Why I Switched from AVG to Avast Antivirus - Comments Page 3

Good call Bob. I've been using Avast since my 1st pc. I've never had a virus infection while Avast was running. The fairly new malware addition is a great addition to their product. I still keep Malwarebytes as a backup program however and use its scan on a regular basis just for fun.

For the most part Bob you have hit the nail on the head. The update invitation by AVG with the switch to the trial version of Internet Security embedded in the update process is a form of trickery. It would be much better if they take more effort to explain the process to their customers. If you are not astute during this process you get set up with a trial version and then asked to pay after the trial period. First point...don't call it an update...it is not an update...clearly classify it as an invitation to upgrade and then explain the parameters associated with doing the upgrade and also the parameters associated with keeping the free version. It is all about communication. Some people will do the upgrade and then many other people will be content to stay with the free version. Anyway, Bob, keep up your good work...I really enjoy your website and your emails.
Best regards,
Richard Christensen
Computer Technician
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Over the years I have used Norton, ESET, Kaspersky, BitDefender, McAfee, Trend Micro, AVG, Windows Security Essentials, and a few others. Since I get Norton 360 free, I use it and it works well. For my PCs where I want something lighter, I was using AVG but now use Avast. I agree Bob. It seems to be easier to install and use. I recently put it on one of my Windows 8.1 machines. Installed smoothly.

Hi ... nice article... I scrapped AVG for the paid upgrade reason too and the problem I have with Avast is that it has erased the desktop icon and the startup [.exe] file for my Photo Editing program even though I said it was not whatever it was claiming it to be when the box popped up as I tried to open it while I had iExplorer open.

Now I will have to reload it and if it does it again .... goodbye Avast.

It's funny you should come out with this article. After your last one about the failure of MSE, I switched to Avast on both my computer and a friend's laptop I was working on. A few days later, I removed it from both computers. My friend's laptop wouldn't even connect to the internet. After I removed Avast and installed AVG, everything worked great. Avast seems to have a lot of bugs in their softwear yet and it's not exactly user friendly.

Great posting. I will try Avast if I can load it to a laptop not connected to the net by downloading it to a flash drive from a PC in the net.

How does Avast work with ransomware? Can it stop it and also the ransomware 2.0?

AVG is the reason why a few years back I switched to Linux, and I have never looked back. That day AVG reported that my system was infected, (I used the paid version regularly updated) and started to delete thousands of files, that evidently weren't infected the day before. I managed to avoid a complete disaster by pulling the cord from the mains. Never again! And never Windows again!

I used AVG for years until a year or so ago with no problems and was quite content. Then AVG just got to be too much of a hassle to update and get to work after that, so I switched to Avast. Thus far, it has been a dream to use, certainly compared to last year's AVG update.

All you need is Microsoft Security Essentials (according to my IT guy at work). I haven't used AVG or any other virus protection for several years now and it's caught more than one thing for me. I've been quite happy not relying I third party. MS security has come a long way... It's all you need.

I used MSSE for about 3 three years after dumping Bitdefender because of its senile ways. But after reading everything about MSSE and being tired of it slowing down my machine while it scanned downloads I decided to go back to Bitdefender because of it's great results. I took advantage of a great deal for its full protection package and although it took a bit of time (and it force-uninstalled Spybot - which was promptly reinstalled!) to tweak (I use Comodo firewall) I think it's fantastic. Since I've installed it on 3 desktops I have to use something else on my laptop and I will now install Avast.

Reading the responses to your article demonstrates quite well why there are so many choices in so many software categories. :-)

Hi all, after reading all comments made, it's fair to say that "nothing in life is Free".
Companies that continually GIVE things away for free! will eventually go "Broke"! Free version's of their software are appetizers which included restriction's and policy agreement's designed to make you buy the complete package!
I have been using the AVG Internet Security Suite for quite a few years now, and it's fair to say that after using the FREE version I decided to support the Company and purchase it in it's full form, along with all the included benefits that came with it.
It is without saying - unfair to expect things for FREE without some type of disadvantage, compared to a payed\purchased version of that same product i.e. I payed for the full product and I receive what I would expect e.g. 1.Product Support 2. Regular Updates (Not only on a Wednesday)3. The option to turn things OFF & ON ( annoying adds and pop ups)4. COMPLETE control of the Product.

I changed to Avast for similar reasons. At one point I simply could not get a new version of AVG to install so I downloaded Avast, which I had seen highly recommended in a magazine, and have never looked back.

Funny - the symptoms you describe when upgrading AVG are more or less the ones I got when I tried Avast! on the recommendation of a friend. I do dislike the trick of pre-selecting the trial version of the paid software; got suckered by that a couple of times and really resented having to back up and reinstall. Still, AVG is the only one of the three or four free packages I've tried that has worked more or less harmoniously with my system. Go figure.

"Avast claims to have the the only boot-time scan in the antivirus market. This advantage allows for detection of sneaky viruses and rootkits that try to load while the computer is starting up"

Antirootkit features were included into Avira several years ago. It does the same work at boot time if you custom install it with "Secure start" option. So I see nothing new here.

There is no universal antivirus tool, so I use at least two - Avira and Malwarebytes. In strange cases some other tools, like rkill, tdsskiller, AVZ, specific tools. Also I remember that Avira detected a couple of missed by Avast! viruses. I'd better keep Avira at my computers and advice it for my friends.

Good article Bob, thank you.

I have been using the well-behaved and friendly Avast! Free for some time now, never had an infection, and find it superb. Avast! has never misbehaved itself and gets on very well with other security programs, like MBAM.

I love the way updates are announced by that lady's excellently modulated and crystal-clear voice!

I switched to free Avast a few years ago, but recently had to pay to keep it. The Lesson: Avast does not remain free.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sorry, but you are off base here. NONE of the free A/V tools (AVG, Avast, Avira, etc.) FORCE you to pay, even if you've used it for years. As I mentioned, there are some tricky upsells, but there's never a necessity to move to the paid version.

A couple of years ago or so I had the same problem with AVG, when I tried to re-register the newest "free" version it kept trying to sell me a paid version. I got tired of trying to outwit it and went with Avast.

Making it hard to re-register was the best gift AVG could give me, because I went and found Avast and now use it very happily.

DanD

I've been using Avast-free for a couple years now, satisfactorily. But just last week, I tried to open a friend's professional site, and Avast prevented opening the site, reporting a Trojan Horse "JS:HideMe-J [Trj]". My friend had her site's webmaster check, and had several other friends open her site, with no problems. I did a little digging and it appears that Avast may report some "false positives" at times?... Beyond me to figure it out... but I can't open her website. Is Avast "over protective" at times? Nevertheless, I'll stay with Avast.

I'm a little confused re the recommendation for Avast. Somehow I got the impression that Vipre was your anti-virus program of choice.