Opinion of some AV software officially changed

Petey7 · 21 Jul 2010

So my dad told me he was having trouble with the icons never appearing on his desktop until after doing a system restore. The computer has definitely gotten slower lately. So I turned off AVG and installed MBAM. It took less than one minute to find 4 infections. It is currently up to 166. I'm a little worried about false positives so might need some help. But other than that I now see the low opinion some have of AVG is well worth it and I've had a some faith restored in MBAM. I'll be installing MSE for xp and leaving MBAM on there for later use. I hate when I see what I used to think was good software turn out to be lousy.

EDIT: The high number of infections is just with quick scan.

Corrine · 21 Jul 2010

It used to be that the majority of logs for infected computers that I would see had NAV as the A/V. These days it seems to be AVG.

Petey7 · 21 Jul 2010

Is 167 infections just a ridiculous number, or does that make sense.

Also, I realized he changed AVGs settings so that it only did a quick scan once a week instead of a full scan once a day, which it what I set it to do. Way to go dad. So I guess its not all AVGs fault.

xarden · 21 Jul 2010

In my personal experience, I've used AVG about 10 years ago. I stopped using it about 10 years ago, and have switched to McAfee. I've never had a real problem using it. Its worth the AU$60 annual subscription, I'm currently forking out for it.
The only problem I have now with the recent update is that I can't add programs to a safelist, which means all my little apps that I build to talk to my own webserver are now detected as false positives, and deleted

Petey7 · 21 Jul 2010

Oh god. Don't get me started on McAfee. I just got over a major problem caused by it. If it works for you, thats great, and i'm glad it does. But I've only had trouble with it.

Corrine · 21 Jul 2010

That is a rather high number. Are a lot of findings in System Restore? Also note that a Full Scan is not needed daily with MBAM. A quick scan will do just fine.

As Bruce Harrison/nosirrah, VP of Research said:

The MBAM quick scan option will catch every bit of live malware that the full scan will detect and 99% of the traces . I develop the definitions for MBAM and have never needed to use the full scan to test them out .

BTW, since I get asked often why I recommend unchecking System restore when removing malware with MBAM, also by Bruce

Quick and system restore are not friends .

If a malware cleanup is performed the last step is a system restore wipe and set so malware cant be accidentally reinstalled and to keep future full scan from causing what are basically FPs at that point .

Petey7 · 21 Jul 2010

I already know about the system restore problem. A lot of findings seem to be in temp folders, but some may be from there as well. The scan is not done yet. My dad always complains about his computer being slow, but does not do anything to maintain it. I think I'm gonna be here awhile cleaning out temp and internet temp folders, getting rid of viruses, cleaning out system restore, and installing MSE. I think if I set MSE to run daily, and come in here and do a MBAM scan once a week, He should be fine 98% of the time. We might also see a speed increase on here.

Also want to say, thanks for helping me with this, and thanks to this site in general. I've had fun trying to help people and have received a lot of help myself.

Corrine · 21 Jul 2010

It is generally recommended that Temp folders be cleaned prior to scanning with MBAM.

Petey7 said:

Also want to say, thanks for helping me with this, and thanks to this site in general. I've had fun trying to help people and have received a lot of help myself.

You're doing all the work. I just happen to be here to give you moral support. If you need any advice, Jacee and I generally aren't far away.

As we share the knowledge we have, we also learn from each other. It is fun and rewarding.

Petey7 · 21 Jul 2010

Most things I see are registry entries that AVG left behind from different viruses. All files are related to programs called MyWebSearch and FunWebProducts, which seems to be pretty well known adware. I also see two things in temp folders. I think I'm safe to go ahead and remove everything.

Corrine · 21 Jul 2010

Seeing leftovers has to be a bit of a relief considering the number MBAM came up with. You're right about the adware findings. They are safe to remove. You may want to check Add/Remove Programs for MyWebSearch, My Way Speedbar or Search Assistant. I believe FunWebProducts is associated with Smiley Central so either of those may be in Add/Remove Programs as well.