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AVG antivirus, reviews of it?

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    #2
    Duggy747
    Registered Users Posts: 13,295 ✭✭✭✭Duggy747


    For the past 2 months I've had a lot of people come to me with "User Profile cannot be loaded" error when they try to log in, essentially blocking them from their machine if it was Windows 7.

    The main culprit has been AVG with it happening as soon as people either installed or updated it.

    Even on top of that, I'm not a fan of AVG as it's resource hungry and has a knack for altering settings without letting you know.


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    #3
    Stressica
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭Stressica


    what would you recommend avast or avira? or are there other free ones


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    #4
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Stressica wrote: »
    what would you recommend avast or avira? or are there other free ones
    Avast or Microsoft Security Essentials, either I'd recommend

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #5
    200motels
    Registered Users Posts: 2,604 ✭✭✭200motels


    Panda is an excellent free anti virus.


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    #6
    youllneverknow
    Registered Users Posts: 417 ✭✭youllneverknow


    I prefer to use Avira, its user friendly and simple to use. its also very secure which is most important.
    AVG is hit and miss it can us be great on some updates then the next one might be crap crap.


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    #7
    Mr. G
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 4,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr. G


    Microsoft security essentials and avg free should be fine for the average user. That's what I'd recommend.

    Avast is good too.


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    #8
    Boom_Bap
    Moderators, Music Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,734 Mod ✭✭✭✭Boom_Bap


    Microsoft Security Essentials is my recommend.

    AVG is pretty good, but I found it gets fairly resource heavy after a while, and the reminders to renew or to purchase a full version can get a bit annoying.


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    #9
    mondeo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,670 ✭✭✭mondeo


    AVG unfortunately is really heavy these days and truly slows my machine down quite abit. I'm researching a nice light weight anti virus program. AVG free is full of ads to.


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    #10
    Bog Standard User
    Registered Users Posts: 847 ✭✭✭Bog Standard User


    avg has had it's day... it used to be good but these days its so full of bloatware it is not very good anymore.

    i use avast... have done for years. cant fault it.

    MSE is good but i prefer Avast


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    #11
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Mr. G wrote: »
    Microsoft security essentials and avg free should be fine for the average user. That's what I'd recommend.

    Avast is good too.

    Just to point out you should only ever have one anti virus program installed at once. This doesn't apply to anti malware products generally

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #12
    Duggy747
    Registered Users Posts: 13,295 ✭✭✭✭Duggy747


    I generally find MSE + Adblock Plus to be a good pair which should keep the average person safe, especially on low-end machines.


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    #13
    Stressica
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭Stressica


    hmm confusing stuff, especially since I'm not a techy person, all this malware stuff is like Dutch to me? im deciding between the Microsoft one and avast, which one gives more protection?


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    #14
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Stressica wrote: »
    hmm confusing stuff, especially since I'm not a techy person, all this malware stuff is like Dutch to me? im deciding between the Microsoft one and avast, which one gives more protection?

    Choose one of them only, both provide sufficient protection. Avast has more frequent updates, but that doesn't mean it will protect you 100% either (no anti virus program can claim this).

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #15
    Skill Magill
    Registered Users Posts: 2,572 ✭✭✭Skill Magill


    The Garda virus got through my avast protected laptop, it was an avg boot disc that got rid of it


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    #16
    Stressica
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭Stressica


    going to go with avast I think... just due to general reviews online... just don't want one that slows laptop down???


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    #17
    Skill Magill
    Registered Users Posts: 2,572 ✭✭✭Skill Magill


    Stressica wrote: »
    going to go with avast I think... just due to general reviews online... just don't want one that slows laptop down???

    I still use avast though, it has an option of a boot time scan which I use now n then


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    #18
    Stressica
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭Stressica


    downloading AVAST now... predicted time to download shows over 4 hours :( waah


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    #19
    Freddy Smelly
    Registered Users Posts: 980 ✭✭✭Freddy Smelly


    Skill Magill wrote: »
    The Garda virus got through my avast protected laptop, it was an avg boot disc that got rid of it

    avast blocked garda virus for me

    i am using the latest build of avast


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    #20
    quaidox
    Registered Users Posts: 399 ✭✭quaidox


    Bog Standard User wrote: »
    avg has had it's day... it used to be good but these days its so full of bloatware it is not very good anymore.

    i use avast... have done for years. cant fault it.

    MSE is good but i prefer Avast
    eh.......bloatware???? please elaborate.....i use avg free, and would love to know the bloatware you are referring to here, cheers.:confused:


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    #21
    Mr. G
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 4,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr. G


    Antivirus is only as good as its user. Just because you have antivirus does not mean you will not get a virus. You still need to do scans (or schedule them), and you should not cancel the scans "just because it slows down your pc". You should do a boot time virus scan every once in a while also.

    You should scan unknown usb sticks before using them. Some software automatically scans through them before allowing you to use them, thus helping prevent worms getting on your computer.

    These small steps can help a lot from preventing a virus getting on your computer. Of course there are times when even an advanced user will get a virus, but just installing an antivirus on your computer and not using it will not protect you.


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    #22
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    I'm using Windows 8 and also finding AVG an irritant. Was going to switch to Avast.

    Does anybody recommend Windows Defender seeing as I can't use MSE?


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    #23
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    anncoates wrote: »
    I'm using Windows 8 and also finding AVG an irritant. Was going to switch to Avast.

    Does anybody recommend Windows Defender seeing as I can't use MSE?

    Defender is the new name for MSE in Windows 8. It's basically the same product. Honestly Defender in 8/8.1 and MSE for others is fine for most. Avast does get more frequent updates, but nothing will protect against unknown 0 day exploits, the common cause of most infections.
    Also it's crucial to keep Java/Flash/browsers etc. up to date as most exploits commonly use browser plugins or out dated browsers. Keeping the OS up to date is also important

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #24
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    Skill Magill wrote: »
    The Garda virus got through my avast protected laptop, it was an avg boot disc that got rid of it

    AVG (free version) caught and stopped a Garda virus attempt recently.

    Although I installed Avast on another machine and was impressed that it performed an update check on my software for the latest patches, eg. Adobe products, FoxIT, Java etc.
    anncoates wrote: »
    Does anybody recommend Windows Defender seeing as I can't use MSE?

    No.

    I used to use Microsoft Security Essentials, but will be moving away after this article http://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/


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