AVG no longer our friend?

[Martinco]

I have also installed Avast and I am impressed !

Very easy to use and if you are running a network it is easy to include a scan on all computers on the network thereby eliminating one PC contaminating the others.

[tec0]

so is it the ISP's fault that AVG is now not an option for you anymore?
Why don't you use ADSL / iBurst / Neotel / etc?

And, Vodadom has (had?) a nightowl thing where if you purchased 1GB, you get 1GB free after hours - which is perfect for updates and stuff

Fact is we pay way too much and the biggest and only real provider Telkom have neglected to install ADSL capability in our aria for the last few years now. Also I find AVG is nagging whenever I use a trainer for a game or something like that. It just became a very unhappy antivirus.

[Cream]

So we spent time today researching the two and our post covered the features and performance of AVG and Avast. Our vote so far is currently 1 all :-)

[AndyD]

Also I find AVG is nagging whenever I use a trainer for a game or something like that....

The new avg has a 'gaming mode' specifically to stop notices and nagging during game play. Have you activated this feature?

Here's a link with more info. http://www.avg.com/ww-en/faq?num=2116

Not suggesting your game is non-genuine but all anti virus applications will give false positives for game cracks which behave as a 'loader' environment type script and are often deployed to circumvent piracy protection which is written into the game. Also some no-cd-cracks and game server emulators can cause the same problem. These scripts would need to be specifically excluded from real time and scheduled scanning.

[tec0]

The truth is I had to crack my original Starcraft to get it working in offline mode. But even then I still feel cheated because the game cost a lot of money to buy and then to crack the damn thing to get it to work was really in bad taste.

But yes I have noticed that AVG sees everything as a fret especially game trainers game mode or no game mode just downloading the trainer is a problem you don’t even get the chance to use it. And it really points to AVG as the problem.

It feels like Microsoft and now AVG is trying to take ownership of my computer telling me what to do as if it is there property. I own my computer I own my software I allow AVG on my system but they just act as if everything belongs to them.

Steam especially has a god-complex about their games when you buy a steam game you don’t even get a finished product you have to download the other half of the damn thing and Thor forbid if you have to format or lose your password.

Really the whole thing actually sucks...

Because of steam I am moving over to PS3. Commuter games are dead as far as I am concern.

First MS gives Errors and blue screens forever nagging about the net, Steam are just a bunch of nerds with a real god-complex problem they think they can screw your wife and you must be happy with it.

But AVG I am truly disappointed with. It restarts after every update almost... it is heavy on bandwidth and it cries wolf every chance it gets.

[Dave A]

I own my software

Most often we just own a licence to use the software

I hear where you're coming from though.

[AndyD]

But AVG I am truly disappointed with. It restarts after every update almost... it is heavy on bandwidth and it cries wolf every chance it gets.

It's a problem with any anti-virus or firewall solution where if you do anything other than very average pc usage you need to train the programs by creating rules, exceptions and setting up a trusted list. It isn't just an AVG problem.

Anti-virus shouldn't require a restart for signatures updates, it just adds these to its database. Unfortunately though it probably would require restarts if changes or updates were made to the core application. All anti viruses work at very low system level so this is unavoidable to avoid operating system instabilities.

As for being bandwidth hungry...look on the bright side, the application is freeware so you're saving a couple of hundred bucks off the bat to sweeten the cost.

[tec0]

Most often we just own a licence to use the software

I hear where you're coming from though.

Ah... I was hoping that someone would highlight the licence. Yes I am fully aware on how licences work what the costs are and on a personal note, customers and users get ripped off. I say this because not a single computer can operate without an OS of some kind right.

So basically the deal is I give you the car but I keep the engine thus you have a nice box but it can’t do anything. Really it is blackmail to a degree because you don’t even get a premium product no... You get a starter addition that is worthless and the list goes on and on.

See this is what happens if you allow a single entity to run the show. They start to make the rules and every rule they make is designed to enrich them and enslave you.

So game designers thought lets go one better and only sell half a product and then force the user to download the other half and force them to become a part of our social network and force them to keep the game designer informed so that the game designer can design patches and if gamer don’t want it then the game doesn’t work anymore. In a word blackmail.

Well there are a lot of gifted people in this world and they are designing their own OS systems Freeware and crack ware to combat this blackmail but these people are branded as criminals by a system that is effectively controlled by blackmailers.

As for AVG being free? It is not really free anymore, sure you don’t pay for your product but if you noticed that when you install AVG it ask it if it would be ok to send out information to a server thus you are providing them when a active real world test subject not to mention a lot of companies like M-web is picking up the bill not to mention Yahoo and a few others

So in a way AVG is paid for by allowing your computer to be test subject and it is sponsored by other companies. But eventually a free bit of software will cost you in bandwidth especially if are on a 3G parasite network.

[garthu]

So it certainly seems from this thread.... AVG 0 - Avast.... score!!!

[AndyD]

You could just set up a virtual machine and just start with a clean slate every few days. That way you can run without anti-virus. End of problem.

[popayetwo]

I use Avast! anti-virus (free edition) and have had absolutely no issues. The file size is around 45mb. Updates are small, quick and efficient.

I'm really happy with it and changed from AVG to Avast! because I found AVG was slowing down my system tremendously and not even picking up everything.

I have been using Avast free edition for 5 years and it really good. Updates are free and fast and usually there are two updates a day, ensuring you have the very latest protection installed. Updates are fully automatic too. I could never understand why anyone would want to use AVG which requires HUGE MANUAL updates which are already out of date when you download them. Change to avast home edition (free) and forget about viruses.

[tec0]

Actually I am running a few Virtual computers for my needs, the reason for posting all of this as a form of protest. Steam is actually selling software that cannot function independently anymore. Now for the rest of the world this is not a problem but for us it matters because our internet is really expensive.

“And yes I am aware of a few “tricks” to bypass Steam’s massif updates”

Microsoft, actively scan there software, with every update you do. It checks that your software are authentic in nature and every Service Pack you use comes at your own Internet expense. Yet they are fully aware of our horribly expensive internet.

The feeling one get is that these developers want us to use their products but at the same time they don’t care if we can actually afford them.

AVG 2011 is now a supper heavy weight with a very heavy bandwidth footprint. It is now sucking the life out of your 3G cap. Again AVG never used to be this heavy in nature.

It is for this reason that one must ask? Why is every software company forcing there rules down on us and we are forced to accept them but they never take our needs into consideration?

It is a really a one-sided relationship and we must just accept it?

They are literally costing us thousand more then what we were willing to spend in the first place. Also how many uncapped ISP's are there?

And do we have access to them?

Before you answer that question have good look at our infrastructure, do ALL South Africans have access to these providers? No probably not and that is why 3G mobile networks are so popular but you don’t see them coming down in cost now do you?

Now software is just adding to the demand for internet and honestly people cannot afford it.

[irneb]

Microsoft, actively scan there software, with every update you do. It checks that your software are authentic in nature and every Service Pack you use comes at your own Internet expense. Yet they are fully aware of our horribly expensive internet.

The feeling one get is that these developers want us to use their products but at the same time they don’t care if we can actually afford them.

AVG 2011 is now a supper heavy weight with a very heavy bandwidth footprint. It is now sucking the life out of your 3G cap. Again AVG never used to be this heavy in nature.

This is as per discussed between Dave A and myself (see posts #12 & #13). Basically 90% of the download size is due to the bloat caused by the "improved" user interface. The actual working part of the entire AVG shouldn't be more than (at max.) 10MB - that's even being conservative. The rest of that enormous download is literally just unnecessary junk to make it "look good".

It is for this reason that one must ask? Why is every software company forcing there rules down on us and we are forced to accept them but they never take our needs into consideration?

They simply don't give a dam: "Who're these guys complaining in SA? So what? They're a miniscule portion of our overall client-base, and nearly everyone in our client base has cheap broadband. So why care about this fraction of a percent?"

Also how many uncapped ISP's are there?

And do we have access to them?

Before you answer that question have good look at our infrastructure, do ALL South Africans have access to these providers? No probably not and that is why 3G mobile networks are so popular but you don’t see them coming down in cost now do you?

Now software is just adding to the demand for internet and honestly people cannot afford it.

Now that's a whole different discussion on its own!

[irneb]

You should see our major programs from AutoDesk. They now stopped posting DVDs - you have to download the upgrades / updates ... all 2 to 8 GB worth.

[irneb]

Just look at what those Brits can get: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/ A whole 15GB for £15/month (including the dongle). That's a "whopping" R170/month. Compare that to (let's say) Vodacom's Standard MyGig 2.3 - with a 2.3GB cap at R450/month.