AVG - the old gray mare

[hafa]

A bizarre reference to an old folk song (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Gray_Mare) seems apt here.

Just removed no fewer than 14 viruses infesting 1900 file objects on yet another machine that was supposedly protected by AVG. Latest version, all updates in place. Machine couldn't even boot. The user plugged in several USB drives that were infected over the course of a week.

This is the worst instance in a series of recent service calls we're receiving with increasingly frequency, all related to AVGs inability to catch common viruses in normal usage situations (V.S. those who use PTP and surf questionable sites). We've been advising everyone to switch from AVG since August, but the message is now being pounded home with this rash of infected machines.

Folks at OCF are savvy enough to where it's not much of a direct threat to them, but if you have relatives, friends, customers or colleagues using AVG, you may wish to advise them to switch to a more effective AV ASAP.

[EarthDog]

Yep, not known to be in the top for detection rates... Avira though, different story.

[Marshmallow64]

I use to use AVG, then after some research I have been using Avira now for a litte over a year. I strongly promote Avira over AVG.

[Diggrr]

I used to use AVG, until my third heavy infection left no options but to blast it and reinstall windoze.
Went out and bought Kasperky's and have been quite happy ever since.
I won't even suggest AVG to anyone anymore because to me it's worthless (I got what I paid for, no?).

[torin3]

And for some reason, one of AVG's services just started cutting my SMP folding production in half, taking up about 27% of my CPU's load.

I disabled the service, but yeah, thinking about switching.

[Lavacon]

Yep, not known to be in the top for detection rates... Avira though, different story.

How would you say Avira compares to avast? I switched from AVG a long time ago to Avast and have had no problems at all. I was curious how Avira was as it was one of the AV I had wanted to use with Win7, but, at the time wasn't fully compatible.

[EarthDog]

I will have to dig up the list... I dont recall.

[silent bob]

I was running Avast for a long time , then switched to AVG for a short time ( 2 months) and am currently using IO bits Security 360 and am liking it so far . I do miss the google check marks of AVG , so I choose to install AVG on customers computers .

[Marshmallow64]

Last I heard Avira is still the leader compared to Avast in virus detection. Think I read this in a review half a year ago.

[EarthDog]

Avira has a ad that pops up asking you to buy it, besides that no probs. with it.That can be removed with a registry tweak. ;)

[don256us]

I've been using, recommending and selling AVG for several years now because that's the product I seem to have the best luck with in protecting my own computers. I hate McAfee because that's what we have at work and it seems that every virus out there gets through. Perhaps just bad luck.

However, based on this thread, I decided to start a re-evaluation of the antivirus products out there. In looking at several reviews, there is only one truth that I can find. No antivirus is perfect.

Anything beyond seems to be a matter of luck. To this point, as the reviews I saw were all pretty close, the best product is all relevant to the user of the product. There are certainly some that are much worse than others but those at the top are all very similar in performance.

To this end, I am going to stay with AVG for now.

The best advice for any user is to pay attention to the sites you are going to. This advise will serve nearly as well as anything else.