AVG antivirus forcing an upgrade from 7.5 to 8.0

[Mitch Drumm]

I just had a popup window tell me that the free AVG version 7.5 will no longer be supported after May 31.

You are offered the opportunity to upgrade to version 8.0 for 5 bucks a year or to a free version 8.0.

I have downloaded the free version, but have not yet installed it.

Has anyone tried the free 8.0 yet and are there any known issues?



As an aside, I also recently was forced into an upgrade to Ad-Aware 2007 and am not amused by it. Does anyone have any recommendations for a free replacement? I'm not sure it is even worth the trouble--in 3 or 4 years it has never identified anything other than tracking cookies.

[Russ Little]

Mitch.
I downloaded version 8 and it wouldn't work with
2000pro.
I also downloaded adware and spybot rejected it.
Its loaded with crap.
Good luck on a replacement, I'll be looking
Russ

[Wiz Feinberg]

There is a lot of confusion being caused by the folks at AVG Technologies, formerly Grisoft. Apparently, a programmer was erroneously told to create and distribute that pop-up notice about AVG Free 7.5 losing support after May 31. The company has rescinded that EOL (End Of Life) date, although it still pops up from time to time. The official date for the EOL for AVG 7.5 is now officially set at midnight December 31, 2008, GMT +1.

The reason for the pop-up and the previous ones that have been occurring over the last month - is to try to generate sales and subscription.

BTW: The cost of a one year subscription to use AVG 8.0 is not $5.00, as mentioned by the OP. It is $54.99 US.

I have tried AVG 8.0 and decided to uninstall it at this time. It slowed some of my applications to a crawl, including all tabs in Firefox. This may have been caused by the optional Link Checker plug-in, which I allowed to be installed. This was a big mistake and I recommend you don't install that feature, at this time. Perhaps later down the line they will reduce the load this new version places on a PC, but for now I have gone back to AVG Free 7.5 and everything is back to where it used to be.

[Wiz Feinberg]

As an aside, I also recently was forced into an upgrade to Ad-Aware 2007 and am not amused by it. Does anyone have any recommendations for a free replacement?

I use and recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, as the best freeware/donation-ware anti spyware program. You can read about it and it's usage on my Blog, which has links to download it from the official website. I write a weekly article about the updates to Spybot's definitions, every week. Beware of ripoffs, like SpywareBot.

[Mitch Drumm]

Wiz:

I have been using Spybot Search and Destroy successfully for several years, along with Ad-Aware.

Do you think SS and D is all I would need and that Ad-Aware is redundant or pointless? The interface on the new version of Ad-Aware is a step backward and the app has yet to catch anything but cookies for me.

[Wiz Feinberg]

I don't use Ad-Aware anymore, for the same reason as yours. I exclude cookies in my Spybot Immunizations and searches for problems, and accept all cookies in my browsers. I do review them manually, from time to time and delete unwanted cookies.

If you use the latest version of Spybot S&D and update it every Wednesday, then immunize, then scan for problems, you won't need Ad-Aware.

I should clarify the fact that Spybot and Ad-Aware are freeware programs that are only updated on a weekly basis, or less often in the case of Ad-Aware. There is no way they can match the detection power of Spy Sweeper or Spyware Doctor, which are commercial and are sometimes updated multiple times in the same day.

[Dale Gray]

How about Avast? I used it some time ago with no problems, but not lately? Dale

[Wiz Feinberg]

How about Avast?

Avast is ok for a freeware anti virus application. In fact, they might be getting a lot more downloads soon, unless AVG fixes the problems causing user complaints, in AVG 8.0.

I would like to emphasize a few key points that define a computer's level of security from external and downloaded threats.

• Any Windows operating system is a primary target of scammers, spammers, hackers, phishers, botnet herders and criminals in Eastern Europe and China.
• All Windows computers require extraordinary measures to protect them from multiple exploits that can come from email, instant messengers, exploited websites, infected thumbdrives, floppies, CDs or DVDs, or hostile Worms traversing the Internet and using TCP/IP to infect vulnerable systems.
• When it comes to anti virus and anti spyware protection, only the best, commercial security programs will truly do the job, as they are updated multiple times daily, to respond to newly discovered threats in the wild.
• You will have to pay for those programs, on an annual basis, or longer. Freeware security programs cannot keep up on a daily basis, as they have no budget to pay researchers and virus/spyware/bot disassemblers to write new definitions on a moment's notice.
• Most users operate as administrators, leaving their computers wide open to take-over by any malware that slips past their defenses.
• People who operate with reduced user privileges are much less at risk from any type of malware. Even though they may acquire it by browsing to a hostile website, or from an infected email attachment, or downloaded file, it cannot infiltrate the operating system, unless they log onto their administrator level account and activate the threat from there.
• Limited and Power Users can be tricked into running a download as an administrator (right-click > Run as), thereby allowing hostile code to take over the computer anyway. These tricks use social engineering and false authority to deceive limited users into escalating their privileges. This is how Windows Vista computers are getting infected, despite running with limited user privileges.

With these things in mind, these are my own recommendations, which I employ to secure my computers.

• Create a decent password for your Administrator and any additional administrator level accounts.
• Operate as a Limited or Power User, switching into your administrator account only when it is absolutely necessary, after first logging off the limited account. Do not browse the Internet from the administrator account. Use it for Windows Updates, defragmenting, disk management, starting and stopping services and for updating, installing and uninstalling drivers and security programs.
• If you use the free version of AVG, or Avast - keep checking for updates every hour or two, in case new definitions are released during the day.
• Mark you calendar to alert you when Windows Patch Tuesday will occur, in advance, for the year. Log off the limited account and onto the administrator account on Patch Tuesdays and update your computers, rebooting as required, then go back and check again for additional updates. Update all security programs and scan before returning to your limited account.
• If you use Spybot Search and Destroy, check for updates every Wednesday and Thursday. Updates are usually pushed out on Wednesdays, but there are some follow-ups pushed out on Thursdays, to fix false positives, or to respond to urgent threats.
• Run complete virus and spyware scans every night.
• Backup your important documents, files and settings, using either Windows Backup, Acronis True Image, or the backup program available to you.

As regards commercial security programs, there are several well known names in competition for your dollars, but I like Trend Micro's Security 2008 (PC-cillin). It features web threat protection to stop your browser from downloading hostile codes, or following code redirects on exploited websites. Additionally, it has numerous daily updates, as needed. The head researcher at Trend Micro is Paul Ferguson and I read his malware blog every day. This company is in the forefront at detecting and responding to zero day threats, especially botnet threats and exploited websites. PC-cillin contains anti spyware detections, saving you the cost of a separate application, unless you want to add one.

For a standalone anti spyware program there are two I recommend: Spy Sweeper, by Webroot and Spyware Doctor, by PC Tools.