AVG 9 vs Avast Beta 5

[TheIgster]

Someone I work with brought in a friends computer because it was essentially toast due to viruses/trojans/etc.

My coworker swears by AVG and has it loaded on all his systems. So he installed the latest version and did a scan. AVG found a ton of stuff. No problems. But, the computer was still slow and there were still numerous issues.

I finally convinced him to take Avast Beta 5 for a spin on the system. After a full system scan, Avast found 126 pieces of malware, including trojans and more, after AVG said the system was clean.

I realize this could happen with basically any two anti virus apps, the point is, AVG simply is not good enough IMO and too many people rely on it because it is free and the most popular free anti virus solution.

If you are looking for free, my advice would be to give Avast serious consideration. Microsoft Security Essentials is also an excellent choice, although we did not install and scan the system with MSE. We did however load Malwarebytes to see if Avast had missed anything and Malwarebytes did not find a single thing after Avast had cleaned the system. Very impressed with Avast.

 

[kemo]

I'm all about Avast too. I just got done cleaning out a machine that AVG too said was "clean". Avast cleaned it right out.

Our local computer guys are all pro AVG, funny how people come to me (at work) with all their problems in one way or another leaning towards AVG.

 

[yowanvista]

AVG free edition is just a basic protection and does not fully protect against viruses and malware

 

[Victek]

Someone I work with brought in a friends computer because it was essentially toast due to viruses/trojans/etc.

My coworker swears by AVG and has it loaded on all his systems. So he installed the latest version and did a scan. AVG found a ton of stuff. No problems. But, the computer was still slow and there were still numerous issues.

I finally convinced him to take Avast Beta 5 for a spin on the system. After a full system scan, Avast found 126 pieces of malware, including trojans and more, after AVG said the system was clean.

I realize this could happen with basically any two anti virus apps, the point is, AVG simply is not good enough IMO and too many people rely on it because it is free and the most popular free anti virus solution.

If you are looking for free, my advice would be to give Avast serious consideration. Microsoft Security Essentials is also an excellent choice, although we did not install and scan the system with MSE. We did however load Malwarebytes to see if Avast had missed anything and Malwarebytes did not find a single thing after Avast had cleaned the system. Very impressed with Avast.

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The fact that MBAM came up clean after Avast does say something very good about Avast. In my experience Free AVG has never either effectively prevented infections or successfully removed them afterward. Regarding Avast, so few people use it that I can't say how effective the free ver 4.8 really is. It does sound like the new ver 5.0 is going to be a step up. This is all anecdotal of course, but it is based on what I observe when I'm working in the field.

 

[swarfega]

It would have been interesting had you installed MSE and what it would have found. I think Malwarebytes is a useless piece of software that should not be solely relied on. To date it has not spotted a single thing except for a perfectly legitimate Microsoft entry.

 

[Dinesh]

Hi, I strongly agree that Avast is one of the best antivirus. I have cleaned many PCs with Avast using its boot scan.

 

[TheIgster]

I think Malwarebytes is a useless piece of software that should not be solely relied on. To date it has not spotted a single thing except for a perfectly legitimate Microsoft entry.

Wow...really? That's the first time I have heard someone not happy with the performance of Malwarebytes. Everyone I've ever talked to loves it and is quite happy at how well it works. I have personally never had any issues with it.

Hi, I strongly agree that Avast is one of the best antivirus. I have cleaned many PCs with Avast using its boot scan.

Yep. Only problem right now is the boot scan is not available on 64-bit. Apparently they are working on it.

 

[swarfega]

I think Malwarebytes is a useless piece of software that should not be solely relied on. To date it has not spotted a single thing except for a perfectly legitimate Microsoft entry.

Wow...really? That's the first time I have heard someone not happy with the performance of Malwarebytes. Everyone I've ever talked to loves it and is quite happy at how well it works. I have personally never had any issues with it.

How many items does it catch for them? Or does it just come up reporting nothing?

 

[Geo64]

Malwarebytes is excellent. AVG is the worst bsod, poor performance and problem cause of all Windows software.

 

[TheIgster]

How many items does it catch for them? Or does it just come up reporting nothing?

I've seen many people use MBAM to scan after everything else has scanned to ensure all is well and quite frankly, it usually isn't and MBAM cleans the rest. I've used it that way myself. Personally, for a free product, I think it's fantastic.

 

[Dinesh]

How many items does it catch for them? Or does it just come up reporting nothing?

I've seen many people use MBAM to scan after everything else has scanned to ensure all is well and quite frankly, it usually isn't and MBAM cleans the rest. I've used it that way myself. Personally, for a free product, I think it's fantastic.

I agree. MBAM is fantastic.

 

[kemo]

MBAM did what I couldn't get Adware to do, remove the dirty roots of Cyber Security.