# Either kill the AVG virus update people or kill me. Now. Please. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352 "2007-01-10T01:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/21 "2007-01-10T06:41:57Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] I crushed your pathetic first post. It was weak and worthless. [/QUOTE] And emaciated and suffering from malnutrition and full of rickets and stuff. Euthanasia was fully warranted. Thank you. No mourning party shall be convened due to the circumstances. You understand. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/22 "2007-01-10T07:26:14Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] I crushed your pathetic first post. It was weak and worthless. [/QUOTE] Mangy, too – had to throw out the pelt. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/23 "2007-01-10T07:49:36Z")
Giraffe stalks hunter and kills, film at 11. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/24 "2007-01-10T08:23:19Z")
I downloaded and installed the newest free version (7.54767564863 or some such thing) very easily. It included a link to [their forum](http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/) Have you tried asking there? ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/25 "2007-01-10T11:55:50Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] I downloaded and installed the newest free version (7.54767564863 or some such thing) very easily. It included a link to [their forum](http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/) Have you tried asking there? [/QUOTE] No! That’s _just what they’re expecting her to do!_ ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/26 "2007-01-10T15:12:03Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Yup, it’s designed to fear people who aren’t real tech savvy into forking over money. There is a free version of 7.5, and it’s linked to earlier in this thread. [Here it is again!](http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-virus-free) [/QUOTE] I love you people!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/27 "2007-01-10T15:19:28Z")
Crap. Well, there’s $63 bucks down the toilet, then. Is it legal for them to remind me again and again that my anti-virus program is expiring and I have to reorder and “click here?” Can I call my credit-card co. and cancel payment? When I get home tonight I’ll try that free update and see if I can figure it out (I sure as hell couldn’t make heads or tails of the link they sent me!). ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/28 "2007-01-10T16:18:45Z")
What seems strange to me, is that after I installed the new free version, it has needed to update and REBOOT every day! I don’t have that kind of time, to wait 45 seconds for my compy to restart every day! 🙂 Now I just ignore that little greyed symbol in my task bar… ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/29 "2007-01-10T16:45:00Z")
BitDefender has a [free version](http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html). Their all-bells-and-whistles-included version is only $29.95/year. Easy to install, works well and quietly, doesn’t devour huge amounts of computer resources. Rated Best Buy by PCWorld in March 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/30 "2007-01-10T16:48:08Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I had the daily AVG updates, which run out soon, and so I clicked the warning thingie and bought a $63 package of all kinds of protection and updates and bells and whistles. Since they asked for a shipping address, I assumed they’d be sending me a disc, but they e’d me a link from which, I take it, I am supposed to download the update (what was the shipping address for, then?). Having already spent my $63, I’d like to download it, but being about as adept at these things as Billie Burke, I cannot for the life of me make heads or tails of it. I cannot also reach any tech support! I clicked and linked and _contact us!_'d and it was the myth of Sisyphus all over again, but with e-mail links instsead of rocks. So now I am going to pop some lorazepam and wash it down with codiene and go to bed, and maybe the Computer Fairies will come in overnight and get it all set up for me. [/QUOTE] I feel your pain. Drugs and A Personal Friend Who Knows This Shit are the only remedy. I hate it. HATE it! ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/31 "2007-01-10T17:04:37Z")
[QUOTE=Iggins] What seems strange to me, is that after I installed the new free version, it has needed to update and REBOOT every day! I don’t have that kind of time, to wait 45 seconds for my compy to restart every day! 🙂 Now I just ignore that little greyed symbol in my task bar… [/QUOTE] I’d uninstall and reinstall if I were you. Mine doesn’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/32 "2007-01-10T17:15:56Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Crap. Well, there’s $63 bucks down the toilet, then. Is it legal for them to remind me again and again that my anti-virus program is expiring and I have to reorder and “click here?” Can I call my credit-card co. and cancel payment? [/QUOTE] If you paid for goods or services and didn’t receive them then you absolutely can dispute the charge. Many credit card companies are now requiring that the dispute be in writing though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/33 "2007-01-10T19:46:52Z")
Get Kaspersky, and get the suite “Internet Security 6.0”. AV isn’t a big deal anymore. Get a good firewall, don’t open attachments, don’t spread things by “sneakerware” and you’re OK. Spyware is the problem now, and it’s being taken over by organized crime. It can and has lurked in banner ads for legit sites (one reason I stay away from Snopes). Let’s hope TPTB here never sell out to the extent we have to have banner ads, pop-ups and the like. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/34 "2007-01-10T20:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Crap. Well, there’s $63 bucks down the toilet, then. Is it legal for them to remind me again and again that my anti-virus program is expiring and I have to reorder and “click here?” Can I call my credit-card co. and cancel payment? When I get home tonight I’ll try that free update and see if I can figure it out (I sure as hell couldn’t make heads or tails of the link they sent me!). [/QUOTE] Have you asked for a refund? I had an experience with a different company recently offering a completely different service that is probably better not mentioned here (no, not a P2P, but borderline as far as legality). It wasn’t what I expected so I asked for the refund and had it back on the card within 4 days. I would imagine AVG is just as likely to offer a refund. FTR, disputing the charge before asking for the refund can take much longer to clear the matter. Once the charge is disputed, from my experience anyway, the refund is much harder to process since the CC company is involved with the investigation. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/35 "2007-01-11T01:28:51Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Get Kaspersky, and get the suite “Internet Security 6.0”. AV isn’t a big deal anymore. [/QUOTE] Does this mean that AVG is somehow no longer good as an antivirus tool? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/36 "2007-01-11T01:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Does this mean that AVG is somehow no longer good as an antivirus tool? [/QUOTE] No, I didn’t mean that, AVG seems OK, although the OP’s complaint isn’t unique to him. But I suggest a full suite of services, one that _also_ protects from Spyware. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/37 "2007-01-11T02:25:19Z")
I’m going to try and sort all this out over the weekend. I can’t do it from work, obviously, and when I get home at night my pore tired brain-pan can’t deal with any complexities beyond “is this the remote or the cell phone?” If only I can find a customer service phone number and get an actual AVG guy or gal to talk to! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/38 "2007-01-11T12:11:35Z")
[http://www.grisoft.com/doc/7/lng/ww/tpl/tpl01/fht/7.436?num=497](http://www.grisoft.com/doc/7/lng/ww/tpl/tpl01/fht/7.436?num=497) This link may help you get what you want, Eve. Do you have the license number they gave you? If so, go here. [http://www.grisoft.com/doc/Programs/lng/ww/tpl/tpl01/fht/7.436-7.497?prd=avw](http://www.grisoft.com/doc/Programs/lng/ww/tpl/tpl01/fht/7.436-7.497?prd=avw) Get the top file, labeled AVG Anti-Virus for Windows. ``` * When you are prompted, please do not open this file directly from the internet, but click "Save" button and choose location where installation file should be stored. We recommend saving the file to the Desktop. * Reboot your computer. * Locate the downloaded AVG installation file (it has a four color square icon and its name starts with AVG75...) and launch the installation by double-clicking on it. * Follow the installation wizard. * Enter your license number when you are asked (we recommend that you use copy&paste method to enter this license number into the installation form). * If AVG asks you for a computer restart, please do so. ``` Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/39 "2007-01-11T16:04:48Z")
Thanks! I will try this tonight. One of my “help!” e-mails hit home, and I got a reply with a 23-digit number that is supposed to be the Rosetta Stone for all my installation problems. Hmmph. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352/40 "2007-01-11T17:06:08Z")
I, too, was initially under the impression that AVG Free had been finished for good, and that if I wanted to continue with AVG I’d have to buy AVG 7.5. Part of the deceipt arrises because the website you go to when you click the warning, has no links to the free version of AVG. It is entirely devoted to the pay version of AVG. You are definitely left with the impression that AVG Free has been discontinued. I eventually found the free site and am happy once again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-kill-the-avg-virus-update-people-or-kill-me-now-please/387352.md?page=3)