# Goodbye, AVG **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168 "2014-05-11T02:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/61 "2014-06-04T01:13:26Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > All antivirus programs flash merit panels? Funny, I never noticed that from other antivirus apps. And I wouldn’t install anything to change my Start screen because I have no reason to. I take it you are bemoaning a past bad experience with web surfing? All of them tell when they’ve blocked something, yes. They have to, to give you a chance to say “NO, DON’T DO THAT!” If you’re talking about an additional dialog popping up giving you stats or telling you that you’ve been updated, then I agree that is stupid. Usually you can turn crap like that off separately, however. And, while I haven’t tried to change my start screen, I’ve definitely run into false positives, and those are annoying if you can’t tell the A/V to ignore a particular file. In silent mode, you won’t get a chance. All I’m saying is that there are tradeoffs. Go to silent mode or gaming mode, and you lose the chance to stop your antivirus from doing something you don’t want it to do. If the risk is worth it to you, go right ahead and enable that full time. I have run into problems where AVG locked a file because it thought it was a virus and not even uninstalling AVG got it back where I could use it. That’s one reason I don’t use AVG anymore. BTW, I was wrong. You can still download Threatfire from [the official website](http://www.threatfire.com/download/), you just have to avoid the main page and the CNET [Download.com](http://Download.com) link. I still recommend it if you use Windows 7 (it doesn’t work properly on Windows 8.x), along with the Malwarebytes option I mentioned (since it is more up to date). It adds extra protection for other programs with no noticeable performance hit. In case you’re wondering, what both of these pieces of software do is block suspicious actions rather than suspicious looking programs. If a program tries to do something it normally shouldn’t need to do, you get a warning and a chance to stop it. It’s like a firewall for programs rather than for the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/62 "2015-12-10T20:17:16Z")
Zombie thread or no, I just uninstalled AVG. Damn thing was giving way too many false positives then telling me to go ahead and open whatever was giving the false positive only to block _again_. As a false positive. Enough of that lather, rinse, repeat bullshit! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/63 "2015-12-10T20:22:15Z")
So what’s the least evil free virus protection now? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/64 "2015-12-10T21:31:21Z")
I’ve been using Norton Security Suite because I got it free from my ISP (Comcast) and I don’t have any complaints. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/65 "2015-12-10T21:39:21Z")
> [@bup](#): > > So what’s the least evil free virus protection now? Windows Defender. No, really. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/66 "2015-12-11T02:26:16Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Windows Defender. No, really. Concur. I’ve tried nearly 1/2 dozen free AV programs over the years. For a long time, I would have said AVG, but about 5-6 years back they made some major changes that made it a bother. McAfee and Norton were always a bother, so much that I don’t even use the free trial periods they offer when buying a computer. I’m not constantly testing new AV programs to see how each has changed or if AVG is now good to use again. If and when Windows Defender is updated to be more intrusive or more of a system resource hog, I’ll look again. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/67 "2015-12-11T04:33:09Z")
Windows Defender user here. I’ve been running it for years now, since it was called Windows Live OneCare. It’s been painless and troublefree the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/68 "2015-12-11T08:46:44Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I know I’m a couple days late to this party, but it goes like this. Run a computer without anti-virus for 3 years. Install the most highly recommended anti-virus program available, run a scan, 0 viruses found. Uninstall anti-virus. Repeat every 3 years. Congratulations. That would work for the computers I use exclusively, but for those my brother gets his hands on, it’s more along the lines of “computer is slow! :(” “riiiiight… do we have chocolate? I’m going to need chocolate” _puts on big girl pants, sits in front of offending computer_ … “JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! How many times have I told you Marca has more viruses than a biology lab, damnit!” (soccer web) One time I went to Mom’s and she kind of looked like this :dubious:. “What’s up?” “You know I ask you to check the computer every time you come?” “Oh yeah, I’ll do it after dinner” “No, that’s the thing, it’s not going slow!” “… has Jay used it since the last time I was here?” “Oh! No, he hasn’t!.. I’m his mother, do I have the right to kill him a little?” “No Mom” “Damn.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/69 "2015-12-11T16:55:16Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Windows Defender. No, really. Thanks. Last night, I had the great pleasure of uninstalling AVG. No longer will it tell me there’s a necessary update every time I make my home page\* what I want my home page to be\*, and change it to their stupid search page. That was the last straw. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/70 "2015-12-11T17:59:05Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Windows Defender. No, really. Yeah, but also the least effective. Microsoft designed it as a baseline and it consistently scores the lowest in tests. In fact, one site I use ([av-test.org](http://av-test.org)) defines it as the cutoff for the lowest protection. Plus I did have problems with it causing a 10 second lag on my Windows 10 machine, so I switched to BitDefender’s free edition (as [av-test.org](http://avtest.org) said it was both good and caused no lag). I also remember liking Panda AV, which is the AV I used back on Windows 7. I avoid AVG, Avast, and Avira due to their constant popup ads. Edit: For those who run no a/v, I think scanning every three years is a bit too low. I’d say every 3-6 months. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/71 "2015-12-11T19:07:53Z")
I will endorse BitDefender free edition as well. It’s lightweight, it has an extremely minimal interface (so minimal there’s almost nothing to interact with), and it does what I need it to and nothing more. That checks all the boxes for me. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/72 "2015-12-11T19:43:07Z")
FYI, many internet service providers provide premium security software free of charge to their customers. Mine (Comcast in South Florida) provides Norton Security Suite as I mentioned before in this thread, and my mother who is on Time Warner in Charlotte NC gets Norton free. It can’t hurt to check if your provider offers something similar. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/73 "2015-12-11T20:49:27Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I will endorse BitDefender free edition as well. It’s lightweight, it has an extremely minimal interface (so minimal there’s almost nothing to interact with), and it does what I need it to and nothing more. That checks all the boxes for me. Yes, this a bit of a zombie thread. But I have to report that now just a couple of machines in the schools I tech for need still to have an XP OS (some in virtual form, and no, the request for an antivirus in XP cannot be just turned off: orders from management is that an antivirus has to be shown that is working) Bit Defender still does the job and is not clogging the system as AVG was beginning to do after the last update, either that or the malware I usually encounter in the client’s computers were making circles around AVG. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/74 "2015-12-12T03:11:54Z")
I don’t really mind AVG. I have used it a long time and mostly it doesn’t get in my way. I remember also getting the safe search tab in my browser, but it wasn’t too much of a problem to get rid of it. At one time, maybe when i started getting that tab, I looked around for other free programs but AVG was the only one that scanned e-mails (I run an e-mail client locally instead of using web mail) and it has found a couple of bad e-mail or attachments. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/75 "2015-12-12T04:06:24Z")
Cripes, I thought this was going to be about the last living member of the Flying Tigers dying, especially as it’s posted by an Airman. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/76 "2015-12-12T17:03:40Z")
How do people feel about “sandboxie”? If you visit dodgy sites only occasionally and have no interest in retaining anything from them, it works pretty good as a “last line of defense”. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168/77 "2015-12-12T17:54:19Z")
MSFT wrote Defender when it became clear that most people wouldn’t shell out the $50 (at the time) for anti virus software, yet their machines would be infected and complain that Windows was a piece of crap. Defender was designed as a free AV system with baseline level of security and written to run very efficiently with Windows. It’s solid for what it does. For anti malware, the [malicious software removal tool](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/malicious-software-removal-tool-details.aspx?id=16)also works pretty well. It’s free. MSFT updates it every month, so you have to go in and redownload after the first tues of each month. I’ve found Malware bites to be pretty useful as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-avg/688168.md?page=3)