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General discussionAntivirus (incl. paid) recommendations - since Avast is becoming a piece of malware(100 posts)(100 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 14, 2018
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Lexor: What Avast components do you have installed?
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ZFR: I only had the basic shields or whatever it's called, initially. The problem is, the other components seemed to have installed themselves with some update. Silently.
Well, I always have "auto update" turned off for program itself, it is "on" only for virus definitions.
Maybe here is the problem.
Posted January 14, 2018
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Lexor: Well, I always have "auto update" turned off for program itself, it is "on" only for virus definitions.
Maybe here is the problem.
I do so too. Some updates it asks and some it doesn't.
Posted January 14, 2018
So I was also a not too happy Avast user.

To defend Avast a little, I went through its settings and set them right again and it is much better now if not as good as it should be imho. Not the only program (looking angrily at you Windows 10) that changes settings with subsequent updates grrr. I will stay on but probably not renew when that time comes around.

Thanks to ZFR for making this thread and thanks to all who participated and made us all wiser.
Post edited January 14, 2018 by Themken
Posted January 14, 2018
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Lexor: Well, I always have "auto update" turned off for program itself, it is "on" only for virus definitions.
Maybe here is the problem.
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ZFR: I do so too. Some updates it asks and some it doesn't.
That's weird then - I've haven't noticed such "anomalies".
Have to tried to reset all settings to factory defaults?
Maybe I missed some buggy update which caused your problems?
What OS are you using? Maybe it's some problem connected to OS+AV cooperation?
Posted January 14, 2018
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ZFR: I do so too. Some updates it asks and some it doesn't.
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Lexor: That's weird then - I've haven't noticed such "anomalies".
Have to tried to reset all settings to factory defaults?
Maybe I missed some buggy update which caused your problems?
What OS are you using? Maybe it's some problem connected to OS+AV cooperation?
Win 7 Professional.
Posted January 14, 2018
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ZFR: Win 7 Professional.
Sigh, that shouldn't be a problem then...
Posted January 14, 2018
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ZFR: OK, after reading this and a bit more googling, I think I'll try Kaspersky first instead of BitDefender.

I just don't want silent removals and the "we know better what's good for you...". I don't mind false positive, but it should be like:
AV: Threat Detected.
User: Please ignore this file.
AV: OK.
In that case you might have to do some tinkering with the default options.

Last month I was trying to download something from an old bundle I bought from Strategyfirst. Long story short, instead of providing a direct link the installers, they want you to use a 'GetRightToGo' downloader for each game which is supposed to connect to a third party server and get the actual installers from there.
So I grabbed the downloader I needed, but as soon as it started Kaspersky thought it was malware and quarantined the damn thing before I could even see what was going on. The popup notifications were just too fast for me to read and I couldn't (and STILL can't) find any settings to make them last longer or wait for my imput. If there are any, I would really like to know. Eventually the only workaround I found was to whitelist the file.

But in all fairness, Kaspersky is usually not that aggressive and this was an exception rather than the norm. It seems to delete/quarantine files only in extreme cases. Haven't had any other relevant issues with it over the years, apart from the "safe money" browser not working correctly most of the time. It always had some kind of incompatibility with my browser/addons/websites. I couldn't use it for well over a year at some point, but then again, it looks like it's more stable now. Hopefully it will keep working.
Posted January 14, 2018
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ZFR: it is "on" only for virus definitions.
Just as a FYI, that was our issue with AVG. Went a few months without anyone noticing the sig files weren't updating.
Posted July 14, 2018
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ZFR: I was a happy Avast user since around 2005. Few years ago pop-ups started appearing "OMG! Your boot time is 15 secs. There are 836934 problems causing slow-downs. Buy Avast Pro to solve them". OK, this is slightly annoying. I don't mind ads but I hate those kind of scare-crap tactics. Still I decide to keep Avast...

Then, few months later Skype starts mysteriously opening up on start up. I check Skype's settings; make sure all autostarts are disabled. Check the registry.. nothing. It still happens. Then by chance the culprit is found: Avast's recent update has enabled an option to automatically scan and update all my installed software. I'm really pissed now, because I like updating my software myself, and I don't like Avast enabling this option without asking me first.

The final straw however was when I noticed that Avast started adding (again - without me enabling this option) a "scanned by Avast www.(avast's address).com" to all my outgoing emails. It took me time to find this option to disable it, but it seems Avast keeps enabling it from time to time when it updates. Now a program that tries to spread itself by attaching to a user's outgoing email without his knowledge is almost textbook definition of malware; something that Avast should be protecting me from.

And other bad practices of Avast include:
_ Silently deleting some files it thinks are malware, without any warning, despite having my settings set to "Ask me first". It's then makes it as difficult as possible to get to the Virus Chest to restore those files.
_ Auto-updating (program updates; not virus definitions), despite having options set to "ask me first". It often does ask me, but some updates are still made without my approval.
_ Attempting to install Google Chrome when auto-updating; you have to remember to opt out.
_ Installing, by default without asking me - not even an opt-out, features that I never wanted, like some idiotic browser addons.

So sadly, because I really loved it how it was initially, this means that after spending more than 10 years with it, Avast has to go.
I'm not going to defend Avast in any way, but I'd like to update my experiences - they are slightly different.

I've started using Avast at the same time as you. For a long time I was using Windows XP and there weren't any problems with that version. Recently I needed to upgrade my PC so I had to upgrade my system as well (Windows 7 now) and I needed to upgrade or even change a lot of software I used to use.

I've read a lot about "how bad new version of Avast is" so I did a lot of web research myself, later I installed it on virtual machine to test all options and then installed it again on (so called) "my own test installation of OS". After that I had noted down all options I should turn on or off. Since that time I have not experienced such problems like you described.

I know, maybe it was a lot (too much?) of work (most users will not do that), but.. well, it worked for me.
Post edited July 14, 2018 by Lexor
Posted July 14, 2018
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ZFR: Does anyone have any experience with it? Any other suggestions?
Listen to me - truly I'm being deadly serious

Use windows defender - or Microsoft security essentials (they are the same thing)

Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit - stops hackers and malware in it's tracks (doesn't cause slowdown) it's always in BETA but it's perfect.

Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit - stops trojans and Rootkits in their tracks. (Again No slowdown)

Malwarebytes Anti-Ransomware - it's does sacrifice a teensy weensy bit of PC resources (BUT no slowdown) I love using it, It stops hackers Ransoming your PC.

MB Anti-Exploit Direct Link

MB Anti-Rootkit Direct Link

MB Anti-Ransomware

review of MB Anti-Ransomware from bleeping Computer Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkUhGlXnRg
Post edited July 14, 2018 by fr33kSh0w2012
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAntivirus (incl. paid) recommendations - since Avast is becoming a piece of malware(100 posts)(100 posts)
(100 posts)