OT: Avast

Been using Avast for many years and finally contemplating buying the updated version. Anyone use the paid version of avast or any other virus software and are you happy with it?

Reply to
Meanie
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Sorry Meanie, I can't help you here from personal experience. I don't run AV. free or otherwise. It just gets in my way. I could only provide the advice I give clients. Paid for avast with a custom install works well, as does nod32 and bitdefender. If you're happy with Avast and don't mind purchasing it, you aren't losing out. And, you're supporting a decent company, too.

By custom install, I elect to use the file scanner module and only it. Scanning email, web links, etc etc, is redundant, possibly harmful to your local email storage files, and, wastes resources.

Reply to
Diesel

Although with any Windows machine I advise a virus checker, your best tool is common sense.

I still have one XP installation and I have the free version of Avast...it works absolutely fine.

That said, if you like it I see no harm into helping the company out and actually paying for it....but the free version should really be fine.

Reply to
philo

:) Obviously.

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Reply to
Diesel

I liked the thing I heard once on a PC security show "A virus checker is always your SECOND line of defense."

[snip]
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Yep. When downloading it's important to go directly to the site of the original vendor .

I've noticed a lot of sites claiming to be giving you the product you searched for, but the installer is for a ton of crapware.

They will simply name the file the same as what you put into your Google search.

Reply to
philo

If the source code is available, it's likely that _some_ people will examine it, even if a particular user doesn't do so. I think it's also likely that there are more people who can examine, for example, C code and spot spyware and phone-home features (or misfeatures depending upon your viewpoint) than can do so with a disassembler.

In any case, having the source code is no guarantee that anyone will actually examine the code, and no guarantee that if they find something that they'll make it known to the public. However, I still feel that having the source code is of benefit and there have been plenty of examples of cases where third parties looked at code and alerted the public to problems.

Reply to
Bud Frede

Maybe they'd notice the additional features in source code form,maybe not. One can get quite creative in hiding something in 'plain sight'. :) Same could be said for the executable view, but, you have more control over what's going on, depending on the tools you're using to take a peek under the hood.

I don't disagree with any of that. I'm just stating that having the source code doesn't always guarantee that if it does have something, special, people will find it.

Reply to
Diesel

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