TXCASS-CIG-L Archives

From: "Dana Thomas" <>
Subject: [CIG] Anti Virus Programs.......my rant :)
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 13:39:58 -0600

A few months ago I switched my anti virus program to AVG from GRISOFT Inc..
Today while reading the article below I decided to pass it along. I think
anyone who is tired of paying to update your virus protection will
appreciate hearing about this new software and that it is reliable. If you
are using Outlook Express it has a wonderful feature that works within the
program and alerts you before opening emails to potential problems. I can't
tell you the number of times it has caught that sircam in emails sent to me.
Now, if I can just convince some of you to keep your virus protection
UPDATED (Linda!) :) See ya at the meeting on Thurs.
Dana

Grisoft AVG Gets the Nod

http://www.grisoft.com/

My Antivirus ire has been brewing for years, but has rarely had a chance to
cool. As confirmed by the many, many emails I've received about such
applications, it seems I'm not alone. I've spoken on the subject before, and
noted that I have simply run without an antivirus application because of the
inadequacies that I've found. Please do not mistake this for recommending
that you dump your virus protection software completely, however. I have a
rather controlled environment, so my risk is somewhat mitigated. I also
routinely keep at least one or two AV apps installed on one of my PCs for
manual scans of questionable material.

The latest irritation was yet again Norton Antivirus. A customer of mine
ordered a brand-spanking new notebook which included Norton AV 2002.
Remember when I ran Symantec up the flagpole for including only a 180-day
subscription to updates? In order to continue, a fee of $14.95 must be
forked over for another year. If the software had been purchased via retail
channels, the renewal fee would be $3.95/year, so we are, in effect,
punished for buying it through the OEMs. The latest slap across the kisser
came when Norton AV 2002 noted only a 90-day subscription to updates. So,
not only does Symantec think this is a fair practice on their part, they
have gone and sweetened the deal for themselves!

Wrong answer. I've been sitting on this recommendation for a while now due
to a couple of minor issues, but now that things are running smoothly, I'm
all too happy to give my official okey-dokey to Grisoft AVG. Quite a few of
you are already using it, but I ran into a few little glitches here and
there that were a bit of an annoyance. Grisoft had some major bottleneck
issues with downloads for about a month, which was a rather significant bump
in the road. I spoke with one of the U.S. representatives, and she informed
me that they had seen such a huge increase in traffic that it unexpectedly
crippled their network. She said it would be resolved within about 10 days,
and true to her word, I can now receive updates at will.

There was also a pesky problem with Windows XP, where AVG seemed to just
bomb out or cause other errors. I wasn't able to really track down where the
problem was at, however. Once they had their servers back in order, the next
update that came down seemed to cure whatever was ill. AVG hasn't so much as
hiccupped or burped in the past 3 weeks. AVG is not only on my own PCs, but
on those at a couple of customer sites as well.

One customer runs a few database applications for contact management,
accounting and specialty purposes. Norton Antivirus, in the default
configuration, was hampering performance so badly that the database
applications were running at a slow crawl. The "fix" was to disable the
active scanning of files that are opened across the network. In case you're
wondering, McAfee introduced similar performance problems with one of the
apps, but not the others. AVG has no such effect on the applications.
Curious, wouldn't you say?

If I had to pick a downside to AVG, it's that the default setting for
retrieving updates is every 30 days. This is nowhere near often enough
today, so be sure to knock that down to 5 or 7 days at a minimum. Another
minor annoyance is the certification banner attached to incoming and
outgoing emails that have been checked. You can turn these off easily
enough, though, so no worries there. It's partially an advertising
mechanism, of course, but the intent is to give some measure of peace,
knowing that the emails are being checked. As one Lockergnome reader
mentioned, this could potentially be taken advantage of by virus writers to
fool unsuspecting recipients. Leave it on, or turn it off... up to your
personal tastes.

AVG is free for home/personal use, so you have no worries about wasted money
if you find that it doesn't suit your needs. The paid version gives you
access to a few more configuration options, as well as management capability
for corporate locations. I don't think it's geared toward the enterprise,
but for smaller shops, you'll want to put it on your list of options to
consider.

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• [CIG] Anti Virus Programs.......my rant :) by "Dana Thomas" <>