AntiVir PEC 7 final released today..
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

Been trying it out,still prefer AVG but I"ll give it a week or so.

The last time I tried it, it deleted a ton of my uninstall.exe files without my permission.

A few beta releases ago, tjm4fun and myself noticed that some executables were mysteriously going missing. I haven't seen it happen since though.

It's not normal for that to be happening, because both the real time scanner and the manual scanner prompt for action by default when something is found.

This is pretty good software. It couldn't come at a better time, because I've been having to remove Avast from all the customers' systems I've put it on, as I see those people again. It's just been letting too many people down. Mostly I'm disappointed in Avast's real time protection, but the scanner also doesn't catch everything. The final straw that woke me up that it wasn't a coincidence was a customer of mine who got nailed not once, not twice, but thrice with Avast working and up to date. I was at first blaming it on needing updates but the more I saw of it, the more I started to question it. I really started to scrutinize it after noting the inconsistent behaviour of the real time scanner while we were testing the WMF exploits.

By contrast, when that happens I can install Antivir and have it start finding things during it's memory scan and self test even before it starts scanning during setup. I've switched to Antivir for customers who don't want to pay, and Nod32 for those that do.

AVG is also relatively weak, but it redeems itself by being lightweight and not causing any problems.

Btw... Antivir 7 is still simple enough that it will install and run in Safe Mode with Command Prompt (can do a custom install and deselect the resident guard) and use it as a quick and dirty scanner.

P.S. Today, I was in at a local computer shop in town where I know the owner quite well. We cooperate together a lot. He told me that a customer of mine brought in their PC for him to fix, and it was seriously infected with Avast going round and round doing it's thing, but not protecting very well. He took it off. Rather embarassing... Avast has made me look stupid too many times.

Yes, It was the beta I posted about awhile back. It deleted some executables, but mostly uninstall.exe's that were created with Inno Setup. It was really freaking me out! I double-checked all the AntiVir settings, but couldn't find anything on my part. I promptly uninstalled it, which is a pity, because I really liked it alot. I was ready to say goodbye to avast until that happened. If you say it's fixed, Grogan, I will try it again. I just don't want to be reinstalling some of my programs again.
Oh yeah, another one it deleted was mIRC. I know it's not the safest piece of software to be using, but the program itself is clean. AntiVir shouldn't have deleted it without my permission. Not even a warning about it on a manual scan. It was the realtime scanner that did it.

Yep, the mIRC executable was what tjm4fun had go missing. I couldn't duplicate that though, but I had an executable I swear I transfered from one of my other boxes that didn't show up. I can't even remember what it was, but I had copied it with winscp to my desktop in a Windows XP virtual machine and went to get it and it was gone.

P.S. again, Antivir didn't delete it during the normal course of operations. There was no prompting, no report, no quarantine... nothing, just gone.

P.P.S. I *think* it's fixed. All I can say is that I haven't seen it happen again (and I haven't heard Tom complain about anything either and I see him every night on IRC)

So, is it safe to use now that it's out of beta? What is the name of the installer? I have antivir_workstation_win7u_en_h.exe and the download page is confusing.

antivir_workstation_win7u_en_h.exe

The one with the "u" in the filename is the Windows NT/2000/XP. The one without the u is for Win9x, they've separated them now.

Well, I've been using the betas since, in my Windows XP VM, upgrading them when available and I haven't noticed any more mysterious executables going missing or any other problems. That's all I can say. That doesn't mean I've seen it in action in the real world for any period of time. I've only given the beta to a few people who understood what that meant and would have no problem uninstalling and downloading the final. (not sure if that was necessary, but I always would do that)

I hope they support version 6 with updates for a while yet... I just installed that for some not so technical people who wouldn't be happy having to call me back so soon :blusher:

Thanks Grogan. So far nothing has disappeared. We'll see how it goes.

Quote:

I hope they support version 6 with updates for a while yet

me too.

I have that running on a couple of machines that I built for people (as well as my own) and have never had any problems, although I have never installed a beta version.

I have one lady that has previously been a real pain in the neck. She will open anything that anyone sends her. Wouldn't know a .exe from a BMW.
I used to go over there and find 50 or 60 infected files on her computer, but installed Antivir about 7 or 8 months ago and taught her what to do if it finds an infection and it has stopped everything.

I have a few people I look after still using Avast who have not had any problems, but they are careful and have healthy surfing habits.

tjm4fun just had his mIRC 5.82 executable go missing again after an Antivir scan, so I guess this isn't fixed. I had tested it with the latest mIRC (6.16) at the time and it did nothing.

He had the scanner set for interactive, and heard no bleeps.

I cannot, however, duplicate this. I got him to send me a copy of the same old mirc32.exe and the scanner isn't touching it.

I uninstalled the beta antivir and installed the final and it's fully up to date, while he had relied on the program updates to bring him up to final. The build number he's showing is correct so I don't think that has anything to do with it.

All he knows for sure is that his mIRC was there last night (he was using it on that machine). He cannot get it to happen again either now, the scanner isn't deleting it.

Thanks Grogan, that is weird isn't it.

How do you config yours?
I usually run mine this way.

I just leave it as the default action for the guard (deny access is selected?)... and since I always keep it interactive, it doesn't much matter.

I keep the manual scanner interactive as well, unless I'm scanning someone's computer and there is a gazillion copies of some dumb assed trojan dll that replicates itself. When I'm in that mode, I tell it to delete without prompting.

You're showing me the old Antivir UI there, but in the new one the guard is always interactive. (probably just the free version... there's a provision for a setting there but there's only a single bulleted choice for interactive)

Also, in the new one you have to enable the "expert mode" checkbox to see all the settings.

Now, I make sure both the scanner and the guard are set to scan all files, and I also enable all the other unwanted program types (backdoors, dialers, joke programs and bullshit). That's "Extended threat categories" in the new UI.

I also have heuristics set to high for both the scanner and guard. I'm giving this program as much testing as I can. So far, I'm fairly happy with it.

What I did tonight was, grabbed the latest MVPS hosts file and I go to the hostnames in Internet Explorer (particularly ones that install insidious trojans... there's comments beside the entries) and see about infecting the system. I pretend I'm a typical idiot and say yes to anything that prompts. At first I started out with the guard enabled to see how well it would do, but Antivir was a bloody nuisance, it wouldn't let me install trojans and malware so I had to disable it :-)

I wanted to give the scanner a bit of a test as well. After going to many sites and letting them own me, I let it all percolate a bit, rebooted a few times, waited, used the sick browser and laughed etc. then I did a full scan with Antivir, deleted everything found, and rebooted afterwards and scanned again and came up clean.

I then mopped up the rest of the mess (mostly registry entries) with spybot, hijackthis and crapcleaner.

Do they have a version suitable for XP 64?

Vijay

>Do they have a version suitable for XP 64?
>
>Vijay
>

I don't know if it works in 64 bit Windows XP. I'm pretty sure it's 32 bit software, but I've had no contact with Windows XP 64 so I have no way of knowing if it works. I probably wouldn't take the chance.

It doesn't

Vijay

I just don't know about it, Grogan. What happens after 5/31/06? That's when the license expire. I ran my calendar up to June, and I was no longer able to update. I set it back, and was able to check for updates, but the server is extremely slow. mIRC is still here for the moment, though.

Oh, and what's with that nag browser opening when it finally does connect to the server?

To hell with 'em all. I broke down and bought NOD32.

You won't be sorry about Nod32. Expect "set it and forget it" operation with automatic updates sometimes more than once a day. The scanner is blazing fast too, if you do a manual scan.

I don't know what the license expiry means in Antivir... I'd assume the license would just get upgraded. It's probably just to ensure that people aren't running old code. Antivir personal has always been no strings attached free, with no registration, and I can't see them changing that.

As for the big popup window, that's been there in version 6 for a long time when you check for updates. I just tell people to ignore it and click OK as soon as it appears. You don't have to wait for the page to show.

Yeah, I'm liking NOD32 already. There's no performance hit whatsoever. Is it even running? :)

>To hell with 'em all. I broke down and bought NOD32.


So how are you liking NOD32 so far? its a bit pricey but if it works it would be worth the cash, I like what Grogan said "...set it and forget it...". I tried Anitvir and got rid of it because it seemed to choke Netscape plus it affected word documents along with some other quirks so its gone...

NOD32? Oh, I had forgotten it was installed. ;-)
Seriously, I have no problems with it whatsoever. It does it's job and does it well. It is pricey, but I have a full year to decide if I want to renew it or not.

Quote:

So how are you liking NOD32 so far? its a bit pricey but if it works it would be worth the cash, I like what Grogan said "...set it and forget it...". I tried Anitvir and got rid of it because it seemed to choke Netscape plus it affected word documents along with some other quirks so its gone...

When I used NOD32, the only issues I encountered were occasional false positives quickly fixed by Eset, and some difficulty uninstalling the MAPI module for Outlook (which I did not need in the first place) when my subscription expired. I wanted to test other products afterward.

For me, NOD32 is overall the best AV product I've ever used. I may go back to it soon. :cool:

I only installed the "AMON" during the custom install option.
Yeah, It's a nice program...I'll probably renew my subscription when it expires next January. :-)

>NOD32? Oh, I had forgotten it was installed. ;-)
>Seriously, I have no problems with it whatsoever. It does
>it's job and does it well. It is pricey, but I have a
>full year to decide if I want to renew it or not.


Thanks, I see its less when its renewed too...I've been using AVG but it sounds like NOD32 is a bit better from everything I've been reading here...

Quote:

but Antivir was a bloody nuisance, it wouldn't let me install trojans and malware so I had to disable it

:)

thanks again Grogan, made a couple of changes after reading your setup.

Didn't see anything on the website, but am assuming you would completely uninstall ver. 6 before putting on # 7.

Absolutely, yes you should uninstall Antivir 6.x first.

>Btw... Antivir 7 is still simple enough that it will install
>and run in Safe Mode with Command Prompt (can do a custom
>install and deselect the resident guard) and use it as a quick
>and dirty scanner.

I use Kaspersky....Doesn't AVP use their engine? I was going to install this as just a scanner as described above but if they use the same engine I guess it wouldn't be really worthwhile....What would you tell me here? Thanks.








Dell Dimension 4550,Win XP Home SP2, 2.4 GHZ P4, 512MB DDR PC2700 Ram, ATI Rage 128(32MB),Cable
Dell Inspiron 5160,Win XP Home SP2,2.8 GHZ,512MB Ram,32MB Vide

I'm not familiar with AVP at all, but I should think that if you have Kaspersky, Antivir wouldn't be necessary or additionally useful.

Being an Avast user and reading your comments, I decide to give AntiVir a try.
After several attempts to download the W98 version at last one site responded and downloaded.

The AntiVir installed OK (after uninstalling Avast from Ctrl Panel) and it immediately went for an update. Unfortunately despite asking my firewall (Sygate) to always allow access the update never started. I asked it to abort the download but the dialogue boxes refused to go away.
I rebooted and started to update again with identical results (except Sygate didn't ask for permission again). Again the update dialogue boxes persisted after an abort request.

I reinstalled AntiVir from a second download from another mirror site with the exact same result.

Avast is back on my m/c and needed no configuration as it remembered my previous settings to the letter.

Me thinks the AntiVir update servers are swamped because of the new program release.

OK but doesn't really answer the question as to why AntiVir refused to phone home for an update ? It just sat there displaying a dialogue box showing "connecting to update site" but with no activity whatsoever ??

Edit .. just re-read your post ... forget I said anything :blusher:

I may try it again in a day or two.

There are never guarantees on the Internet that any given site is going to be reachable to you at any given time. When the mirrors are all in the same geographical area it may not help to choose another if you have to follow the same route to get to them. The servers themselves could be overloaded but often it's just that.

If you have trouble in the day time, try again at night.

I can't get anything from their download servers right now, but I did manage to grab the latest executables from the italian ftp mirror (tiscali) which should be up to date.

So their servers probably are overloaded right now.

>I can't get anything from their download servers right now,
>but I did manage to grab the latest executables from the
>italian ftp mirror (tiscali) which should be up to date.
>
>So their servers probably are overloaded right now.

Yep..tried again last night and eventually the download server kicked in and completed another download of the install exe. Unfortunately the fresh install still would not connect to the update server, either last night or this morning, and despite waiting up to 5mins and several 'abort' requests I had to ctrl>alt>del to kill the process.

Gone back to Avast.

I can't trust an AV that can't install decent servers and won't update !

Edit: Seems I might not be the only one having problems > http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=931 !! :-(

I can't trust antivirus software that doesn't actually protect very well. Avast has a very poor real time scanner and I will never install that for anyone again.

See here:
http://www.bitbenderforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69978

also see Spezi's reply #12 in that thread.

I got through to the update servers with mine not long after posting here this afternoon and I have not seen any of the other problems in that thread (like it slowing down applications).

>I got through to the update servers with mine not long after
>posting here this afternoon and I have not seen any of the
>other problems in that thread (like it slowing down
>applications).

I'm not doubting your word regarding Avast, there does seem to be some doubt around regarding it and I really want AntiVir on my PCs, but I cannot seem to get to the update servers at present.

As I am at work now I will try again later although I am very concerned regarding an anti virus company whose servers seem to fall over when a new version is posted, or am I doing something wrong ?

What's the thing about this 'random number' on install to be sent at first update ? Could that be stalling the update ?

No, it's not unusual to have to try again later to get the updates for Antivir. Probably nothing is wrong. It used to be worse. I had stopped installing it for that reason at one time. It's good for trojans though.

Basa..Why not just manually download the update from their site? Or are you on dial up?







Dell Dimension 4550,Win XP Home SP2, 2.4 GHZ P4, 512MB DDR PC2700 Ram, ATI Rage 128(32MB),Cable
Dell Inspiron 5160,Win XP Home SP2,2.8 GHZ,512MB Ram,32MB Vide

Quote:

As I am at work now I will try again later although I am very concerned regarding an anti virus company whose servers seem to fall over when a new version is posted, or am I doing something wrong ?

I agree, there is probably nothing wrong. I've been using it for more than a year, and this happens occasionally. Just try an hour or two later. It has never been enough of a problem for me to worry about.

I just uninstalled Avast and installed Antivir on my computer. How can I tell that my email is being scanned when I receive it? I don't see any icon notifying me like Avast use to.

Email scanning is redundant and a waste of CPU cycles. The most important component of antivirus software is real time protection that scans files as they are opened or created.

I don't think Antivir actually does email scanning.

Agreed. When I was using avast, I only installed the standard shield. Now that I'm using NOD32, I only installed the AMON.

Quote:

Email scanning is redundant and a waste of CPU cycles.

Ok, I am confused. I thought the majority of viruses came through in infected email attachments. Does my email still get "guarded" by Antivir? If someone sends me something infected, will it still be caught or stopped before it does harm?

With most antivirus programs, files are checked by the real-time scanner when created, opened, or executed. So having them scanned by an email plugin is redundant because the real-time scanner will catch them anyway.

Yes, as soon as it tries to become a file (e.g. in temp) your antivirus software's real time scanner will catch it. Until that happens, it cannot hurt you. It's text... mime encoded in your email db files.

Additionally, many ISPs do server side scanning of mailboxes. Not all though.

I generally never enable email scanning on anyone's computer because it invariably ends up stopping their mail at some point when it malfunctions. The only one to date that I haven't seen cause problems is Nod32's Imon (not the same as Emon which is specifically for Microsoft Outlook), and it's not really "email scanning" per se, but winsock level scanning. I have yet to see it bung anything up.

The only one to date that I
>haven't seen cause problems is Nod32's Imon (not the same as
>Emon which is specifically for Microsoft Outlook), and it's
>not really "email scanning" per se, but winsock level
>scanning. I have yet to see it bung anything up.

Since reading this thread I've shoved off AVG and now use NOD32 which is sweet...Antivir didn't work well with my system and while AVG didn't give me any problems it seems, after reading the posts here, it isn't as good as NOD32 for protection...

I think I may have to give up on this AV program. AntiVir 7 is failing to update on both of my computers. It fails on scheduled updates and also on manual updates. It's only successful about 10% of the time. I checked out the AntiVir support forum and it appears I'm not the only one having problems updating.

>I think I may have to give up on this AV program. AntiVir 7
>is failing to update on both of my computers. It fails on
>scheduled updates and also on manual updates. It's only
>successful about 10% of the time. I checked out the AntiVir
>support forum and it appears I'm not the only one having
>problems updating.


Too bad about that program, perhaps they will come up with something better in the future...for now, if you are still looking for a good AV I suggest NOD32...it has a 30 day trial period and it runs fine, updating several times/day it seems...

Yeah, even the old version 6 isn't updating anymore. You can still update it manually (sometimes).
I had it on my secondary machine, but uninstalled it yesterday and went back to avast. I never have had any problems with avast, except slower system response.

Thanks for the manual update link Darren. But the link won't even load. That's too bad cause it seemed like a very good AV.

I have not been having much trouble getting the updates around here. Sometimes it might take 5 minutes or so to get a connection. Yesterday, I installed Antivir 7 for my sister's stepson and the updates came instantly.

I've been trying AntiVir for the past couple of weeks. Frankly, the updater is an unreliable pain in the butt. I'm back with Avast.

Avast is terrible and I will never install, recommend or even see anyone using it without warning them again. So what if it gets its updates and rotates its icon to amuse small minds. The real time protection is ineffective and even the scanner leaves something to be desired. I honestly don't know how they get high ratings... it only serves to reinforce that those antivirus test sites are not to be taken too seriously. Antivir instantly catches stuff that Avast misses.

Okay... On second thought, and especially since you're the pro who's done the research, I'll re-install AntiVir. It's a no-brainer that putting up with a quirky updater in a small price to pay for better protection.

Thanks for setting me straight.

It's not so much research, it's more practical failings where it counts. I don't say Avast does nothing, but the real time scanning is unreliable and Avast doesn't detect enough trojans. (I haven't seen an actual "virus" in a long time, it's more the high level trojans and malware)

I must say though, if you can NEVER seem to get the updates, then the antvirus software is useless to you. If it's just a matter of having to check with a right click, and maybe picking a different time if you just can't get it after letting it try all its mirrors for a while, then I would not stop using the better program because of it.

At the present time, be mindful of the possibility of false positives or inappropriate detections with Antivir. I've seen it detect a few downloaded installers as containing parts of trojans. (I generally do Antivir configured to scan all files, with high heuristics settings for both scanner and guard, and all unwanted program types enabled after I install it for someone)

For some reason, the first update after installation always works. After that is when it all goes to hell.

Quote:

Yesterday, I installed Antivir 7 for my sister's stepson and the updates came instantly.

Not that I have seen. The only problems I have seen are due to servers not responding.

P.S. I may not have seen every revision of the program though. I generally start out with a freshly downloaded installation .exe which is current at the time it was posted on that day. (with def updates sometimes later on the same day)

Quote:

For some reason, the first update after installation always works. After that is when it all goes to hell.

I have noticed that too, but really, apart from having to try half an hour later to get the update sometimes, I really haven't had much of a problem.
I notice the new version throws a few popups at you after the install.:-(

Tried to update about 20 minutes ago. Waited about half a minute to connect with no luck.

Just now, auto update cut in and updated while I was browsing around.

>Basa..Why not just manually download the update from their
>site? Or are you on dial up?
>
Nah .. IMb BB.

I give up on this buggy prog ! Just ran Ccleaner to clear out the registry setting Antivir leaves behind. Downloaded another installer from the main server, installed and ... no update ! x( Why should I have to mess about with manual updates when Avast does it without any input from the user ?? :rolleyes:

Left it a full 10mins on 3 separate attempts and nada. Have to ctrl>alt>del>end task to get rid of the dialogue box !

Oh and not mentioned it before but I can't even get to the configuration page because it gives me an 'illegal operation' / memory conflict error. Which has happened on all of the 5 or 6 installs I've tried to date. x(

Enough, I'm sticking to Avast which has behaved flawlessly throughout each of the several uninstall / installs to make way for Antivir. :cool: