The Worst AV You've Ever Used?

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
They can. But Driver Booster does a very good job of finding the correct drivers and as a result, rarely causes problems. When using Driver Booster (and some of the others I use), I usually let it install every driver it finds.
it used to give me a BSOD when I tried to update Intel chipset driver. I tried 2 times and it gave the same result. same for Driver Easy but it was other drivers
Moreover, it's the same for all driver updater. The manufacture writes the latest version for this hardware is ABC but the driver updaters usually find a newer version which is for other hardware from the same manufacture
I downloaded the latest version of intel graphic driver from intel or my wifi driver from mediatek -> rebooted. Then, scanned with Driver Easy and driver booster, they still found an update for them. I tried to update. The drivers installed were more unstable than the official ones, obviously

perhaps with Desktops, it's easier but for laptops, it's better to update manually
 

mlnevese

Level 28
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 3, 2015
1,749
Driver Easy is the only program i know that can automatically update Intel graphic drivers on a notebook even if it's factory signed drivers that are insalled. It saves me the trouble of fully uninstalling the driver and downloading the official Intel one.

Notebook manufacturers are well known to take forever to update graphics drivers when they even bother to do so...
 

Cortex

Level 26
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Aug 4, 2016
1,465
The worst AV I've ever used was the old Norton, this is well over 10 years ago, bloated isn't the word. It had as I remember a separate updater which in the end had updates to the updater, it really was an abomination without doubt, the current version is really good I feel but took me a while to use it after remembering the old one.
 

roger_m

Level 42
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Dec 4, 2014
3,163
The worst AV I've ever used was the old Norton, this is well over 10 years ago, bloated isn't the word. It had as I remember a separate updater which in the end had updates to the updater,
I remember the old versions of Norton well and the issues with updating. Very regularly Norton would make some changes that would stop it from automatically updating its signatures. When this happened, not only would it be unable to download any signature updates, it wouldn't show any error message (for a week or so anyway), so it would appear that there were no problems. I think after a week or so, it would display an alert about having outdated signatures.

To fix the update issue, you had to manually run Live Update. It would find and download some needed updates and then it would be able to automatically download new signatures again. But soon, it would stop updating again and you would have to run Live Update once again to fix it.

I've got no idea why this even happened, but I do know it was an ongoing issue. I guess being very heavy wasn't enough of a problem by itself. However, it wasn't the only antivirus which has update issues at the time though. I think the free versions of AVG and/or Avira sometimes had update issues, due to the free update server getting overloaded. I remember there being a guide on how to get the free version of at least one of those antivirus, to update from the update servers used by the paid version, in order to avoid that issue.
 

Dave Russo

Level 22
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 26, 2014
1,147
I no longer want a Norton product on my computer,Server down!!!,constant wanting me to sign in and can not , and customer service??? starts at 60.plus dollars( I know have patience we will get back to you),The 360 is loaded but ...no thanks
 

elquenunca

Level 3
Verified
Dec 23, 2017
138
The worst AV I've ever used was the old Norton, this is well over 10 years ago, bloated isn't the word. It had as I remember a separate updater which in the end had updates to the updater, it really was an abomination without doubt, the current version is really good I feel but took me a while to use it after remembering the old one.
I remember the old versions of Norton well and the issues with updating. Very regularly Norton would make some changes that would stop it from automatically updating its signatures. When this happened, not only would it be unable to download any signature updates, it wouldn't show any error message (for a week or so anyway), so it would appear that there were no problems. I think after a week or so, it would display an alert about having outdated signatures.

To fix the update issue, you had to manually run Live Update. It would find and download some needed updates and then it would be able to automatically download new signatures again. But soon, it would stop updating again and you would have to run Live Update once again to fix it.

I've got no idea why this even happened, but I do know it was an ongoing issue. I guess being very heavy wasn't enough of a problem by itself. However, it wasn't the only antivirus which has update issues at the time though. I think the free versions of AVG and/or Avira sometimes had update issues, due to the free update server getting overloaded. I remember there being a guide on how to get the free version of at least one of those antivirus, to update from the update servers used by the paid version, in order to avoid that issue.
I no longer want a Norton product on my computer,Server down!!!,constant wanting me to sign in and can not , and customer service??? starts at 60.plus dollars( I know have patience we will get back to you),The 360 is loaded but ...no thanks
I thought I was the only one who didn't like Norton
 

plat

Level 29
Top Poster
Sep 13, 2018
1,793
By "worst," it means in any way? The one with the worst impact on machine performance was AVG a few years ago. It was a very good antivirus, though, when it was independent of Avast. But so many hooks and real-time modules, it was like an entire bottle of maple syrup on just one pancake.
 

bribon77

Level 35
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jul 6, 2017
2,392
10 years ago, Norton was a nightmare, Panda, apart from heavy breaks the system and Bitdefender could not have it more than 5 days, Kaspersky was a slab.

All that has changed, today everything has improved.
 

CyberTech

Level 44
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Nov 10, 2017
3,250
generally most driver updaters are very dangerous. they can cause BSODs
driver easy, driverpack solution/snappy driver installer, 3dpchip, driver booster, drivermax all gave me problems

conclusion: never update drivers if you don't know the risk or you don't understand what it is, never select Update All. Now I only update the ones I know and feel safe. The rest I go to the manufacture's website and download them manually

I only use DriverPack when i dont find any drivers from the manufacture and others...
 

blackice

Level 39
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Apr 1, 2019
2,868
ESET maybe is light, but he is glitchy from time to time and he stopping you from removing him acting as a Rogueware or Crapware.

This describes all AVs. I’ve never had trouble with ESET, or uninstalling. But some people do on their systems for various reasons. AVs hook into all sorts of things and it can cause problems, no company is immune. Even Microsoft screws up WD from time to time.
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top