Antivirus Experiences: The Good and the Bad
Avira, and AVG (Anti-virus Grisoft): some things I've found out about the two.
Earlier today we got a call from Blue Ridge Surgical Association with a virus on their computer. This is not something people want to experience, that's for sure. Viruses are a too common problem today, and with so many antivirus protection programs out there, it can be frustrating to actually find one that works for you, as well as for your computer. Blue Ridge Surgical Association was using AVG anti-virus as their detection program. AVG is indeed a popular anti-virus protection program used by many people. It's loaded with features and has a great appearance.
AVG performed a scan without a single virus detection. However, it was plain to see there was a problem. Our preferred antivirus program, Avira Antivirus, was installed and updated then the standard system scan was started. When the Avira scan completed, 8 viruses were detected. Avira completely removed all of the detected viruses. AVG Antivirus had all current virus definitions; this doesn't mean that a future AVG's definition won't detect and remove these viruses.
It's not for me to say which one of these Antivirus protection programs are the best to use. I can simply state opinions from what I have seen. I've heard people say that once AVG is installed on your computer it can be a bit difficult to remove. Avira appears to be rather user-friendly; that is a big plus to me. Unless you're a computer genius, more user-friendly programs (whether they be antivirus programs or antispyware programs) seem to be a lot less stressful to use.
Whichever antivirus program you choose, however, it always very important to keep your program configured with the latest updates. This will help maintain maximum protection for your computer. With viruses remaining such a threat today, an Antivirus program with the latest updates offers a much safer Internet experience.
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Fake Anti-Virus
I wanted to pass this along because I was almost fooled tonight. Be careful and know your gear.
I was surfing Amazon of all places, and then somehow something "burped" and I was thrown into what was a very well done trojan. It spun up and looked like Windows AntiVir and AVG had both found a ton (800 some) infected files. And also threw me into a screen that looked like my computer- and some very well formated virus information.
The keys for me that this was fake were:
0. How could I get infected that fast. This sort of dirt usually takes longer. at least 10 or 15 mintues .. perhaps an hour min. not BOOM all at once.
1. My Anti virus does not look like this. but I wasn't sure. I hadn't seen it in awhile.
So I calmed down. and let it set a spell. Looked around.
2. a red herring was that avg was asking me to upgrade.
3. Windows Anti virus hides in the security center - and it said things were good.
4. The trojan in all the fury - was asking me to install a new anti virus program -- and that was the closer / clincher. I thought - ah ha! grr.
I used ctrl-alt-delete to bring up task manager to kill the fake program.
upgraded firefox to 3.5 - cleared out the recent history, cache, cookies etc.
went into security center - Windows thinks things are ok.
ran an avg scan.
may run Avira later - but do not want to conflict with what I already have.
Still a little worried , but not as concerned as I was earlier.
Stephen.