
Why I Removed AVG from my Computer: A tale of abusive anti-virus-ware - CalmQuiet
http://www.thesharklady.com/?q=why_i_removed_avg_my_computer
======
bporterfield
This is an old article. I also removed AVG after seeing this ridiculous
behavior, but after updating it on a different machine I realized they had
seen the error of their ways and fixed this issue. They have since removed the
error sign when the link checker is disable, and as far as I can see remember
they now allow (at least custom) installation w/out the link follower at all
(as my installation doesn't even have it!).

I do notice issues when AVG does it's weekly scan - the computer runs quite a
bit slower - but besides that I've got no problems. I was upset when they
released the version with the noted problems, but since they quickly released
an update with fixes I'm happy enough to continue to use AVG. Everybody makes
mistakes!

~~~
praptak
Do they still hijack new tabs in Firefox so that they show some crappy search
page? Because that was the deal breaker for me.

~~~
bporterfield
Not in my install, at least. I will admit the scanning is more obtrusive than
I would like, but besides that there are no irregularities like that that make
it an annoyance.

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seldo
I too uninstalled it. I have a ridiculous multi-core system with more RAM than
anybody really needs; I have been unable to even mildly slow it down since I
built it -- until I installed AVG, which slapped ridiculous scan bottlenecks
on every disk read, every download, every link click, every application
launch, every _thing_ I could do on my box.

It's almost worse than actually having a virus. At least you can uninstall it.
Now my machine is back to it's usual, quick self.

~~~
bartl
Oh yeah, it's a pig. But most anti-virus programs are pigs.

My experience: my XP computer got very slow over time: just booting Windows
took 20 minutes.

I kicked off AVG and now it boots in about 2 minutes.

If that is not a pig, then I don't know what is.

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Gupie
It is lucky she didn't get round to noticing the AVG (Yahoo) toolbar that
appears in your browser. You hide it then next time you start up you get a
helpful "I have noticed you have disabled the AVG toolbar, I have re-enabled
it for you so that your system is fully protected." message.

~~~
akamaka
This was the last straw for me. I've purchased more than 60 licenses of AVG
for business computers, after being impressed by how well the free edition of
version 6.0 worked on my home computer.

With each subsequent release, they've just added more crap, and gone same way
Symantec did. Aside from updating their virus database, I haven't noticed a
single useful improvement in years.

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makecheck
This isn't unique to AVG, but it does make you wonder what goes through the
heads of corporate managers who decide how to "improve" their products.

Products seem to follow this cycle:

\- 1.0 - neat idea, needs more

\- 2.0 - wow, nice!

\- 3.0 - okay, I can only use some of those new features, but not bad

\- 4.0 - um...I suppose it's nice for people who do that kind of thing

\- 5.0 - okay, at least they're supporting $NEW_OS_VERSION now; wait, that's
odd, someone's added a toolbar

\- 6.0 [read: 5.1] - where did these ads come from, and who said I needed an
auto-updater?

\- 7.0 [read: 5.2] - web integration? and where's all this extra CPU usage
coming from?

\- 8.0 [read: 5.3 beta 3] - I can't tell what the new features are...but now I
have to go for coffee while it starts up

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johnnybgoode
Maybe I'm going against the grain here, but I'm glad Microsoft is going to
release free antivirus software. I don't want to worry about choosing one of
these third-party products and having my browser hijacked or whatever.

~~~
troels
Agreed. This is one of those things that really should be dealt with on an os-
level. They could push updates through the same channel as the os security
patches.

~~~
shrikant
Yep, it's not like Microsoft has ever hijacked any other software to shoe-horn
in their own useless stuff.

</sarcasm>

See <a
href="[http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=.net+framework+as...](http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=.net+framework+assistant+firefox>.NET)
Framework Assistant in Firefox</a>.

~~~
troels
Of Microsoft and Symantec, I'm not sure who I trust least. In any case a
Microsoft virus checker wouldn't have to - indeed wouldn't benefit from -
seeking attention. That, in it self, would probably lead to a better product.
There are other technically sound arguments for letting Microsoft deal with
security issue, such as the fact that they know how the system is built (At
least in theory).

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arange
AVG has all sorts of other problems including obtrusiveness
([http://www.flickr.com/photos/xdrunkagainx/3652625815/sizes/o...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/xdrunkagainx/3652625815/sizes/o/)),
insane advertising, and generally buggier and worse since its 7.5 release.

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tmitchell
She boldly declares, "Grisoft just lost a customer, and I'm guessing it won't
be the last." It seems an overstatement to call a free AV user a "customer".

Those looking for a free A/V solution should check out Avira, though you'll
have to disable the annoying upgrade popup.

~~~
nreece

      Those looking for a free A/V solution should check out Avira,
      though you'll have to disable the annoying upgrade popup.
    

Avira AntiVir Updates to Version 9 – Make It More Usable:
[http://www.tipsfor.us/2009/03/18/avira-antivir-updates-to-
ve...](http://www.tipsfor.us/2009/03/18/avira-antivir-updates-to-
version-9-make-it-more-usable/)

~~~
miguelpais
Yes! I was going to ask if anyone used it, and what did they think of it,
because there's been a long time since I don't work on a windows machine on a
daily basis, but at the time I did I used Avira.

I was just wondering if after the years that passed it had become less good or
something...

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tomjen
I don't run antivirus, instead I configured a secondary account and then
removed the admin privileges on my primary one. This has the added effect of
preventing Skype from installing annoying browser toolbars.

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paraschopra
I use free A/V Avast and I love it. It is very good and I would recommend to
anyone considering a free A/V.

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hwked
This is making me rethink about installing AVG on my fresh Win 7 install.

~~~
mhansen
Do yourself a favor: Turn UAC all the way up, and forget the antivirus. Your
system will still be fast and snappy, but you'll still be notified every time
tries to do something it shouldn't

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manish
I used clamwin, the windows version of clamav. That is after I used AVG for a
while and went through the same experience. One good thing about using open
source application is that they wont ask you to upgrade to some paid version
later.

~~~
deimos
ClamWin is ok, but the scanning time is very slow.

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jtneal
I just installed AVG's latest version after reinstalling Windows 7 (to upgrade
from Beta to RC.) I remembered from using AVG during Windows 7 Beta that they
included that link checker, and I hated it as well, so I did a custom
installation instead of the default/recommended installation, and I was able
to not even install the link checker. Now I do not have the exclamation mark
thank god. Also, I didn't install the AVG toolbar either, so it's not nagging
me either. Usually when you have an issue with software installing things you
don't want, it's simply because you didn't do a custom install.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I do find it amazing how many people don't hit custom on installs like that.

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ilitirit
I uninstalled AVG ages ago. The resource consumption was what did it for me.
As for the other complaints, they're not really such a big deal once you learn
how to deactivate features that you don't need, and to set it so that AVG
doesn't notify that you've deactived them.

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lurkinggrue
Never ran into those problems but I did do a custom install and never
installed those components.

I run Opera as well so would never the link scanner to begin with.

I do agree those parts of the AVG are horrible.

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heresy
I haven't had anti-virus software on any of my personal PCs since MS-DOS 6.22.

Number of virus/spyware infections: 0.

Performance gain when compiling/building: Immense.

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tybris
Just stop using anti-virus? What's the point>

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Serveto
We have AVG 8.5 at work and it’s killing our machines.

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mikeyur
I stopped reading in the second paragraph after this: "A freeware is a
software"

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juliob
Why are we seeing this kind of crap on Hacker News? This belongs on digg.com

