AVG went faulty on XP

[12harry]

For some years I've used AVG antivirus and recently upgraded my XP pc to their 2014 vesion. All was OK for about a Month, then the PC refused to connect to the Internet and Email was down....try as I might resetting the Modem, etc. - then by chance I disabled AVG, (Internet and email sections,- no others were enabled), and the PC ? -it works just fine.
I've looked back in this section "Software/OS" and saw no similar faults described, so I wonder if others have any suggestions....
Does AVG need "Resetting" perhaps -
....before I contact AVG (who will no doubt say XP is no longer supported...), I thought I'd ask here.

I'm told Kapasky is good ( and read several reviews, too) but that it slows-down XP - can this be true, or have they too stopped selling an XP version, I wonder?
Avast was suggested (free?) so I may go that route,
but Suggestions + Comments welcome...

I have a Win7 PC and that relies on the Microsoft "---"whatever they call it....which comes with the OS, sorry can't remember what MS is peddling, just now.... but I guess I'm believing that more-recent OS are less susceptible, etc.

This recent Heartbleed virus - any thoughts? I understand it affects my passwords on Major Players that have been broken-into . . . so they are not interested in my PC

Hey Ho.

 

[EndlessWaves]

I have a Win7 PC and that relies on the Microsoft "---"whatever they call it....which comes with the OS, sorry can't remember what MS is peddling, just now.... but I guess I'm believing that more-recent OS are less susceptible, etc.

Windows 7 doesn't come with any anti-virus package as far as I'm aware (only Windows Defender, which does something different). Microsoft do offer Microsoft Security Essentials for free if that's what you're referring to, but last time I checked it was an optional download.

This recent Heartbleed virus - any thoughts? I understand it affects my passwords on Major Players that have been broken-into . . . so they are not interested in my PC

Yeah, that's an OpenSSL vulnerability so unless you're running a server probably not relevant.


The major problem here is that microsoft stopped security updates for Windows XP earlier this month. That is the primary line of defence with anti-virus only being there to catch the ones that slip through. I would look into upgrading that machine to a newer version of Windows.

 

[MarkE19]

If you are happy with AVG then you could try doing a full uninstall and then reboot and reinstall it - it could just be a glitch.
However about a month back I had 3 friends PC's/laptops all infected with some nasty malware that their installs of AVG had failed to catch. So I am far from impressed with the performance of AVG.

I have been using Kaspersky IS for many years, and still have it installed on my old XP laptop and do not find that it is slowed down by the software. However some others have said that it can slow a PC running XP down, but I've never seen it.
If you bank with Barclays you can get a 3 PC free license each year for Kaspersky Internet Security, and even other versions of their software.
I believe that to a large extent you get what you pay for, so using any free AV/IS program is unlikely to offer the same level of protection you could get from a decent paid for program.

Windows by the fact that it is the most widely used desktop OS is going to be the most attacked. So Windows 7 or 8 may be more secure than XP but no OS is totally secure and weaknesses can and will be found - even Apple's OS-X has a few virus attacks and these are only likely to increase as they become more popular.

Mark.

 

[Xolf]

MarkE19 mentions a free Kaspersky licence from Barclays; if your ISP is Virgin Media you can get a free licence for .. I think it's F-Secure - in short it's very worth checking whether you're entitled to a free sub to something already!

Either of those two should give better protection than AVG; take a glance at AV Comparatives' most recent (March) real-world report (ironically enough for this thread in a PDF!) here: http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/avc_factsheet2014_03.pdf and you'll see they both had comfortably better detection rates than AVG did.

 

[MarkE19]

in short it's very worth checking whether you're entitled to a free sub to something already!

Unless the freebie on offer is McAfee - in which case avoid at all costs

Mark.

 

[Xolf]

Ha. Yes. I actually bought a copy of that recently (last year?) as it was on offer in Costco at the time.

... it lasted less than a month. Goodness knows how they can still be putting out such a performance-sapping product and charging for it (unless, conspiracy theorists, it's so Intel can sell more powerful CPUs!).

 

[12harry]

Thanks guys, I'm hoping that Computer Shopper will review Anti-Virus now that XP is no longer supported. As I read recently that nearly 40% of computers are still using XP ( -but I guess they aren't Power-Users, eh?)....but like me that may be so older hardware can be used . . . . as Win7 has deceided not to support the necessary Drivers.
As I read it Mca receives poor reviews yet it is widely advertised, so I guess there is a v.good profit for the reseller.

 

[MarkE19]

As I read recently that nearly 40% of computers are still using XP ( -but I guess they aren't Power-Users, eh?)

The majority of cash machines are said to be running XP
Many companies replace PC's when they die rather than on a regular update program, so I would guess there are many companies with a lot of XP PC's still in use. my company has over 500 XP PC's & laptops in daily usage, and I have been upgrading them for over a year already. But as a large part of our users are field based getting their laptop off them for a couple of days to upgrade them to Win7 is not easy - I mainly get them back when they are no longer working

....but like me that may be so older hardware can be used

Until about 5 years ago I was still supporting a Win98se PC as it was running some software that not even XP could run - and this was business critical software

. . . . as Win7 has deceided not to support the necessary Drivers.

To be fair if you have an old device then it is the maker and not MS that write drivers for it. There must be millions of different PC peripherals and you can't expect MS to maintain them with driver support.

As I read it Mca receives poor reviews yet it is widely advertised, so I guess there is a v.good profit for the reseller.

McAfee offer free pre-installed copies of their software to OEM's which is why it was on my new laptop I recently bought - but was the first thing I uninstalled from it. It is also offered by some banks to their customers similar to the Barclays Kaspersky offer.
McAfee obviously make good money from users paying for the full subscription, and I'd guess the likes of Sony get paid a fee for every customer of theirs that takes out the subscription.

Mark.

 

[12harry]

Thanks for yr comments.
AVG magically reinstalled itself "Updated" ( about Ten days later ), isn't quite how it was stated - but it has fixed the Fault. Both email and Internet (like this!), work. What was disquieting in that there was little explanation and I could see no alternative to letting it do whatever it would.
Fortunately it appears to be good. Presumably they found a bug and went about fixing it....
+ Thought I'd put the record straight.

Re Installed antiVirus and other software . . . .I thought mostly these were installed by the retailer- who will get a % when the sucker updates, sometimes because their bank details are included on the pc when bought, for example.