AVG Free, Nothing But Trouble Now.

I don't know if anyone else is seeing issues with the latest version of AVG but I'm at the point now of un-installing it and never recommending it to anyone. I have this running on the 7 or so computers in my house and the countless computers I have built for family and friends. I have been getting phone call after phone call with updating issues with this software. It seems like when the computer is turned on the software tries to update before the system has had a chance to establish an internet connection and it obviously fails. I have seen this problem myself since V8.0.

Well, no big deal it is free so I just tell them to manually update and most of them end up clicking on the "AVG Internet Security" upgrade and of course it costs money so yet another phone call to me!! I tell the "No, click on the update manager and just update the free version. I've been through months of this and the phone calls started to slow down and then the last couple of days everyone is getting update failures due to a missing .bin file. I just got this today myself, this is too annoying now and I'm dumping this bogus software and trying something new. Hell, I would rather pay for protection than use this software anymore. I have used this for a long time now and never had any issues with it until version 8, not sure what they did but it sucks now!

/Rant

I feel your pain.I just uninstalled it about 2 weeks ago because of repeated update failures.I almost never shut my pc off so the updates would fail even with an established internet connection.I'm freeballin at the moment until I decide on what to use next.

Let me take this opportunity to recommend the FREE anitvirus software I've always preferred over AVG, AVAST!
http://www.avast.com

Can't say I have this problem. I did when 7 was ended and they forced the 8.0 upgrade but once that was one, it worked great.

Dykslee,

Running free AVG V8 (with update from V7) on an older Intel P4 with XP Home, no specific problems with V8 or its updates. I have no explanation for your problem. I update manually.

Go to the update manager and set the update to occur at a specific time interval, e.g., daily, at a specified time when you'll be assured to be connected to the internet.

Also, go to tools>advanced settings>virus database update schedule>Other update settings, check "Run the update again as soon as the internet connection is available.

You may wish to check your router/LAN cables/machine settings as well, since the connection failed message only occurs if there is indeed no connection to the specified update servers.

IMHO, AVG's very flexible programmable automated updates are one of its strong points.

I quit with AVG a few months ago, just got too irritating. I use Avira instead now, the only annoyance I have with it is the 'upgrade to paid version' ad it occasionally shows when you first boot the machine.

FudgeNuggets said:

Let me take this opportunity to recommend the FREE anitvirus software I've always preferred over AVG, AVAST!
http://www.avast.com

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Though I am not a fan of the softwares layout. I can also say this is a good alternative to AVG.
Once it is setup to your liking. It is not all that bad. The thing I do like about it. IS it does not mark up your outgoing mail like AVG. That slider thing that seems to pop up every boot. Can be disabled. Though it is sort of buried in some dialogs. It does offer some nice features and is not all that bad for being free.

Overall, it is an easy recommend for this free package as an AVG alternative. Even though I am not really all that fond of it. ( I don't like the layout of it.)

I dumped AVG when they forced the upgrade to that bloated, crappy version 8 myself. I use either Avira or Avast on all my computers now and haven't looked back. Dump that bloated, resource hogging piece of wasted programming called AVG and get one of the ones I'm using. Of the 2, Avira seems to use the least resources.

Ya, I've been getting update failures often as well. I took muddoctor's advice and switched from AVG to Avira. Xp boots much faster now. I didn't realize that AVG was as taxing as it apparently is.

I wonder if Avira generates a WARNING for every tracking cookie it finds. I always felt that was more fear-mongering than protection.

muddocktor said:

I dumped AVG when they forced the upgrade to that bloated, crappy version 8 myself. I use either Avira or Avast on all my computers now and haven't looked back. Dump that bloated, resource hogging piece of wasted programming called AVG and get one of the ones I'm using. Of the 2, Avira seems to use the least resources.

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Hah, I just went from Avast to AVG. In my experience, Avast used more resources than AVG, and Avast missed issues that AVG picked up. Then again, I'm overly cautious, having been duped by the anti-virus industry decades ago that viruses and other threats are actively looking to kill my computer.

I'll give Avira a shot, but when I feel like shelling out a few bucks, I'm going to pick up Nod32, which I've heard great things about.

I use AVG for my laptop, but that's only b/c it doesn't get much use and the program was free. I wouldn't trust it on my desktop, I have Nod32 right now.

No anti-virus program is perfect, you just have to be carefull when online.

Have you tried bit defender? I have had good luck with them when it found more viruses and trojans than AVG had, and this is the free version. I eventually bought a standard license and it's great.

I'd look into that.

never had a problem with avg before

no1stunna said:

never had a problem with avg before

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Most folks don't. We sell 300+ licenses per year, on average, and have 0 problems reported. That's a very favorable ratio.

The widespread availability of free AV software often encourages folks to switch, rather than seek help for a given annoyance.

I've never encountered anything like this on AVG FREE, mines always running 24/7 virus free.
I've used avg free for about 3-4 years now.

I've been without power and internet since Friday morning thanks to the Ice storm that hit the north east friday!! It looks like it might be another week or so before they fix the problems. I'm going nuts without my connection to the outside world! I'm at my mother's house right now getting my internet fix.

Well, thanks for the replies and suggestions. Just to reply to some of the suggestions, I have tried different settings with the same results and it's not a LAN problem because I've had several people calling me with the same type of problems from different locations. 3 of them are having the .bin problem and I haven't found a fix for that yet. It's not like I haven't tried looking for fixes for the problems (hafa ) it's just starting to get real annoying and I'm not having any luck with the problems. Like I stated before, I have used AVG for years and have always love it but since this last version something went south.

No problems here.....Never had any problems in the last 4 years I've been using it.

dylskee said:

It's not like I haven't tried looking for fixes for the problems (hafa ) it's just starting to get real annoying and I'm not having any luck with the problems. Like I stated before, I have used AVG for years and have always love it but since this last version something went south.

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Hey, dylskee

Please try this:

Step 1:

Check to see that you're running AVG 8.0.200 by going to help>about AVG. If you are, please skip ahead to step 2. If you're not, Go to the update page, and download the first file, Windows: 8.0.200. Next, install this file manually via tools>update from directory (specify the directory that you downloaded to).

Step 2:

Go to the update page, and download the last 2 files, placing them in the same folder. Next, install them manually via tools>update from directory (specify the directory that you downloaded to).

Once these updates are in place in v. 8.0.200 the automatic updater should work correctly. If you've done this already and the problem persists, please let me know and we'll escalate this issue for you.

hafa said:

Hey, dylskee

Please try this:

Step 1:

Check to see that you're running AVG 8.0.200 by going to help>about AVG. If you are, please skip ahead to step 2. If you're not, Go to the update page, and download the first file, Windows: 8.0.200. Next, install this file manually via tools>update from directory (specify the directory that you downloaded to).

Step 2:

Go to the update page, and download the last 2 files, placing them in the same folder. Next, install them manually via tools>update from directory (specify the directory that you downloaded to).

Once these updates are in place in v. 8.0.200 the automatic updater should work correctly. If you've done this already and the problem persists, please let me know and we'll escalate this issue for you.

Click to expand...

Nice, thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try and let you know how I make out.