Holy crap, Avast...

TechLady

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Client called saying their hard drive was completely full. I know I've said it before, but seriously, I think I've just about had it with Avast. A 400GB temp file? Insane.

avast.JPG
 
And this was on a Windows 7 system. The stuff it's been doing on Windows 10 is even worse. What the heck are they smoking over there in Prague??
 
I dunno...I had to kill it off immediately. But I never set it to do logging or anything of the kind.
 
This is a real shame. Avast and AVG both are the pits. What free AV is a decent choice anymore?
 
Avira, maybe. I put on AVG instead because it's been doing better on tests lately, but Avira is my go-to for Windows 10.
 
Doesn't Avira plague you with pop up windows that you can't turn off? I was sure that it did. Maybe I'm thinking of something else...
 
This is a real shame. Avast and AVG both are the pits. What free AV is a decent choice anymore?

Panda has been keeping high up the list in AV comparatives, but with lots of false positives. And it is the free version that is submitted for testing.

There is the free version of BitDefender, but I have found it to be buggy and annoying
 
Doesn't Avira plague you with pop up windows that you can't turn off? I was sure that it did. Maybe I'm thinking of something else...

does it still? I switched to installing free AVG and uncheck notifications in settings, yeah avast crashed two of my new pc set ups, done with it, even though it works fine on my win 10 machine.
 
I have never had an issue with residential with the combo of Ad Block plus, Mbam paid Mbae free and defender. Now with the reg tweak to enable PUP detection's in Defender it is even better. I have a Ninite icon on the desktop that keeps 3rd party programs up to date.
 
I've have a real problem with just about every free A/V other than MSE (Windows Defender, geeze will they decide what the heck they want to call it?) I know that it now does terribly in the A/V testing, where it was once pretty highly rated. I am not 100% sure that it's really that bad, or if MS has allowed certain specs to degrade in order to appease their "partners". AVG is awful, with spyware add-ons, Avira looks like a virus to my client base, and now Avast is crashing Windows - what to do for the little old lady who's watching every penny?
 
I know, it's a real problem. Avast has gotten more and more aggressive with the pushy popups and noises and warnings and it's driving my clients nuts. I'm going to see if I can get Avira and AVG toned down.

I did try G-Data for a while as they scored really well on tests, but something about it eventually soured me on them and I can't remember what just now.

If anybody has any better suggestions I'm all ears.
 
Panda has been keeping high up the list in AV comparatives, but with lots of false positives. And it is the free version that is submitted for testing.

There is the free version of BitDefender, but I have found it to be buggy and annoying

I am dumping Avast. That said, I am testing BitDefender and it has an option to turn on anti-encryption protection. Well, I tried it and it kept my quickbooks from starting. Quickbooks complained that it could not open the database ect.. . Turning off the encryption deal fixed things. It was a bit annoying as it also would popup about other programs and such asking if I wanted to let them run.
 
I used to use:
Avast for Free.........now trying Panda, after all the Avast issues.
Kaspersky for paid........but now the 2016 version will not work with Sandboxie. My favorite combo for "problem" people.
Really pushed Kaspersky, even my home machines, but had to remove, because I really like sandboxie.
Talked to Kaspersky tech support and was told only option is to remove Sandboxie.
Also, just bought 5 Kaspersky keys from Newegg, only to find out they will only work with 2016 version.
I have several 2014 and 2015 versions installed with sandboxie and running fine, but subscription expired.
Kaspersky said only thing to do is remove old version, re-move licensing info, install 2016, re-configure, etc. etc. all to renew subscription.
WTF........a real PITA, when before I could just plug in a new activation code.
Very frustrating.
 
I've said it in other threads but I've had to quit using Avast in Win10 situations and have turned to Avira (free and paid) instead. It does have pop-ups on the free version but that is the price you pay for "free". Can't blame Avira for promoting while using free stuff.

Avast popups? Never. Set Avast to "Gaming mode" and uncheck sounds. It's the only way I set it up for clients. Stays quiet and in the background but does its job (on non-Win10 machines).
 
I too have had clients complain about Avast being noisy. One client (an elderly lady) thought someone was in her house! I really like the suggestion by Diggs to set it on gaming mode and am planning on trying that on the next system that leaves my shop. I do avoid Avast for the most part because of the issues listed above. I have been using BitDefender free version and thus far haven't had any issues or client complaints. Thanks for the great information!

www.eznetworksolutions.com
 
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