Author Topic: Virus protection problem? (Read 9067 times)

*Ubbie Max* · « **on:** December 28, 2009, 06:45:11 PM »

I was subscribed to AVG Free for a couple of years & recently downloaded the latest version (9). The other day AVG showed that the Virus protection (& other stuff) was outdated so, I immediately did an update. This did not work so I uninstalled AVG & re-installed it. It then worked fine until, I rebooted the computer the next morning. Again AVG showed that the Virus protection (& the other stuff) was outdated.

I rang a mate who is a computer techo & he came around to fix it. He had to delete a particular file in Registry keys (whatever that is) & then it worked fine, until this morning when the same problem occured. My mate said the problem is with AVG not with my system

My mate is now away so I uninstalled AVG and, based on advise from a couple of people (including my computer wiz mate), I installed Avast, another free anti virus program. this one is working fine & it picked up a worm during it's first scan. AVG never picked it up.

I'm curious, has anyone else had AVG Free anti virus problems?

*smee* · « **Reply #1 on:** December 28, 2009, 06:52:46 PM »

yes , I mentioned it last week when Barny was having probs , I was also having probs with the ridiculous amount of time the scans were taking

low-enghooi · « **Reply #2 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:05:57 PM »

Try this AVG uninstall / cleanup utility:

http://download.avg.com/filedir/util/avg_arm_sup_____.dir/avgremover.exe

Then reinstall AVG.

http://forums.avg.com/us-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=24401

I stopped using AVG a while ago. IMO, it is best you go for the paid version, be it AVG or other program. Usually free version come with limited feature and no technical support. Not good if you do a lot of online stuff.

*Ubbie Max* · « **Reply #3 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:16:12 PM »

What anti Virus program are you using now Smee? I guess it would be a Smee Enterprises program guaranteed to smite all evil viruses & other stuff as well.

low-enghooi. what program do you use?

*smee* · « **Reply #4 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:22:08 PM »

I just spray mine with dettol now ... that kills all viruses

*CountessA* · « **Reply #5 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:26:10 PM »

I loathe the free AVG, primarily because of how bloated it is in comparison with other anti-virus software. It can take up your computer's processing resources in a truly monstrous way.

I switched to ESET NOD32 with my new computer, and could not be happier. It's lean and mean - mean to viruses, that is.

*Ubbie Max* · « **Reply #6 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:34:36 PM »

Countess. Is ESET NOD32 a free anti virus program or does it cost? If so approx how much? I'm not trying to be stingy but, if I buy a program I want a disk. Some online programs don't supply a disk.

*Ubbie Max* · « **Reply #7 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:35:42 PM »

Hey Smee. Have you tried Napalm? Napalm destroys all things evil!

*smee* · « **Reply #8 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:36:54 PM »

I love the smell of napalm first thing in the morning

*Ubbie Max* · « **Reply #9 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:42:15 PM »

Yep, your right Smee, no home should be without some.

low-enghooi · « **Reply #10 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:56:53 PM »

I use Symantec Endpoint. Not really good in fighting the spyware but is OK for me. Have tried Kaspersky and Panda. It cost about A$15 - $20 per annum per single user. Never tried ESET NOD32, but people are happy with it.

These software are excellent when your system is still clean. When system is infected, then you may need few more thing, including the very popular HijackThis.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #11 on:** December 28, 2009, 08:08:02 PM »

http://www.eset.com.au/store/eset-nod32-antivirus-new-license-/eset-nod32-antivirus-standard-edition-new-license-1-year/prod_12.html

Price is $34.95 for the download edition (which you can burn onto CD as well as install - in fact, I always recommend that people burn their downloaded programme onto CD in case something goes catastrophically wrong with your computer).

If you want the CD edition to be posted to you, it's $44.95 including postage.

tellomon · « **Reply #12 on:** December 28, 2009, 08:10:40 PM »

cueperkins · « **Reply #13 on:** December 28, 2009, 08:19:06 PM »

These software are excellent when your system is still clean. When system is infected, then you may need few more thing, including the very popular HijackThis.

Howdi Low....can you give a bit more detail on this?

*Brum6y* · « **Reply #14 on:** December 28, 2009, 09:42:43 PM »

I haven't used HijackThis!, but I've read posts from a lot of people that have.

HijackThis! is a tool which scans through your computer and gives a detailed report of all the relevant bits and pieces which a savvy computer brain (person) can check through and identify nasty bits.

Action to fix this is a subsequent action and will need to be worked out separately.

As Low said, it is very popular and I get the impression it is almost an industry standard tool, especially when the content and layout of the report has become as comprehensive and familiar as it has.

low-enghooi · « **Reply #15 on:** December 28, 2009, 10:10:45 PM »

Quote from: *Cupie* on December 28, 2009, 08:19:06 PM

Howdi Low....can you give a bit more detail on this?

Usually the virus (includes spyware, malware, adware, etc) will disable the Taskbar (disable Ctrl-Alt-Del), block access to popular anti virus software website, ie www.symantec.com, and www.microsoft.com. It usually is too late to fight with say, Symantec Endpoint. Most likely, the virus has already disabled the anti virus software. You need other tools to tell you what is running process in your system, and you need HijackThis.

The beauty is, you can kill all the running process belongs to the virus. Sometimes a simple deletion of some registry keys solve the problem. Otherwise depending on what virus you found, you may need few more tools to kill it.

Another anti virus software I like: http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/home-home-office/vipre/ This software works when the Symantec Endpoint fail.

This is free and good: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Only use these when your system is infected. While they never give me any problem, it doesn't mean you will experience the same thing. Sometimes you may see odd problem after applying these. So before you do anything, make sure you have backup all your important data files and Windows registry.

*Ubbie Max* · « **Reply #16 on:** December 28, 2009, 11:06:17 PM »

Incoming status report! Avast seems to be going OK. My mongrel computer appears to be operating faster.

*barny* · « **Reply #17 on:** December 29, 2009, 08:33:19 AM »

Quote from: *smee* on December 28, 2009, 06:52:46 PM

yes , I mentioned it last week when Barny was having probs , I was also having probs with the ridiculous amount of time the scans were taking

Smee is right as far as he goes...

But my problem last week was not due to AVG.... In fact AVG e-mail help was very good and fixed my problem effectively and quickly.. And I use AVG 9.0 Pro (paid for version)

lacey · « **Reply #18 on:** December 30, 2009, 08:59:00 PM »

I have been using AVG for years and years and as far as I know, I have never had a virus it didn't pick.

I tried a few others in the past, including the infamous Nortons (which was absolutely rubbish) but have always come back to this.

i installed avast on an old PC and it scanned everytime the PC started up and took over 1 hour to scan a 100gig HDD. So I'm sticking with what I like.

low-enghooi · « **Reply #19 on:** December 30, 2009, 11:30:25 PM »

Quote from: lacey on December 30, 2009, 08:59:00 PM

I have been using AVG for years and years and as far as I know, I have never had a virus it didn't pick.
...
infamous Nortons (which was absolutely rubbish)

Allow me to say something fair about Norton (now Symantec). Compared to the old Norton Antirvirus, I am quite happy with the Symantec Endpoint Protection. To be fair to Norton (Symantec) antivirus, they really is dealing only with virus. And no spyware, adware, malware. In this regards, they lose out to the competitor who does cover a bit of everything.

Few months ago, one of the computer at work was infected with a virus originated from Indonesia, and none of the popular antivirus software could detect it, that including Symantec, AVG and a few more. There is only one (at that time) that detect and kill the virus. The name is not very popular in this forum. www.norman.com

Also at work (yes we have many stupid computer users who just are too good to introduce new viruses to us), I have come across many interesting virus that AVG fail to detect (or sometimes detected, but not cleaned.) Given time and the virus sample, sure AVG can detect and clean it. But at that very moment, it fails.

Virus is a tough business. Big or small, good or bad, I respect each and every one of them. Without them, we can throw away the internet.

low-enghooi · « **Reply #20 on:** December 31, 2009, 01:32:13 AM »

Sorry Lacey.

I have a lot of respect for the man Peter Norton. Back in the days of DOS (late 1980s), a friend was crazy to find out about programming with DOS interrupts. We sure have learnt a lot from his books.

He sold his company to Symantec in 1990. Sadly Symantec has spoilt his name.

Sorry for being off topic.

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Author Topic: Virus protection problem? (Read 9067 times)

cueperkins