I installed Avast a month ago because I thought it was free. Now I'm getting a message saying my updating licence is about to expire.

What am I missing here?

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Paul D

You have to register it and enter a key, otherwise you're in "trial mode". It's free to register, but it then supposedly expires in one year (and you register again for free). I say supposedly, because I've seen the keys expire long before a year is up in some cases.

Now... I find the real time scanner in Avast to be not so great, so beware. It doesn't do so well at preventing trojans.

P.S. Register it here:

http://www.avast.com/i_kat_207.php?lang=ENG

( link from http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html )

Thanks - all under control

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Paul D

Based on Grogan's findings lately with Avast I believe I am going to go with Anti Vir Per for free on computers I do that want free antivirus. Even thou many say it's a bitch to update it I think it's better to have something that is going to stop these trojan's and viruses before they get on your machine. I still believe Kaspersky is the best for paid.

I used avast for 5 years before buying NOD32 (and still use it on my second machine) and never got a virus or trojan. Don't be so quick to dismiss it.

Avast has hurt my reputation and I've lost good, regular customers over it (who now take their computer to the shop).

Why does the real time scanner not find stuff, or find stuff after its hooked and can't remove it? Why does the manual scanner not even find things that Antivir finds before you even finish the installation? It's arguable that some of this stuff is outside the scope of antivirus software, but that's an argument I can't afford to entertain. It really depends on what you run in to. I could probably get along without resident antivirus software if I was running Windows, so I could let Avast go round and round and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Especially if I get the odd email worm in the junk pile and it's detected. Most people here would probably be fine with Avast.

Another customer saved. Avast removed, Antivir installed. Downloaders and dialers found.

I have found Avast to be a very good product. I have placed it on computers I was very sure had a virus/trojan that another product didn't find; and, it found them!

Here is the, I no longer recommend Avast thread, (& hey, I can't update Antivir thread), for review:

http://www.pcqanda.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=397371

McAfee Security Center
Anyone here use this? Been trying it since that article on the 10 best
Anti-Virus programs where McAfee came in second. I'ts free with a Comcast broadband connection. It contains a Virus scan,Personal Firewall Plus,and a Privacy Service. Hmmmm........anyone else can't reach
www.comcast.net ??

It came with my Dell notebook. It works fine so far but then I'm a relatively safe surfer who has a variety of other anti-malware programs installed. Scans are fast and updates are automatic. At times it will ask for permission to be granted, ala ZoneAlarm, and so far it has remembered these correctly.

Jim.

I understand that McAfee has been greatly improved from the disastrous mess it used to be, Bu I have had no personal contact with their new versions. In the past it took over your system to the point that it was considered by many of us to be a hard to get rid of virus itself.

I still call it McCrappy :-)

Has it improved? Yes, the uninstall is more reliable and doesn't leave behind a corrupted mess requiring a witch doctor to remove. Does it still piss me off? Yes, I still remove it at the first signs of annoyance.

For one example, people get quite tired of having to change their incoming email server to mail.their_isp.com from 127.0.0.1 at every session when the email scanning invariably malfunctions. I disable it, and disable the spam filtering and it still keeps getting changed. Off it comes, the whole kit and kaboodle.

The only thing I seem to have trouble removing, is the McAfee Security Center itself, when it thinks that it still has components installed. If it won't uninstall after uninstalling all the individual components, you have to go to c:\program files\mcrappy.com\agent\app directory and delete any remaining .adf files. Then the McAfee Security Center will uninstall. That in itself isn't a big deal, it doesn't harm the system if people can't get that removed (you can still install another antivirus program).

(Can't install new over old)
A friend has an old version of McAfee Security Center and tried downloading her ISP free McAfee Security Center.After the fact she uninstalled the old version's programs but still cant uninstall the old McAfee Security Center. She tries to uninstall using add and remove programs a message appears missing some components...reinstall then uninstall. Well she has no software to reinstall it.Do you think the steps you mentioned may work for her? It is blocking the new download of McAfee from working? Her OS is Windows XP Home...

The answer to that is sort of in my post above. Sorry I was being sarcastic there, but the correct path is:

c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\app

After uninstalling all the original components that the Security Center manages (e.g. anvirius, firewall, antispam... anything mcafee) if the security center won't uninstall, you have to go to that directory and delete any remaining files with the .adf extension.

Here's the information from mcafee:

http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/displaydoc.asp?frames=1&docid=71525&CategoryId=62201

Grogan,
I appreciate all the help.... Thanks

I just wanted to comment on AntiVir. A week after my previous troubles with AntiVir, I uninstalled it and cleaned up everything. I then downloaded AntiVir again from the website new and noticed the file size of the .exe program was larger than my original download size from over a couple weeks ago. Since installing this new download, I am not having any problems with updating the program like I was before. I have no idea why that is but am VERY happy things are working better now with AntiVir.

I may try it again when the update servers and bugs are worked out, but right now, It's a pain in the ass.

I'm kinda the new one on the block so bare with me we followed McAfee's directions.....
When we double clicked on the (app) folder nothing was in it? So we still cant get Add and Remove Programs to remove it?

>I'm kinda the new one on the block so bare with me we
>followed McAfee's directions.....
>When we double clicked on the (app) folder nothing was in it?
>So we still cant get Add and Remove Programs to remove it?

I can't tell you offhand how to manually remove the security center and I cannot find such a document. If you're sure that folder is empty (I don't think the files are hidden but try enabling "show all files" and disabling "hide file extensions" in folder options) and you still can't uninstall the security center normally, perhaps reinstalling it will allow you to uninstall it correctly.

Here's a document on how to download it.

http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/displaydoc.asp?frames=1&docid=70653&CategoryId=62201

Err, sorry, I guess the instructions to download it aren't too helpful seeing as you're trying to upgrade, which means that you've already been there

You might also consider one of their free support options, I see a "Free Internet Chat" option there.

http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/contactoptions.asp

I did change the folder option to hidden files nothing appeared.My friend will be gone now for a couple of weeks when she returns will try the link. Thank's for responding and all the help....

I got rid of McAfee five years ago when it let a virus sail through to infect two computers. I got rid of Norton last year when it started shutting down my whole computer and was taking it over.

I noticed that PCWORLD magazine recently rated McAfee number two out of ten and Norton number five. I noticed also that Norton now charges $30 for a phone support call. In all, I think I shall stick with number eight, Avast Home Edition.


HP 3365
W98SE
Avast
Zonealarm
AdAware

OK despite the problems I mentioned in that previous thread I have now managed to download, install and update AntiVir successfully.

Can someone now explain how to configure it because every time I click on 'configure AntiVir' from either right click menu or from the main page I get a "Control" - 'This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down' ! The details are 'CONTROL caused a general protection fault in module USER.EXE at 0005:0000070b'. ??? x(

Sounds like something got corrupted. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling?

Thanks for responding she doesnt have the software to reinstall.At first she wasnt able to even connect to the internet. Thats not the problem now She just might have to go to McAfee and pay for tech support to take the old Security Center off her system?

I've not seen Antivir crash, but that's certainly not acceptable. I doubt that it's incorrectly installed (you've tried it enough times). I also presume that you don't have renmants of other antivirus software still loading. It'll be a software conflict of some sort. From that message I can see that it's Win9x, which is quite prone to that sort of thing.

It may not be easy to solve, unless it's something running in the background that can be eliminated. Especially nowadays when many things you install may change versions of older system files. Also, device drivers can cause those kinds of conflicts in Win9x.

You should not use the program unless that one gets solved.

(The delays during updates and seeming loss of responsiveness when you click cancel, I feel were due to servers not responding rather than a problem with the program. If you wait long enough it should time out and cancel and then you should be able to click the 'x' to close it)

hi everybody, i'm new to your website. it's a great site. i currently have mcafee AV with firewall, and it's a very good product, but i've decided to switch over to kaspersky. the only problem i'm having is disabling the firewall. i am unable to get the info thru mcafee. grogan was right on with everything he stated earlier, and shelly was also. uninstalling this has to be done precisely and completely. first virusscan, then firewall, then security center. i have to go right into the computer files, and possibly run a cleaner. i've never done this before and i want all the info lined up for when the trial period expires. Thanks, Ed

I give up! Just uninstalled Avast! and installed AntiVir.

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Paul D

Why?
Still have "license" issues?

I switched from Avast to Antivir, largely on Grogan's recommendation. However I can't find where to set up automatic updates or to schedule scans.

Am i missing something, or are these not possible in Antivir?

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Paul D

Double-click the tray icon and select the "Scheduler" tab. Right-click whichever one you wan to change and select "Edit Job". The system scan isn't enabled by default, so you'll need to check it.

Yes, those features are included in the free version of the program.

Go to the Scheduler tab, right click on the job and choose Edit job. There's a bit of a "click next" wizard.

Works very well Paul, both XP machines in my house update pretty well every day. Fast and efficent.

I'm still updating automatically with Antivir without any problems. I really like the ease of this program.

I haven't seen any more update trouble lately around here either. Their servers seem to have improved. I've been installing this without reservations now on customer PCs and it's been kicking ass.

Thanks All. Never thought of double-clicking a tray icon - most of them react to right-click.

How does the update work if you're not online 24/7? I've definitely missed a couple and had to catch up manually.

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Paul D

I've been finding that the updater launches when a dialup connection is established, so it should.

I tell everyone not to rely solely on automatic updates for antivirus software though. I tell people to right click on the tray icon and check for updates once a day.

Never do. But also I've set auto-update to twice a day. That should cover it.

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Paul D

I believe on the scheduling screen where you can edit the intervals, you can put a check mark in the box that states "start job while connecting to the internet". I noticed it automatically updates when I've just turned my PC on. Actually I have the other box check too that states "Repeat job if time has expired" I'm not sure if that means it will update if you were offline and you missed the next scheduled update session.

Hi Chaps, I have been running Antivir on 2 of my 4 machines for about 3 weeks now, with no problems. One little worry though, I notice both show that the license expires on 31/05/2006. What's going to happen then? Even on the "Help" pages, the example shows the same "Doomsday" date......
Thanks for all the input on this subject. I advise about 50 geriatric computer users in my town, and they rely on me to give the right advice!
Kind regards,
Richard.
Computer Specs here:- http://www.yachtcha.com/Specs.html
Website http://www.yachtcha.com
Its nice to be important, but its important to be nice

I would expect that the date will just change with an update.

There are several posts on this:

http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=841
http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=4643
http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=3426

Apparently they've always had that, just that people weren't seeing it because it wasn't so prominent.

Thanks Grogan, I am reassured!
Cheers,
Richard.
Computer Specs here:- http://www.yachtcha.com/Specs.html
Website http://www.yachtcha.com
Its nice to be important, but its important to be nice

It seems to be updating properly now. If I could just get rid of that stupid nag screen, it'd be alright. I tried deleting avnotify.exe but it re-spawned on the next update. I wonder if a dummy file would work?

Darren,I thought you were running NOD32?:-)

I'm running NOD32 on my main machine. I'm running AntiVir on my second machine.

Quote:

>Darren,I thought you were running NOD32?:-)

Did anyone notice that www.anitvir.com points to the Alwil (Avast) website? Thats kinda shady in my opinion.

I don't see it pointing to Alwil, but who could mistake Anitvir for AntiVir?

That was a typo on my part, sorry. I meant www.antivir.com

Alwil (or whoever they were at the time if not called that) probably registered a bunch of antivirus related domain names to lead people to them. There may not have been a software package named "AntiVir" at that time.

P.S. and for example, just like Trend Micro has registered www.antivirus.com