I just uninstalled AVG antivirus, now running MS Security Essentials

I bought my latest PC (using Win 7 with 4 GB RAM) in the summer. The guy who built the PC for me installed AVG which I had no issues with until lately, when it updated. I then started to see that my Google search page results had AVG links! WTH?

So I promptly uninstalled it and immediately replaced it with Microsoft's Security Essentials which then dropped out of sight, doing its job invisibly which I much prefer. Anyone else experienced the same with AVG?

I have never experienced that particular issue with AVG, but I have noticed that MS Security Essentials is superior to all of the other free (and some paid) virus scanners.

I work in IT so I get a lot of computers to repair. For personal computers, I always uninstall the garbage virus scanners (I'm looking at you, McAfee!) and install MS Security Essentials. It finds things that the other virus scanners did not find, which is why the computers ended up on my desk in the first place.

Microsoft + Free doesn't usually equate to good software but I am impressed with their virus scanner.

I would also recommend installing MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware for future malware scanning.

Thanks for the info Lumenz! I've had zero issues with MS Security Essentials so far. My impression is that MS started to have a lot of negative feedback regarding viruses and security with their Windows OS and they finally decided to put an end to the issue by releasing their own protection SW. I think this is a good move and should help to repair their reputation.

I've heard good things about Malwarebytes and I'm going to install that too for good measure. Thanks again!

<edit> You can d/l the software at http://www.microsoft.com/securityessentials

PhotonBoy said:

I then started to see that my Google search page results had AVG links! WTH?

Click to expand...

This is a feature of AVG and can be turned off, it will pre scan links to ensure pages are safe:

AVG LinkScanner® (ENHANCED)
Checks web pages in real time before you visit them and shows safety ratings in your search engine results list​

Click to expand...

Saying that, you did the right thing going with Security Essentials much better than AVG

PhotonBoy said:

I bought my latest PC (using Win 7 with 4 GB RAM) in the summer. The guy who built the PC for me installed AVG which I had no issues with until lately, when it updated. I then started to see that my Google search page results had AVG links! WTH?

So I promptly uninstalled it and immediately replaced it with Microsoft's Security Essentials which then dropped out of sight, doing its job invisibly which I much prefer. Anyone else experienced the same with AVG?

Click to expand...

Are you talking about the green stars with checkmarks that AVG puts on all the links in Google search pages? That is the link scanner which means that AVG has checked the link and determined that it is safe.

I too despise MacAfee. Every time I work on a computer for someone that has CrapAfee installed, that is one of the first things I do is uninstall it.

I disagree entirely. You've very much done the wrong thing switching to MSE.

I've had many infected machines come in to my workshop with MSE (and Nortons, CA, McAfee, Trend Micro) installed. I've never have any callbacks after I've sold AVG to them.

You don't need to have every feature installed. If you don't want the software pre-scanning links, you don't have to.

I don't use AVG Free, I'm an AVG reseller and I ALWAYS use the full, paid version.

How can you trust a company that makes an operating system so buggy that it can even get viruses, to protect you against said viruses?

(mods, please do no consider this post advertising - I'm talking from experience, not a sales point of view)

[QUOTE ...I ALWAYS use the full, paid version....[/QUOTE] I hate software that jams new behaviours in your face (such as putting links in my Google search results) without asking me beforehand and without telling me explicitly how to undo them AND, I don't want to pay a vendor for repairing inadequacies in their software AND I especially don't want to pay a third party for the same repairs.

I too have heard good things about MSE, and I'm sure it is more than adequate but I wasn't impressed with its slow handling of detected viruses and updates. I am also wary of trusting security software made by Microsoft, which is the #1 target of every hacker and piece of malware in the world.

I tried the newest version of Comodo Internet Security Premium (free) which is an anitivirus/firewall security suite, and expected to wind up uninstalling it in a few hours.

I was amazed at how robust the firewall and antivirus are and the wide range of expert settings and configurations available, including a sandbox and cloud scanning ability. It is also easy to use with strong out of the box beginner settings. It barely uses any system resources, has frequent silent updates, and has kept my computer completely virus, malware/adware free since installation. The firewall is one of the best free firewalls available. It is also nice to only have 1 icon in the toolbar for both antivirus and firewall, complete compatibility between the two, and set it and forget it usability. Impressive software and the price is right -- free.

P.S. No extra "features" are installed, and no other bloatware BS to deal with, you can even turn off the firewall animation on the tray icon.

PhotonBoy said:

I hate software that jams new behaviours in your face

Click to expand...

Get used to it using a Microsoft based OS :nana:

Comodo is a powerful antimalware program.

I particularly like the way the firewall component works in terms of telling me what programs are connecting to the internet and phoning home. Defense plus also gives me a lot of control over what the programs can do on my machine. It will give you a lot of warnings/information alerts, but you can tell it not to give you the same alert next time, or turn down the alert level in general.

It does require a little more user attention and experience than some of the other programs. I think you get better protection and information from it at the cost of extra work on your part.

I've had it block a number of legitimate programs requiring me to whitelist a program or otherwise configure it.

Heuristics is pretty useless. It flags a lot of stuff that is legitimate.

I've also got a fair number of false positives that I've had to tell it to ignore. It insists on flagging vnc as malware. It flags any encrypted zip files as possible malware as well. I know enough to understand what it's saying, but someone who's not a computer expert might not know enough to separate out the false positives.

I've stopped recommending Comodo to my non-geek friends.

I too, am very suspicious of any antimalware from Microsoft, but haven't actually used MS security essentials. I'm particularly concerned about the statement that MSSE won't coexist with other antimalware. I don't know if it's really incompatible, or if that's just typical Microsoft arrogance about not being compatible with any of the competition.

PhotonBoy said:

I hate software that jams new behaviours in your face (such as putting links in my Google search results) without asking me beforehand and without telling me explicitly how to undo them AND, I don't want to pay a vendor for repairing inadequacies in their software AND I especially don't want to pay a third party for the same repairs.

Click to expand...

I'd hardly consider it being "jammed in your face". There's every opportunity to disable any feature you don't like (without being hassled that you're not being fully protected al la Norton), and there's even the opportunity to not install a particular feature in the first place.

Anyone who complains about feature bloat, and then runs a recommended install (rather than a custom install) should revisit their thinking.

You don't need to spend any money to get a good AV program. avast! AV is, IMHO, the best of the free AV programs out there.

I've been using their free version going on 5 years now and wouldn't recommend anything else. It has found things in the past that the others (AVG, Alwil, McAfee, Norton, MS, etc.) have missed.

Antivirus packages are only about about 30 percent effective these days. I have seen malware "get through" pretty much all standard protection including AVG network edition, Symantec, McAfee, Avast, Avira, Microsoft Security Essentials and more. MalwareBytes is an excellent program at removing and blocking the malware, but you have to pay for it to block the bad stuff. We started using Zscaler which blocks the stuff from the "cloud", not sure if the typical end user can even get it though. http://www.zscaler.com/
And you don't have to go to porn sites and other dodgy sites either, legitimate websites get hacked and you can get infected easily. Had a customer reading an article on msn's website that was about Tiger Woods and the British Open. Internet Explorer popped up a warning saying the website wants to install something, allow or cancel? Clicking cancel got the PC infected. I managed to clean it with Malwarebytes (once I got it to run) and also managed to reinfect it by going through his history, just to see how he got infected. Nasty stuff out there people, get extra protection!

I have had interesting experiences with AV protection s/w. The long and short, is that even if linux is resistant to virus attacks, any os can be hit with trojans and other malware, esp. java based ones.

Interestingly, Norton 360 seemed to be able to detect some of these threats earlier than MS Essentials, but could not do anything about them except send a warning. About a week later, MSE detected and removed them.

Eventually, I got tired of the computer being slow (er), and switched to just MSE.

Kind of reminds me of a trip I took with 2 different brands of GPS receivers. Each had times when their results were better, and each had times when their results were just plain wrong.

+1 on Linux :thumbsup: But sometimes we need the big blue monster.

Personally I use Antivir antivirus or Avast, depending on the age and speed of the computer. Avast has slowed down some of the older boxes at work.

I regularly wipe the system with Glarys Utilities and Advanced System Care. Both seem to get the little bits the other misses.

I stay away from the stuff that comes packaged in the computers, MacAfee, Norton, etc. as they are on so many boxes they are prime targets for attacks.

In my system admin days, I recall the time we caught a network aware virus that spread to several machines. We used AVG and it didn't detected it. By that time I had figured out what file it was and manually eliminated it. I downloaded and tested several scanners. Nothing would detect it.

I sent the file to AVG. They later emailed back and said it was a new virus and included it in new updates. The next updates detected it.

Moral: Scanners can't detect everything, be careful.

How can you trust a company that makes an operating system so buggy that it can even get viruses, to protect you against said viruses?

Click to expand...

How can you trust so called 'security' programs like McAfee and Symantec to give you security advice when their entire cash flow depends on your machines getting this junk? It is not in their best interest for you not to get nailed by Virus's and Spyware. It is in their best interest for you to buy their product. It is not in thier best interest to tell you how to avoid it.

I've worked for several corporate accounts and school districts over the years than have been immune to this stuff even using light weight security scanners. I find it flat out ridiculous that an entire school district I do occasional Admin work for running XP has been malware/spyware/virus free since 2007 even though all the kids have open access to the internet. Our bullet proof and free security method is called 'restricted local account'. +3000 effing teenagers have been unable to infect a single Windows machine in over three years. We tried a SUSE rollout and nobody wanted it.

Since Spyware/Malware/Virus's get castrated when the user doesn't have admin rights this allows us to concentrate our time on the much smaller category of rights elevation security holes and zero day stuff. Matter of fact, that's pretty much the formula got every professional IT department I've been in.

By comparison I've done IT work for other companies where local admin rights are freely used by everybody with a computer, and the result is a couple full time people on staff spending most of their time cleaning this junk up. Persoanlly I'd rather fire those people and put the salary savings into automated software distribution. Also, working in professional IT shops were you don't have to listen to idiots talking about how Windows sucks because of self induced problems is very refreshing. Most of the home machines I have to clean up are caused by people downloading and installing stuff via cracked software sharing. Gee....must be bill Gates fault. Also, most of them are running a security suite like McAfee and Symantec, but it's failed to do it's job. Isn't that interesting?

Otherwise, MaleWareBytes and Avast along with the Microsoft tools are the only things I use. AVG is buggy, eats system resources and is a waste HD space.

blasterman said:

How can you trust so called 'security' programs like McAfee and Symantec to give you security advice when their entire cash flow depends on your machines getting this junk? It is not in their best interest for you not to get nailed by Virus's and Spyware. It is in their best interest for you to buy their product. It is not in thier best interest to tell you how to avoid it.

I've worked for several corporate accounts and school districts over the years than have been immune to this stuff even using light weight security scanners. I find it flat out ridiculous that an entire school district I do occasional Admin work for running XP has been malware/spyware/virus free since 2007 even though all the kids have open access to the internet. Our bullet proof and free security method is called 'restricted local account'. +3000 effing teenagers have been unable to infect a single Windows machine in over three years. We tried a SUSE rollout and nobody wanted it.

Since Spyware/Malware/Virus's get castrated when the user doesn't have admin rights this allows us to concentrate our time on the much smaller category of rights elevation security holes and zero day stuff. Matter of fact, that's pretty much the formula got every professional IT department I've been in.

By comparison I've done IT work for other companies where local admin rights are freely used by everybody with a computer, and the result is a couple full time people on staff spending most of their time cleaning this junk up. Persoanlly I'd rather fire those people and put the salary savings into automated software distribution. Also, working in professional IT shops were you don't have to listen to idiots talking about how Windows sucks because of self induced problems is very refreshing. Most of the home machines I have to clean up are caused by people downloading and installing stuff via cracked software sharing. Gee....must be bill Gates fault. Also, most of them are running a security suite like McAfee and Symantec, but it's failed to do it's job. Isn't that interesting?

Otherwise, MaleWareBytes and Avast along with the Microsoft tools are the only things I use. AVG is buggy, eats system resources and is a waste HD space.

Click to expand...

Well said. Local admin rights and a large user base are the main issues for microsoft and why it's a great attack vector.

MSE is the best free AV I have come across in a long time it's light and fast on the auto detect. Where it falls flat on it's face is the manual scans. The update rate is actually not bad, IMHO really fast. It's updating as fast as Trendmicro is.

In our environment the policy is AV must be present. To save on licenses when we do testing on VMs I use MSE instead of TM. It is fast and light. We also told our employees to use MSE when they need something for their home machines and they always come back to say MSE has caught the virus while _____ just left it there.

On the same line as the post above, my wife's (older)Vista Laptop got a notification a couple of days ago to upgrade AVG to a new version. I didn't want to do it. The last time it 'upgraded' there were problems to solve. I've been running MSE on most everything else and I have and been happy with it, so I decided to remove AVG Free and install MSE.

After install, the first time I launched the browser I got an MSE warning it caught a redirect Trojan and stopped(removed) it. I'm now wondering just how long it was there before MSE caught it. It's my wife's laptop and I don't use it that often. I ran Malwarebytes afterwords and it found nothing so I guess it's ok. She's on a limited user account.

MSE is just there doing it's job, out of the way. The only time it bugs you is for a version update, (which has only been once for me so far, I think) or, if it misses a scheduled scan somehow. I've been happy with it. It seems to do its job well.