time I did that correctly was several years ago, and I frankly forgot the details.

Nevertheless PANDA DOME is working AOK:  see my prior post here today.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

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