Advice Request Avast Free?

[Kongo]

I didn't disable the real time protection or downloaded malicious things or clicked on a banner or e-mail, maybe I've been infected due to a malvertising attack or something like this.

You say that you don't click on banners and after that you're saying that you might have been infected due to malvertising. Makes no sense to me.

 

[Frib004]

You say that you don't click on banners and after that you're saying that you might have been infected due to malvertising. Makes no sense to me.

Malvertising is a attack that you can be infected without clicking anything. Hackers invade servers that shows these banners and infect with a ransomware, for example: Malvertising- Malwarebytes
It's perfectly possible your computer be infected without your consent and without a "click".

 

[Nagisa]

Malvertising is a attack that you can be infected without clicking anything. Hackers invade servers that shows these banners and infect with a ransomware, for example: Malvertising- Malwarebytes
It's perfectly possible your computer be infected without your consent and without a "click".

Did you even read the link? That's not possible unless an unpatched exploit is used.

 

[Kongo]

Malvertising is a attack that you can be infected without clicking anything. Hackers invade servers that shows these banners and infect with a ransomware, for example: Malvertising- Malwarebytes
It's perfectly possible your computer be infected without your consent and without a "click".

True, still the 2nd type of attack isn't really common, as this can only happen when there are vulnerabilities within your installed software. Also, it's pretty unlikely that malvertising attacks occur in day to day browsing. The biggest problems are p rn sites, and by now everybody should have realized that some are risky and shouldn't be visited without a good adblocker. I just don't see the reason why you would recommend Panda when you don't even know if it would have blocked the infection that Avast missed. There were literally many Panda tests done by @harlan4096 and they didn't look good at all.

 

[Frib004]

True, still the 2nd type of attack isn't really common, as this can only happen when there are vulnerabilities within your installed software. Also, it's pretty unlikely that malvertising attacks occur in day to day browsing. The biggest problems are p rn sites, and by now everybody should have realized that some are risky and shouldn't be visited without a good adblocker. I just don't see the reason why you would recommend Panda when you don't even know if it would have blocked the infection that Avast missed. There were literally many Panda tests done by @harlan4096 and they didn't look good at all.

As I said, the best AV is defined in the daily usage. I don't know if Panda would block that infection, but this isn't really important. The OP is asking if Avast Free is a good option, I just said in my opinion Panda is better.
Malvertising isn't a commom infection, but it exists, just to show you a case that happenned with BBC: BBC, MSN hit by malicious ad attack
Other thing to know is that the efficiency of an antivirus may change in some countries. I say this because Brazil (where I am from) is a country where Avast is very popular and in the same time is one of the countries that most suffer with ransomware attacks and Avast have partner with some sites that distribute adwares here (Baixaki, for example).

 

[Kongo]

As I said, the best AV is defined in the daily usage.

Yea, but not based on the experience of a single user that never had problems with it. I could install Protegent (probably the worst AV out there) on my PC and wouldn't get infected due to my safe browsing habits. Still I wouldn't call it better than for example Bitdefender just cause I didn't get infected while using it.

Avast is very popular and in the same time is one of the countries that most suffer with ransomware attacks and Avast have partner with some sites that distribute adwares here (Baixaki, for example).

Don't really understand the connection between high rate of ransomware infections and Avast having partnerships. Could you explain again what you mean?

 

[Frib004]

Yea, but not based on the experience of a single user that never had problems with it. I could install Protegent (probably the worst AV out there) on my PC and wouldn't get infected due to my safe browsing habits. Still I wouldn't call it better than for example Bitdefender just cause I didn't get infected while using it.

C'mon, man, don't compare Protegent with Panda lol. It's truth that no AV is perfect, but who I know that use Panda never had problems, not only me.

Don't really understand the connection between high rate of ransomware infections and Avast having partnerships. Could you explain again what you mean?

Sorry, if I wasn't clear. I meant that Brazil has high rate of ransomware attacks and Avast is one of the most popular antivirus here, just think: Avast popular (here) and a lot of infections (here). You don't need a lot of time to notice that if a country have a lot of computers infected with a popular antivirus means that this antivirus isn't efficient, right?
The point of the partner is just a detail... an antivirus vendor do partner with a huge site that infect the your users with adwares it's kinda contradictory, right? But that's not the main point here.

 

[Nagisa]

I'm gonna say it again, not having a problem with the product doesn't mean it protects well. Panda has low detection rates and an almost non-existent behavior blocker, as far as I could see. It's not comparable to Avast.

 

[Kongo]

C'mon, man, don't compare Protegent with Panda lol. It's truth that no AV is perfect, but who I know that use Panda never had problems, not only me.

I didn't compare the two, all I said is that for some people it wouldn't matter which AV they have installed as they don't get infected anyway. So it makes no sense rating an AV when you didn't even see it in action. I think it's understandable that I trust the opinion of the majority and their and my own tests of the product, and not someone who just claims that it's better without any real reason. And thats no offence to you, I hope you know that.

Sorry, if I wasn't clear. I meant that Brazil has high rate of ransomware attacks and Avast is one of the most popular antivirus here, just think: Avast popular (here) and a lot of infections (here). You don't need a lot of time to notice that if a country have a lot of computers infected with a popular antivirus means that this antivirus isn't efficient, right?
The point of the partner is just a detail... an antivirus vendor do partner with a huge site that infect the your users with adwares it's kinda contradictory, right? But that's not the main point here.

Well, you're really, really speculating a lot here. Avast isn't just popular in Brazil, thats why pretty much everybody has heard about it here. If you make such claims, you also should look up some statistics that proof that Avast is that popular in that specific country. I just don't think that there is a real connection between some people using Avast and high ransomware infection number in your country.

Let's just end it here before someone gets mad in the end. As long as it works well for you, keep it. I also used Cylance which isn't really liked here, and yet I think that it's a quite decent solution for a specific group of people. Still I wouldn't call it better than Bitdefender, Kaspersky and the other big players on the market.

 

[sg09]

I used to be huge fan of Avast software but lately I am no longer a fan and actually started to dislike it. I have found multiple instances where Avast installation got corrupted and the GUI no longer works properly. Recently, it happened on my wife's office laptop, and that is not the first time. I experienced the same more than 2 times previously also. Avast used to be a really good software in version 4. The UI looks cool nowadays but not so stable.

 

[JasonUK]

Never had a problem or been infected on any of my devices while using Avast over many years. Have had viruses & files corrupted using both Nortons & Avira. Net conclusion Avast performed better than those products on my systems and not all AVs are equal. Only reasonable comparators are experienced industry benchmarks / testing backed by user experience.

 

[Frib004]

Ok, I'm running Avira Free along malwarebytes anti ransomware and as I am seeing it's a very light AV with a good protection.
I'm using the Avira Browser extension too.
PS: I have installed the standalone version of Avira, because the online version comes with a lot of bloatware.