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carlfoxmartenNote: This is not directed at friends, as (so far as I know), none of them are on the AVG development team.
I use ZoneAlarm Free, the free version of the fairly well-known software firewall program.
I really like it. It does what I want, it asks if each program that wants network access should be allowed to get it, leaving the important decisions to the user.
(as I'm a power user, I prefer to know just who wants access and can take the responsibility of such power. Plus, I kind of trust ZA, so I'm not about to change firewall vendors just to fix an annoyance with my antivirus program)
When writing any security program that needs to be kept up-to-date on the latest security threats, tradition and convenience demands that the program itself (as a whole) should keep itself updated and not rely on the user to download and run the updates themselves.
(ZoneAlarm makes its users do this, but it does not need to be kept constantly updated, so is exempt from the above rule)
Traditionally, this has been done by an updater module, a child module to the main program that updates things when necessary.
This method ensures that only the updater needs internet access, and if there are any attempts by other parts of the program to access the internet, you can safely assume that it's been infected and you need to fix things yourself.
AVG however, has several modules that want internet access (I have checked, they specifically do want internet access, and are not just using the network interface to talk between modules), including, but not limited to, the AVG Installer (why not call it what it is, the AVG Updater? Plus, it wants act as a server, which I have flat-out denied), the AVG Identity Protector (which I have disabled), the AVG Link Scanner (which I have also disabled due to hogging the processor at inopportune times), as well as the AVG scan tool (which I have also denied).
In the past couple of years, the AVG antivirus suite has become ever larger and more processor-intensive, while invading more and more of my computer without asking my permission.
Avast isn't much better, and I haven't quite figured out ClamAV yet, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to which free antivirus program to use.
One of my Windows computers I hadn't put any antivirus program on for the longest time, and when I did and ran a full scan. nothing unusual showed up, so obviously doing something right.
(yes, I used it for gaming, but not email or much in the way of web-browsing)
I use ZoneAlarm Free, the free version of the fairly well-known software firewall program.
I really like it. It does what I want, it asks if each program that wants network access should be allowed to get it, leaving the important decisions to the user.
(as I'm a power user, I prefer to know just who wants access and can take the responsibility of such power. Plus, I kind of trust ZA, so I'm not about to change firewall vendors just to fix an annoyance with my antivirus program)
When writing any security program that needs to be kept up-to-date on the latest security threats, tradition and convenience demands that the program itself (as a whole) should keep itself updated and not rely on the user to download and run the updates themselves.
(ZoneAlarm makes its users do this, but it does not need to be kept constantly updated, so is exempt from the above rule)
Traditionally, this has been done by an updater module, a child module to the main program that updates things when necessary.
This method ensures that only the updater needs internet access, and if there are any attempts by other parts of the program to access the internet, you can safely assume that it's been infected and you need to fix things yourself.
AVG however, has several modules that want internet access (I have checked, they specifically do want internet access, and are not just using the network interface to talk between modules), including, but not limited to, the AVG Installer (why not call it what it is, the AVG Updater? Plus, it wants act as a server, which I have flat-out denied), the AVG Identity Protector (which I have disabled), the AVG Link Scanner (which I have also disabled due to hogging the processor at inopportune times), as well as the AVG scan tool (which I have also denied).
In the past couple of years, the AVG antivirus suite has become ever larger and more processor-intensive, while invading more and more of my computer without asking my permission.
Avast isn't much better, and I haven't quite figured out ClamAV yet, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to which free antivirus program to use.
One of my Windows computers I hadn't put any antivirus program on for the longest time, and when I did and ran a full scan. nothing unusual showed up, so obviously doing something right.
(yes, I used it for gaming, but not email or much in the way of web-browsing)
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-03 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 05:52 am (UTC)I think I'll try some of the software from this list, barring Microsoft Security Essentials, ClamWin, and eScan.
(ClamWin has no automatic scan functions, and I haven't heard anything about eScan)