Po' Smedley's Life And Brain Drippings
For what it's worth...
Published on March 1, 2006 By PoSmedley In Industry
I've seen a few posts on and off topic when it comes to anti-virus protection. It can be a touchy subject for a lot of people due to poor customer experience when it comes to 'paid-for software' and just finding one that will do the job without 'messing' with their computer. Sometimes, 'uninstalling' an anti-virus' program in itself can be frustrating.

I have often put my two cents in and have been an advocate for Avast. I'll tell you why.
1. It's free. Like Adaware, you can run a free version or upgrade to the paid PRO version.
2. Unlike some other free programs, it covers all the bases. It works on P2P, email,messenger and everything else you would want it to.
3. It updates frequently, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. (That is, if you choose to run the automatic updates)
4. It does a 'boot-time' scan.
5. It's skinnable! (Like WinAmp or some other Apps, you can make skins for it or download skins.)

I switched to AVAST after going through Norton, MacAfee, and AVG. My particular problem was running across viruses that the one would detect and not the other. Or one 'mistaking' the wrong file for a virus. Or..one finding a virus but not being able to remove it. I bit the bullet and tried AVAST and have had NONE of those problems since. I deleted my 'paid-for' version of Norton and have been running AVAST for the past 7 months with NO problems. To the best of my knowledge, it has caught everything that has tried to get on my PC. It woks great with Limewire, messenger, and my email.

Some 'reader' reviews on CNET say it is a system hog, has slowed down this and that. When I installed it, my PC only had 256mb of 'shared' memory and it didn't affect my PC's performance at all, with the exception of the automatic updates. When they occured, things would lag a 'little', but not enough for me to turn off the automatic updates.

AVAST does require that you register even the free version. No fee involved. Again, some people seemed to have a problem with this at CNET. Basically, because they thought it was just 'inconvenient'. And, again, I did register and have suffered no problems because of it.

For me, this App has worked better than NOrton, AVG, and MacAfee. I have had absolutley no problems. The ONLY software conflict has been with ZoneAlarm. If you have it installed, AVAST will detect it on install and give you the option to shut off the AVAST setting that conflicts, leaving your ZoneAlarm just as it is and NOT affecting AVSTS performance!

So why am I going on about this. AVAST, for what it's worth, has just won SC MAGAZINES READER CHOICE AWARD 2006 for best ANTI_VIRUS Program. So if your looking for a new or better anti-virus program, this may be the one to check out.

AVAST wins award>Link

SC MAGAZINE AWARD WINNERS>Link


Comments (Page 3)
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on Mar 25, 2006
P.S. Kupe: I've come to the conclusion that 'jive' has taken hold, like it or not. If you google "that doesn't jive" you get 11,900 entries. If you google "that doesn't jibe" you get 11,400. Chalk that up with 'bad', 'sick', etc.

I always assumed it was an abuse of 'gibe', as in a joke or taunt, as Hamlet uses it when he says "Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?"
on Mar 27, 2006
avast was hitting the database 2-3 times per second


Right click on your avast system tray icon and highlight VRDB. I think you'll see that yours is set to "Generate VRDB when computer is idle". I beleive that is what's doing the accessing.
on Mar 30, 2006
Thanks for all your thoughts. I am a new owner of a laptop and was looking into AV protection. For some reason when I put the condom over the phone jack my internet stopped working . J/K

I think I'll give Avast a shot. Thanks again.

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PS Anyone know how to remove the smell of latex?
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