Why I use avast! and why I think you should use avast!

[mal1]

i installed it on a friend's spare computer and we had a new version of sub7 (one of the first RAT) ; avast missed it so i said bye bye.

Later, i tried a newer version (maybe v7 or v8), lot of cool features but way too inter-dependent, disable one, many others don't work anymore. so i said bye bye again...

@Umbra So what's your top (or short list) free AV?

 

[CMLew]

@Umbra So what's your top (or short list) free AV?

I think @Umbra prefers unconventional security approach than AV..
Something that can made him enthusiastic rather than bored-to-death config.

 

[Anupam]

This is a major reason



those are good reason too

now my reason:

few years ago Avast was that :

i installed it on a friend's spare computer and we had a new version of sub7 (one of the first RAT) ; avast missed it so i said bye bye.

Later, i tried a newer version (maybe v7 or v8), lot of cool features but way too inter-dependent, disable one, many others don't work anymore. so i said bye bye again...

i didn't tried the latest one, since i don't like to use "free version" but rather full featured ones (premier in that case), but i dont have the license and i will not pay for it

I remember this skin when I used to get confused whether it's a Video Player or an Antivirus. I think they first thought they will make a Video player but after development and bugs they found it's working as Antivirus . ( JKing )

 

[Deleted member 178]

I think @Umbra prefers unconventional security approach than AV..
Something that can made him enthusiastic rather than bored-to-death config.

exactly

@Umbra So what's your top (or short list) free AV?

for me only CIS, but if i have to suggest some...you don't have much free AVs of good quality: if you really can't afford a paid one Avira and of course Avast are decent ones but i rather pay for ESET, Webroot or Emsisoft.

 

[mal1]

I think @Umbra prefers unconventional security approach than AV..
Something that can made him enthusiastic rather than bored-to-death config.

Once upon a time in 2013, Umbra posted this review Written Review - [Umbra's Amazing Combos] Avast IS + Emsisoft IS. Seems pretty conventional to me!

It's my dream-team too, unfortunately it's a paid combo

 

[cruelsister]

Hardened mode aggressive means you are just putting default denial. So you try to install any unknown software it will block it whether it's good or bad

For any that feel the need to actually use an AV, Avast is indeed a good choice; but don't make it into something that it is not. The Hardened/Aggressive mode can be bypassed by malware quite easily- a video from the beginning of June highlights this. Bulletproof it is not.

 

[SloppyMcFloppy]

I used Avast free antivirus in 2014, and as the result i don't really like it because its signature is decent enough, and the deepguard module is just not doing anything to block malware. I seen a lot tester test avast! and majority of malware been flagged as legitimate by deepguard, but it actually not, and all of them can confirmed that is malware, and none of them should be flagged as legitimate and let its through the system. Also, avast! might be a best choice for free av, but not for paid version because paid version you can get something that can outpeform avast! such as ESET, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky. So my vote answer is no, i'm not using it.

 

[nsm0220]

Why I don't use avast:

1) As default it's bloated
2) on my last test "DeepScreen" is useless
3) Hips module need to improve
4) Web plugin have adds in the past
5) do you know we have premium product? you can pay, pay pls payy pay mm pay men
6) Not rly great signatures in a real scenario
7) You need an account

I used to use Avast back in my high school year all to Gdata 2013 and what i can tell you is their fanboys are crazy.Yes you are right about Avast as well.

 

[RmG152]

1) Does "bloated" really matters if ,like some have stated, the product is still light?
3) Do you mean the default hips setting? Because I think you can improve it by changing some settings. Though I haven't much experience with the HIPS in Avast. If recall correctly, I think the HIPS is in the lowest setting.

1) Antivirus have features that would be fine as individual programs and not as part of an antivirus (passwords tool, vpn, disc cleaner, remote assistance...)
3) Hips alerts on change, and you can accept or block it, but you don't have any option to remember what do you select. In my test each time LAV filters are launched Avast ask if you want to launch or not.


PD: password tool looks great and it's useful on android, but in windows you can't install as standalone app ;(

 

[SherKaan]

avast! is, at best, average to me.

 

[Atlas147]

Avast's signatures a good but not great, it has a decent detection ratio but in a real world situation it's only average.

Example is a friend's laptop, although I have installed Avast for him he still got infected with a trojan (with a generally high detection ratio).

Frankly quite surprised that he got infected. In any case swapped to 360 for him for better detection ratios, sacrificing FPs.

That being said, I have been using Avast for a very long time, and so far so good, I am a very careful user and I have other tools to check if a programme is safe to use.

 

[tonibalas]

Unfortunately last time i used Avast - i think it was version 9- it was a little heavy on my system so i had to uninstall it.
Another thing that i don't like with Avast Free- not the paid versions- is that as members have already mentioned it has some features that are not needed in a free antivirus.
Sorry but i can't remember what were those features since i haven't used for a while.
But as a free security product i believe is one of the best.
Most definitely i will try it in the near future since version 11 is out

 

[mostafa96]

NG = Secure Virtual Machine
According to @Secondmineboy above and others, it is already working.

i tried it may be 2 weaks ago and i didn't work

it was working on windows 8 but now iam on windows 10

 

[Anupam]

one thing I want to mention is Avast sometimes block some legit HTTPS urls. I am not sure whether anyone else faced the same problem. No notification it will simple show connection error. But if you disable avast web-shield then it will work again.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

I am not running Avast.

Every new version of Avast brings additional software.
Security modules are not much improved/enhanced or half baked...Deepscreen is still average/mediocre, HIPS half baked, Secure Machine is a mystery, etc...

Avast was a decent signature product & still a decent sign product. It was always weaker in proactive protection & still it is. They come up with new protection mechanism with fancy names & those remain ineffective.

Over the years its still a decent sign & weak proactive product with increasing additional software, popups, ads, etc...

 

[Deleted Member 333v73x]

Unfortunately last time i used Avast - i think it was version 9- it was a little heavy on my system so i had to uninstall it.
Another thing that i don't like with Avast Free- not the paid versions- is that as members have already mentioned it has some features that are not needed in a free antivirus.
Sorry but i can't remember what were those features since i haven't used for a while.
But as a free security product i believe is one of the best.
Most definitely i will try it in the near future since version 11 is out

avast! WAS very big on RAM and CPU but on my system, with 4 GB RAM and 1.6 GHZ it only uses:

With nothing open:
avast! Antivirus: 8.8MB RAM and 0.0% CPU
avast! Service: 16MB RAM and 0.1% to 3.5% CPU
avast! Firewall Service: 7.4MB RAM 0.1% CPU occasionally

With a browser open:
avast! Antivirus: 12.2MB RAM and 0.0% CPU
avast! Service: 18MB to 30MB RAM and 1-3% CPU
avast! Firewall Service: 20-30MB RAM and 0.1% CPU occasionally

(on average on my system)

 

[tonibalas]

avast! WAS very big on RAM and CPU but on my system, with 4 GB RAM and 1.6 GHZ it only uses:

With nothing open:
avast! Antivirus: 8.8MB RAM and 0.0% CPU
avast! Service: 16MB RAM and 0.1% to 3.5% CPU
avast! Firewall Service: 7.4MB RAM 0.1% CPU occasionally

With a browser open:
avast! Antivirus: 12.2MB RAM and 0.0% CPU
avast! Service: 18MB to 30MB RAM and 1-3% CPU
avast! Firewall Service: 20-30MB RAM and 0.1% CPU occasionally

(on average on my system)

I see that Avast has improved especially on CPU usage.
I will try it for sure when i will have the time

 

[Pat MacKnife]

I haven't used avast in the last 5 years, my last time i had a bad experience back in 2010 after a systemrestore that my windows fail to boot and lost all off my data... the main cause by avast.
So i have never used it again.... maybe later i will give it a try

 

[jamescv7]

I've used Avast Free 2014 way back before but not intended to check its protection capabilities.

Based on numerous information covered, its simply to know that Avast in 'paperworks' are one of the strongest at all why? Because it contains Deepguard, Sandbox analysis concept, NG, HIPS and even Hardened Mode.

That purpose is to supplement very well and make it balance when signatures are bypassed however everything is not worked smoothly, Hardened Mode will be your last stop to block unknown programs without any user interaction where other components immediately bypassed.

Yes they have Cloud functionality but mainly use if the program is purely premature or unknown, not intended to use fully.

Well overall those features added by Avast are not actually unnecessary, the user suggest to trim down based on his/her needs only.