Interesting info for people who use AVG anit-virus software

[Cruachan 705]

"And there are a lot of users, myself included, who have been using this free edition for years without any problems or complications and the report holds no special meaning for us either.Less attention should be paid to "numbers" and more attention placed upon one's surfing habits and integration of other complimentary software for protection.......there isn't a single product out there....not one; that can perform to the expectations of some PC owners......and that includes those programs that had the fewest "misses" in the heralded virus Bulletin Report."......I have to agree with you. I switched from Norton AV to AVG in May 2004 and to date have encountered no problems whatsoever apart from the recent updating difficulties which have now been resolved. Based on this I have to say that if the FREE service was withdrawn tomorrow I would be one of the first to purchase the subscription edition.My wife, neighbour and daughter all use AVG FREE EDITION, their surfing habits are quite different from my own yet their experiences are similar to mine.Mike

[victorwest2 0]

>>They must be>>doing something wrong.>>No,they are not doing anything wrong. They may simply use>their computers much more fequently, or visit more 'risky'>sites or install more programs. The risk is proportional to>your exposure to the outside world.>>>Michael J.>WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB>Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2I think "risky sites" is the operative phrase there. :-lol ;-)

[michal 44]

>I think "risky sites" is the operative phrase there. :-lol ;-)In today's world there are few site that are guaranteed to be risk free. Maybe NASA site is risk free ;-)Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

[vgbaron 3,615]

Well, for those who like to believe everything they read - go to:http://www.virusbtn.comand read the comments on AVG ( and many others );Seems like AVG is also a member of their 100% club - meaning it caught 100% of viruses with no false positives.I will stay with AVG and it's auto updates. It works for me.I could give a bunch of testimonial data outlining why I prefer AVG but I'm not their shill and everyone has their own opinion. I do appreciate being made aware of potential problems but it irks me when one editorializes the data to support a position. Just MHOVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[vgbaron 3,615]

>the same trojan horse. No matter what I did, I could not get>either Norton Corporate or AVG to find those.Very possibly a false positive too.Visit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[Guest Larry S]

I'm making a guess here, and if I'm wrong forgive me. I think this may be from the subscription service available here?http://www.virusbtn.com/If this isn't the source, I'd also like to know where the info came from. I don't mind paying for good software, but I don't want to buy something that doesn't work.

[Guest byoung]

I was debating whether or not to purchase the professional version of AVG? IF NOD32 offered a multiple copy discount, I would consider it. You have to buy 5 or more copies to get a discount.What does everyone think?Barry

[Bob Scott 7,720]

We need to keep a fundamental fact in mind, which is that a trojan is NOT the same as a virus.A trojan can be any program...malicious or otherwise...which is introduced into your system under a false pretense. In less than 10 minutes, I can write a very simple program which will overwrite a couple critical system files, then rename the executable "FS9ConfigTool.exe" and send it to a bunch of flight simmers. Any of them that run the program...a trojan because they believe it to be something it's not, will be hating life. And there's no way any protection software could be written to guard against all such trojans.What makes this less than ominous, is that for you to be a victim, someone has to send it to you, and you have to run it. Shame on you for that...A virus (or worm), OTOH, is a much more dangerous thing. A virus is a program that propagates itself to your computer, executes on its own, and takes up residence there, and then uses the (your) host computer to propagate more copies of itself...probably to friends in your address book...before it does whatever evil it's programmed to do. Polymorphic viruses (most of them these days) are written so that they change their own code each time they replicate to elude detection. Finding these little buggers IS possible, because there are ways of trapping the behaviors the viruses exhibit in the process of replicating and propagating themselves. And this is the realm of the antivirus program, not trying to figure out if the recipe program Aunt Mabel sent you is really supposed to be allowed to run when you tell it to.When you yakk on an AV program for not finding some trojan, realize it probably was never intended for that purpose, although the signatures of some widely known trojans may be added to an AV program as an added plus. But change just a couple bytes in the trojan and it's undetectable again...because the AV is looking for either a known piece of code, or behavior indicative of virus activity. A trojan doesn't replicate itself...it relies on some other trusted transport mechanism, generally Billy-Bob sending Bubba a copy of this great little program...and on D-Day maybe it stops being an Anna Kournikova screensaver and erases your HDD for you.Last, it's naive denial to suggest that there's no connection between where you go and what you do with your PC, and what ends up on it. If you're surfing porn sites it'll take about 43.22 seconds (I once heard that 96.645% of all statistics are made up) before you're hosting the electronic version of what you'd get from a public bathhouse in San Francisco during a Duran-Duran appreciation night grope-a-thon. If you're downloading crackz and warez from the hacker sites, you shouldn't be shocked when you discover that the hacked theftware on your system was really a trojan that just sent all your banking and credit card information to some Russian teenage crime syndicate.CheerioBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300

[Guest danowat]

Look Joe, the info I posted was as I recieved it, I was hoping to bring out the fact that AVG is a POOR virus program, as I have personally found out, and many others also.Whether people choose to accept the info, or rip it to shreads thats up to them.I was only trying to highlight the fact that the many people using AVG because its FREE, may be putting themselves at risk.I wont bother in the future.Dan.

[Guest victorwest]

>>>I think "risky sites" is the operative phrase there. :-lol>;-)>>In today's world there are few site that are guaranteed to be>risk free. Maybe NASA site is risk free ;-)>>>Michael J.>WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB>Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2I would consider both Avsim and Flightsim to be completely risk free.:-) Victor

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Dan,From your posts in this thread there is little doubt that your somewhat uncompromising attitude towards AVG's performance has been influenced, quite genuinely, by your own experience and also some others. Equally, you must now be aware that there are many like myself that seem to be getting along just fine with AVG FREE. You have no way of knowing whether you are representative of the majority or whether that statistic rests with me. I would respectfully suggest, therefore, that you should endeavour to tone down your statements rather than couching them in terms that are clearly designed to undermine the confidence of other users of this software.I can tell you now that in the event I was exposed to a single successful virus attack it would not matter what AV software I was using. It would be ditched stat. I have been using AVG FREE EDITION for the past 9 months - now version 7.0.300 - and receive updates often on a daily basis. To date, other than the recent temporary updating hiccup, it has proved utterly reliable and has kept my system free of viral intrusion. Therefore, as far as I can see, there is no valid reason for me to change and, I submit, the same applies to everyone who shares my experience.Regards,Mike

[Guest Id Rather Be Flying]

"I would consider both Avsim and Flightsim to be completely risk free.:-)"You don't spend much time in the forums do you? :-lolCarmine http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/Images/wave.gif

[Guest danowat]

Nevermind.Dan.

[Guest wathomas777]

I appreciate your vigor for protecting us luddites against evil nasties, but you may want to do yourself a favor next time, and go to the source, instead of relying on marketing information provided by the company of the software you are pimping.If you go to www.virusbtn.com and do a search on AVG, you will see that AVG has passed 6 of it's last 7 tests, and the failure in Feb2004 is due in part to the reviewers rushed testing technique. An errata was mentioned on that test regarding this, and the March 2004 review also shows that the items that caused the false positives in Feb 2004 were corrected. It's also fair to note, that the Feb 2004 test was the first test in which AVG 7 was used. Since Feb 2004, AVG has passed every test virus bullitin has thrown at it.Also, the Feb 2005 test is a test of the same OS as the failure in Feb 2004, and AVG passed fine. So in short, AVG has passed for Windows NT, Windows 2003 Server (twice, once for version 6 and once for version 7), Red Hat Linux 9, and Windows XP professional (twice, once for version 6 and once for version 7). Windows 2000 has not been tested since November 2002, and that failure was with version 6.x. Also it looks as if Windows 2003 server has replaced Windows 2000 as a test bed. Also, with the passing of the Feb 2005 test, AVG 7 has passed for every version of windows that it has been tested on (NT, 2003, and XP)The March 2004 review further mentions AVG's traditionally high detection rates. This does not sound like the words of the same people who would write up a table showing AVG missing over 1000 viruses.Yes, Nod32 does have a better track record in passing it's tests, but comparing what AVG did 1 to 2 years ago is irrevelent. Obviously Grisoft has righted their ship and has started putting out consistant results. So before you say that AVG leaks like a seive, do some research on your own, and stop taking the words of the talking heads who's job it is to spin whatever data they can to try and part you and your hard earned money at face value.Since Feb 2004, AVG version 7 has passed the same number of tests as NOD32. The biggest difference is, I haven't had to pay a cent for it.

[Sonar5 3]

Well, That pretty much sums it up, huh?Anyway, I use Avast and am happy with that, and if people are still happy with AVG, good for them. :-)Good Post.Regards,JoeJOIN The AVSIM RTW RACE FLIGHT TEAM****************Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]