Avg

fifi35

Hello, do I need AVG if I already have Advanced System Care?

Thanks.

Fifi

davb

From what I can see, Advanced System Care is a system and registry analyser/cleanup package which has some malware scanning - it doesn't seem to have any Antivirus.
It wouldn't be my choice, as ccleaner and malwarebytes do a very good job.

As far as antivirus though, then you will need some. AVG would do the job, but again it wouldn't be my first choice, as Avast and Avira are the favorites at the moment.

fifi35

Thanks for that.
I shall download one of them.
Do you have any thoughts on why one is better than the other?

Fifi

davb

It's personal choice really. Avira doesn't have local email client scanning, ie for Outlook, thundrebird etc - but if you use Hotmail or Gmail it will be fine. I use Avast, but everyone has their own opinions.

RussJK

Avast free is overall lighter on resources than AVG, and is a full package with file guard, network shield, and web filter. The defaults of Avast work well for most people out of the box.

Avira is a superior antivirus, but it is only an antivirus and does not have a network shield or webshield. It still seems to detect bad webpages as you have to download the contents of websites in order to actually view them. The defaults aren't right - as you have to manually select "detect potentially unwanted programs" in the settings in order to block the majority of the rogue avs that people are getting infected with.

spud17

The defaults aren't right - as you have to manually select "detect potentially unwanted programs" in the settings in order to block the majority of the rogue avs that people are getting infected with.

@RussJK,
I've seen you mention this a few times, I've got 3pcs here, all with Avira, but I can't see the setting you mention. All heuristics are at 'high' and all threat categories under 'General' are ticked.

RussJK

spud17 wrote: »

@RussJK,
I've seen you mention this a few times, I've got 3pcs here, all with Avira, but I can't see the setting you mention. All heuristics are at 'high' and all threat categories under 'General' are ticked.

Unless they've changed it this year since I last used it, it's found under the extended threat categories. I can't remember the actual wording however:

http://www.avira.com/images/content/support/FAQ_KB/EN/av10_threat_categories.jpg

I always clicked on just about everything except games (which doesn't seem to do anything anyway).

spud17

That's the same as I have, I've got everything ticked.
It was your phrase "detect potentially unwanted programs" as opposed to 'threat categories' which threw me.

Thought I was missing something.:)

fifi35

Thanks guys.

free4440273

yep/ i'd opt for Avast too/

RussJK

spud17 wrote: »

That's the same as I have, I've got everything ticked.
It was your phrase "detect potentially unwanted programs" as opposed to 'threat categories' which threw me.

Thought I was missing something.:)

Haha, sorry about that. Just used to them being called PUPs by Avast.

I had read one of the malwareresearchgroup.com reports on rogue programs - and the results were quite skewed for Avira with poor detections simply because they'd left in on its defaults with the 'Threat Categories' unchecked.