Overwritten.net
Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Cobra951 on Wednesday, December 02, 2009, 02:18:57 PM
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Scott's post about Impulse reminded me of how AVG went from a good unintrusive antivirus tool to something I hate. It too had become malware by popping up ads for itself at inopportune times (not that any time is right to do this) like during a full-screen game (which would dump me back to the desktop). Someone figured out how to kill that, but nothing cures the ever-growing tentacles all over my system infrastructure. The last straw is this avgrsx.exe, a process that can't be terminated in task manager, and with good reason. All network traffic was somehow redirected through it, so it must run or there is no network connectivity at all. I found that out by blocking it in the firewall, resulting in no internet until I removed the block. I did that because I suspected that it was allowing several apps on my system to phone home, even though I specifically have them blocked in the firewall. For example, Winamp 2 was popping up a window saying an update is available every time I launched it.
I have a very simple old firewall, Kerio/TPF 2.15. I like simple. Simple can't be tricked. It blocks absolutely everything I don't specifically allow. The problem here is that in order for everything to work with AVG installed, I need to allow avgrsx.exe access to the network, and since *it* has so much control over what comes and goes, *it* nerfs the firewall by deciding what apps and other processes talk through *it*. Piece of shit!
So now I've uninstalled AVG for good. Lo and behold, Winamp no longer tells me about any updates. IE doesn't work unless I allow it TCP access (as it should be). Take this as a heads up if you use or plan to try AVG.
Any other suggestions for a free, simple AV? A passive app that I launch when I want to scan something would be ideal, not that I think anyone is making these anymore. (Dammit.)
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Avira or Avast. Also check your PMs.
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Yea I've been using Avast for about a year now (was previously using AVG). AVG was fine when I was using it. Not sure why I switched, but I'm glad I did now.
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Aliens vs Gnomes.
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I haven't used any antivirus for over a year, with no problems whatsoever. I do a periodic virus scan, but I never run one in the background. I have FF set up to allow nothing through I don't want, so it's just a matter of watching what I download.
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I haven't used any antivirus for over a year, with no problems whatsoever. I do a periodic virus scan, but I never run one in the background. I have FF set up to allow nothing through I don't want, so it's just a matter of watching what I download.
That usually goes a lot further than anti virus software, though the software can still be helpful. I've known lots of people who filled their computers with viruses (virii?) and shit even though they have some form of antivirus installed.
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I haven't used any antivirus for over a year, with no problems whatsoever. I do a periodic virus scan, but I never run one in the background. I have FF set up to allow nothing through I don't want, so it's just a matter of watching what I download.
That's a pretty naive view. There are lots of viruses and other malware that you can pick up just by browsing the web (usually through page ads). Some of them don't reveal themselves and instead operate silently in the background.
It's never been as bad as it is now. I'm seeing 1-2 virus infections weekly at this point. In most cases, AV software was installed and present and searches of their browsing and e-mail history shows no shady sites visited or suspicious e-mail.
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I just use Windows Live Defender. Free and apparently good.
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That's a pretty naive view.
No viruses, no bullshit program in the background to slow me down. I love it.
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I have always been happy with McAfee.
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Yeah, AVG turned into something ugly. I actually took it off and haven't had anything since, but I really should. Are Avira and Avast both free?
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I don't know anything about Avira, but Avast is free.
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That's a pretty naive view. There are lots of viruses and other malware that you can pick up just by browsing the web (usually through page ads). Some of them don't reveal themselves and instead operate silently in the background.
It's never been as bad as it is now. I'm seeing 1-2 virus infections weekly at this point. In most cases, AV software was installed and present and searches of their browsing and e-mail history shows no shady sites visited or suspicious e-mail.
That does concern me, but neither can I have something on my old system with 5 processes running (no joke), taking gobs of memory, slowing it down and even circumventing my firewall. I have Firefox set up to warn me whenever anything tries to install something. I don't want to be afraid of some boogeyman here, so what kind of virus is it that can end up in my system simply by browsing the internet? I also have adblock plus running, and I seldom if ever see a page ad.
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Cobra, you should get NoScript if you don't have it already. It's a wonderful addon.
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Done! Thanks. It will take a while to get used to, but it seems to be a nifty security tool, not to mention anti-annoyance.