Horror AVG update ballsup bricks Windows 7 An update from AVG on Wednesday night rendered 64 bit Windows 7 systems unstable after it was applied. Several Register readers have been affected by the problem, which leaves machines in a continuous reboot loop. AVG has pulled the problem update (3292) and published an advisory apologising for the cock-up and providing …
I used AVG for years, but AVG2011 is a complete dog! I had to manually remove it after it also got stuck in an infinite reboot loop when updating from the previous version.
The latest update is also buggering up XP SP3 systems, our work PC's AVG system bjorked after the update this morning.
Sorry AVG, you have lost the plot, and Elvis has left the building!!!
It always makes me laugh when 'IT experts' start blabbering on about which security product is the best. It doesn't really matter which one you use, none of them work properly in the real world. Every day I collect suspect files from PCs, and as a test, upload them to virustotal.com and get a very low positive result from the various security scans. Wait 24 hours, and it's a different story, but by then it's too late.
In this case we're talking about AVG Free, so that should be a domestic environment. I can say, as I do this for a living, that 15 minutes is all that's needed to explain to customers how to avoid infection because in 9 out of 10 cases, it's preventable. Expecting a security product to protect you is the biggest mistake, which only encourages users to take risks.
In a business environment you should have in place company procedures concerning computer use that make the employee responsible for their actions. In other words, stuff up you PC by visiting a porn site and you get sacked. Very effective and can be used to control facebook addiction too.
For what it's worth, I prefer Security Essentials too, mainly because it won't con customers into upgrading to a paid-for version and hopefully, Microsoft, will be the last company to false-positive a Windows system file.
I can't stand it, performance sapping, update requesting pain in the arse. I find some common sense and a nice VM for any, er, questionable software sources does the trick. Obviously this isn't a solution for most users though.
But this is another occurrence where I see the AV software causing more havoc than any virus I've experienced. A great one was Norton AV breaking POP3 accounts in Outlook Express (going back probably 6 or 7 years ago) and an AV update crippling all the XP-based tills in a well known theme park. That was a fun day...
No Av is the way to go, yep, but not using your solution entirely. I would venture to add, using a virtual machine of some variant for your internet activities. That way you've only to reboot a clean virtual OS when it all goes tits up. If you keep a clean version available, takes what, 30 seconds.
So long as you do use a virtual machine for internet, there would be no need for firewall either, theoretically. Although of course one may wish to sandbox their virtual machine software as an added precaution, or if they have enough RAM, run it inside another virtual machine of a different make.
Boot an infected machine with a live WinXP CD. If it asks when booting, tell it to enable networking.
Access a free scan-and-clean site, and follow the instructions. You might have to visit more than one site.
After rebooting to the hard drive, if you have an AV program installed, scan with it. If you don't, install one (like others here, I am partial to MSS) and run a scan with it.
If you have a register cleaning program, run it. If you don't, then install one (I am partial to jv16 Power Tools) and run it.
In most cases, you will end up with a fixed machine.
I have stayed clear of AVG since it missed conficker completly. It also didn't scan usb hard drives on access. Glad I stay clear of it. Avast, MSE both seem to be good.
I am sick of this stupid idea of no-antivirus is a good thing. How about win vulns, flash adverts running who knows what code etc ?
If your running any OS you should have AV (cue the *nix fanboi replies).
Its bad practice for any malware/virus' to be on your computer even if they are for another OS.
The fact that MSSE is 'catching more' than AVG suggests you are regularly taking dangerous and stupid risks on your PC.
I run MSSE on both XP and 7 and it has never stopped or found anything. That's because I'm not a moron and I don't visit sites are infested with Malware in the first place.
(For a Second and Third opinion I run Malware Bytes and Super Anti Spyware every couple of weeks - never found a single issue, other than 'tracking cookies' which are not malware anyway).
Your AV software shouldn't be regularly finding anything, unless you are deliberately and wilfully acting in a dangerous manner - in other words, you are a moron.
... or carrying out performance testing to evaluate these things before rolling them out. That's why I was in the beta program, not just of MSSE but of several other security titles (TrojanHunter, ZoneAlarm, etc) and why I have, in times past, been staff editor of a US security website.
You know, there are two sides to every story, and if you check back I did say I ran them on VMs - nothing risky about this at all. A good proportion of the malware was collected and used off-line, which is how most of the comparative tests are done these days.
Now put your name-calling to bed. As noted by others here, even YouTube got spiked by an XSS exploit - play their videos and you got a hidden extra without even going anywhere deliberately.
Can't believe I bit this time...
The latest versions of AVG are Norton-like in their tenacity, like a floater that won't flush. I ended up having to delete folders and run msconfig to stop remaining bits (hidden somewhere on the hard drive) from loading at startup. Awful. I must wipe and rebuild that PC.
I did quite a bit of research into antivirus software a while back. Read a lot of in-depth stuff and test results. My conclusion was that AVG was the best. I'm currently using the free AVG on Windows 7 64 Bit and it works a treat.
However I'm not all that prone to catching a computer virus due to basic cautiousness. If a file is slightly suspicious and returns a false on AVG I'll normally upload it to virustotal just for thoroughness.
Having had issues with AVG ever since the 2011 'update' I was going to do a wipe and reinstall.
Since AVG 2011 arrived it's struggled to connect to the update servers, argues with the Firewall despite manual intervention and AVG's discussions are full of people with sreious issues with the SW.
Yesterday I downloaded the 'remove AVG completely' file and the 'recommended new AVG' release but hadn't got round to sorting it out.
Now I'm not too sure whether to just remove and bin AVG and go for Avast - which I got rid of a while back as it behaved a bit like AVG does now.
Or there's MSE.
I don't really mind whatever I end up with as long as windows stops bloody telling me the latest update is out of date despite me having done a manual install.
AVG has turned in to the bloatware I was escaping from -- bah.
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NON BLOATED AV - a thing of the past?
Posted Friday 3rd December 2010 09:52 GMT
I love reading these comments, however reading about bloated software just makes me laugh...
Pre 2001 - Airport Security:
We always had xray machines,but you could still take whatever you wanted on the plane with you...even people used to smoke on the plane!!! So you could clear airport security very quickly... but we still saw the atrocities and attempts because we weren't secure...
Post 2001 - Airport Security:
X-Ray, Body Scanners, frisking, no liquids over 100ml, check it really is a laptop, security, police, locked cabin doors.... Very cumbersome and time consuming....however very secure or more secure...
So maybe think about it with any AV that you are using, expect it to take a little longer - we're no longer dealing with 16yr old kids having fun....
Avast and Comodo. When they blow up, Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Firewall. There's not a security product out there that can stop all threats all the time. So install what works and have a system restoration plan that fits your needs. Everything else is pure corporate grandstanding and bullshit.
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