Solved AVG alerts during recent Windows Updates ?

[rjk44]

Hi,
My AVG Internet Security suite popped up 2 alerts during the last batch of W7 updates today :-
One said that Window Malicious software removal tool needed access to the internet,
and there was another similar AVG alert during those W7 updates that I've now forgotten,
Any idea if this is this just a change in the behaviour of AVG, or is Washington and MS planting stuff in my PC that I should have refused ?
Trusting old me said "yes" and "allow" to everything !!!
regards, Richard

 

[gregrocker]

AVG lost favor amongst techies years ago when it bloated up and never trimmed back down. Most here recommend http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/. For those who get chronically infected adding Malwarebytes Real Time protection (instead of just the free scanner) usually prevents it happening agian.

 

[rjk44]

Hi,
Been with AVG for years, ...never considered that it got bloated as did Norton bloat-ware when Peter Norton sold out !
Co-exists happily with almost everything else e.g. PrevX (made in UK-and coded in MASM !!!), ..and IMO is the best in the world !

Long gone are the days when I would happily spend countless hours hunting down what software was doing what, in my PC - behind my back !
Any spare time I get nowadays, I spend tracking down Echelon intrusions, and it's getting harder and harder these days to remain invisible whilst doing that

regards, Richard





regards, Richard

 

[gregrocker]

I would at least try MSE by comparison. Each take about 5 minutes to fully uninstall/install. You can always go back to AVG.

 

[rjk44]

Hi,
There are a few goodies in MS Security Essentials, and I do keep an eye on them,
but, Webroot leads the way. Notice how they all say, our product, "...helps protect against this and that...."
...as we all know, no single internet security package can provide 100% protection,
so for years we've all had to adopt a multi-layered approach to internet security,
...I feel like I'm preaching to the already converted !!!!! ......
...one of my favourite extra thin layers is the free MSVP's hosts file

regards, Richard

 

[andrew129260]

Hi,
My AVG Internet Security suite popped up 2 alerts during the last batch of W7 updates today :-
One said that Window Malicious software removal tool needed access to the internet,
and there was another similar AVG alert during those W7 updates that I've now forgotten,
Any idea if this is this just a change in the behaviour of AVG, or is Washington and MS planting stuff in my PC that I should have refused ?
Trusting old me said "yes" and "allow" to everything !!!
regards, Richard

avg should have those whitelisted by default. Your fine. Allowing was most likely the right decision.

 

[rjk44]

A quick final note,
....stuuuuupid me,
I set AVG firewall to "manual" i.e. to alert me to everything that requests access to web,
..and then forgot that I'd done that.

...my excuse , "I'm getting old"

...anyhooo, many thanks for all comments.

regards, Richard

 

[gregrocker]

The Win7 firewall is perfected and offers the best performance unless you have an extra function which you've specifically determined AVG provides that you need.

I would still not run AVG in any case due to the problems we've seen with it here.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would not suggest AVG.

This is what I use and it has worked fine for a couple of years.

MSE
Windows 7 built in firewall.
A router
Malwarebytes Premium

When I deem needed I also use a few on demand scans with various programs.

 

[andrew129260]

The average user who has a router (which in it has a hardware based firewall which should be on) combined with windows firewall is more then enough protection. A software firewall will only cause issues and drain system resources. In my opinion, they are completely unnecessary. A common argument is that with comodo or zonealarm and other similar firewalls you can block programs from connecting to the internet. I say if you do not trust the program to connect to the internet, you should not have it in the first place installed on your pc which essentially defeats that argument.

That is what Virtual Machines are for

However, it is up to you

 

[rjk44]

ummm, this old argument that a 3rd party firewall is not needed in addition to Windows firewall + NAT firewall in adsl-modem-router unit, is often spouted by seasoned experts, and is not much help to lesser mortals who fight with their web-browser, often dropping their internet security knickers down to their ankles whilst trying to get a specific (poorly crafted and/or malicious) web site, to correctly load and script in their browser window;
A third party firewall that alerts the user to unauthorised inbound and outbound connection attempts can be a help.
Admittedly it's a bit of an art to harden-up a PC for use on the web, with a multi-layered approach to ones internet security, and finding that software mix that happily co-exists without preventing normal function of ones web browser, requires some work.
AVG internet suite does not place a heavy load on ones system, co-exists with all my other internet security software, (real-time a/v scanners etc. and tools.

Stuff like Norton bloatware, Panda, Kaspersky, Mcafee, Avast, Zonealarm, the list is almost endless, (during my extensive compatibility testing in the past), they're often more trouble than they're worth.
Quality software such as Webroot (who bought PrevX), happily co-exists with AVG and my other internet security software.

Keep your Windows security updates up to scratch, keep your MSVP hosts file up to date http://***********.mvps.org/hosts.htm , keep your internet sec suite updated, keep all your anti-virus scanner databases up to date, (what one misses - another one might catch!), always practice safe-hex. Switch on SPI (stateful packet inspection) if you have that option in your NAT firewall. Stateful firewall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ...and if you're a gamer - read up on port forwarding !

blah... blah ...blah

 

[gregrocker]

The solution which has proved to work best that I've seen over the entire 5+ years since Win7 beta is lightweight MSE, Win7 firewall with on-demand scanners Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware.

If one is prone to infection, adding MBAM Real Time protection has stopped this cold in every case. You'd have to turn it off to let most invaders get past.

 

[Layback Bear]

rjk44 You started the thread with a problem.
You asked for suggestion and help. That is exactly what we are giving; recommendations and suggestions to help you.
I for what ever reason you don't like are suggestion then don't use them.
Use what ever program you like, it's your computer.

Any program of any kind that stops Windows 7 Updates in any fashion is a bad program; period.

When you get done choosing your security programs just remember; One anti virus program and one firewall at one time on one computer.

 

[rjk44]

So what is your point ? ...I was responding mainly to Andrew129260 who purported that if one has a NAT firewall, a software firewall is rather unnecessary, ...so I aired my view that a software firewall in addition to a hardware NAT firewall in ADLS modem/router unit has its' benefits !
As for your " 1 firewall, 1 AV prog, " you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
A part of ones multi-layered approach to internet security, is to use several AV programs, (which happily co-exist - and which requires a lot of testing to achieve that happy software mix), so that what one AV prog. misses - another might catch !

"Any program of any kind that stops Windows 7 Updates in any fashion is a bad program; period."

Tell everybody something new !!! I've never heard of a "program" that stops Windows updates, Where did that topic ever enter the conversation ?

I am grateful for all advice but when that advice is flawed, I like to give others the benefit of my knowledge !

best regards, Richard

 

[andrew129260]

So what is your point ? ...I was responding mainly to Andrew129260 who purported that if one has a NAT firewall, a software firewall is rather unnecessary, ...so I aired my view that a software firewall in addition to a hardware NAT firewall in ADLS modem/router unit has its' benefits !

Sure it has its benefits. It also has disadvantages as well. But its kind of a illusion to security. If you know what your doing and know what programs you want to access the internet that still does not help you. Any malware can simply use the windows processes to send things to the net without your firewall ever knowing. (Thus making them useless)

All the firewalls in the world cannot save you from yourself or from malware. Once malware is on your machine, game over.

A firewall is not worth the headache.

Especially for novice users.

several AV programs

And you should not have multiple AV (antivirus software) installed on the pc. Antispyware ? Sure. But not 2 AV's.

And next time be more respectful in your reply.

 

[Slartybart]

Hi,
My AVG Internet Security suite popped up 2 alerts during the last batch of W7 updates today :-
One said that Window Malicious software removal tool needed access to the internet,
and there was another similar AVG alert during those W7 updates that I've now forgotten,
Any idea if this is this just a change in the behaviour of AVG, or is Washington and MS planting stuff in my PC that I should have refused ?
Trusting old me said "yes" and "allow" to everything !!!
regards, Richard

A quick final note,
....stuuuuupid me,
I set AVG firewall to "manual" i.e. to alert me to everything that requests access to web,
..and then forgot that I'd done that.

...my excuse , "I'm getting old"

...anyhooo, many thanks for all comments.

regards, Richard

I hate when that happens to me ... "oh yeah, I forgot that I made a change and that's what caused the issue"

Glad you got is sorted - please mark the thread as solved when you get the chance - thanks.

Oops - you already did mark it solved - my mistake

Bill
.

 

[rjk44]

"And next time be more respectful in your reply."

oooooh ! I don't think that was warranted, though casting my eye back through - perhaps one should have been more tactful.

Agree with all OBVIOUS points, e.g. once malaware is in PC --- too late !

...you stick to multi-malware progs, and 1 a/v prog, and we'll just hope that you don't catch the 1 nasty that your 1 a/v prog. is not armed against. (when I say a/v prog, I mean "a/v prog/tsr real-time scanners"

 

[gregrocker]

As for your " 1 firewall, 1 AV prog, " you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
A part of ones multi-layered approach to internet security, is to use several AV programs, (which happily co-exist - and which requires a lot of testing to achieve that happy software mix), so that what one AV prog. misses - another might catch !

I would not use more than one AV, nor have I seen anything but trouble trying to do so having been here every day since beta without missing a day. You are the first I can recall who even suggests it.

The "layered protection" to which you mistakenly refer is best handled as I described earlier: A good lightweight AV like MSE for best performance, on-demand scanners like Malwarebyates and SuperAntiSpyware - which can be upgraded to full time Malwarebytes if there is repeat infection - and the Win7 firewall. A router firewall hardens it even more.

All of these allow native perfect Win7 performance with no throttling, slowing and few if any issues.

 

[rjk44]

"I would not use more than one AV, nor have I seen anything but trouble trying to do so having been here every day since beta without missing a day. You are the first I can recall who even suggests it. "

...indicates to me inferior expertise, and inadequate time and effort spent determining which real-time av-scanners happily co-exist. It's REALLY easy to experience "anything but trouble" using more than one a/v real-time scanner, when using anything less than a methodical approach to adding an extra real-time av-scanner and testing it's interaction with other tsr software currently installed on ones machine.

As for your reference to "on-demand" scanners, and "repeat infection," these are much less likely to occur in the first place if first dealt with by a cascading detection method, ...that you obviously do not know how to implement.

"layered protection" to which I "mistakenly" refer is obviously a discipline that you do not fully understand.
David H. Lipman would have a strong word or two, to your purporting the use of only one a/v program, considering that no single internet security suite, (specifically its' real-time a/v scanner), will provide 100% protection against existing and emerging threats.

The very tone of your post indicates that you are not receptive to good advice. It's unfortunate that you have not gained sufficient expertise in using more than one a/v real-time scanner. It does take a good deal of time and effort testing, and determining which brands will happily co-exist without causing problems.

In view that my initial post has prompted a couple of vitriol toned responses, mostly by a couple of people, (or was it just one?!), who are evidently very inept and ignorant in the area of internet security, and who have not put sufficient time and effort into software testing, and then make silly statements like,

"nor have I seen anything but trouble trying to do so having been here every day since beta without missing a day. You are the first I can recall who even suggests it."

....very sad attitude !