Renewing my Anti-virus

[Oldddudders]

My AVG expires tomorrow. For weeks this irritating splash page has been coming up every morning, exhorting me to renew now. No point until the existing subscription has virtually expired, surely? So yesterday I thought I'd bite the bullet. Clicked on renew now, copy/pasted my existing ref number in the box - bingo! Up came a page asking me to enter full personal details, with all the usual stupid questions, including mother-in-law's shoe size etc. What? I have an email from AVG dated almost a year ago, where all those details are printed, confirming that I had filled the form in last year. So why would I need to enter it all again - other than card details to pay? So I sent AVG's customer help desk a formal query - I was given a ref number a mile long, natch - asking why I should enter etc.etc.

 

My distant recollection is that one of the first principles of computing is that the same data need never be entered twice. So why doesn't AVG know all my details from last year? I suspect I'm not now dealing with AVG at all - but a "reseller", to whom AVG entrusts the trivial task of collecting my renewal, but does not include the customer details. AVG have the customer on the hook, no need to flatter them further.

 

Well, tough. Unless you fill in the form for me, AVG, I'm off to McAfee!

[coachmann]

Be very careful if my experience last year was anything to go by. I purchased an anti-virus but a pop-up came on screen while I was looking at the keybord and I carried on making the purchase on the different page, not off the original people but of a "seller". I didn't twig until I contacted the company I thought I had purchased it from and they told me the registration number I quoted was not one of theirs! Trouble was, the Anti-virus also downloaded a boatload of 'crap' onto my PC and slowing it down to walking pace. I had to call in a pal whose job is computers to sort it all out.

[jwealleans]

I have the same argument with my dentist's receptionist each year. She can't see the difference between 'confirm the details we have on file for you' and 'write all this information out again so I can compare it to what's on my screen and then bin it'.

 

 

Have you looked at Avira AntVir? Free for personal use and i've never had a virus in the 5+ years I've been using it.

[Guest dilbert]

I recently renewed my AV with F-Prot and my FW with Checkpoint.

 

In both cases I was given customer ref. point for renewal and validated my card details.

 

In both cases, the renewal starts the day after expiry of the previous agreement - I effectively renewed in advance by about three weeks.

 

In both cases, got an excellent discount (having used both products for several years) and for multiple machines.

 

No complaints here... dilbert

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Well, tough. Unless you fill in the form for me, AVG, I'm off to McAfee!

 

Pandora's option. AVG has had a free trial for ages. Someone hijacked the free database and sent a nasty virus to all of them. Some say it was AVG themselves.

 

McAfee is designed to protect you against a NASA inspired hack. I found that it was making my computer take twenty minutes to download E mails and about ten minutes to boot up when I switched on. Probably great for a permanently connected largish PC system or server but for casual surfing, just too big and invasive.

 

It got worse.

 

I was still using McAfee and decided to run Spybot Search and Destroy. It found twenty of these ad bots transmitting data. I destroyed the lot and the phishing and scams all stopped.

 

I have to admit though, McAfee were quite OK about taking money for minimal input. They were actually going to debit my card on autopilot. I had more trouble trying to cancel than to keep it going.

 

Now that scammers have started using Firewall programme sales to rook us, I think the day of the blanket firewall is over.

 

I think that all protection should be free anyway. Windows 7 comes with Defender which runs regular registry checks and i use SpyBot and Mozilla downloads search for everything else. So far so good.

 

On the AVG front, I think these software companies do fall into bad hands. I had much the same trouble with Incredimail. Started getting pushy after a 'lifetime' purchase.

[RFS]

I use McAfee and purchased the 3-user license from an online retailer (Ebuyer) for around £20. When the time came to renew, McAfee started prompting me to do so - at a cost of over £40. But the latest version was available from Ebuyer - again at around £20. So I just purchased a new one from there. The day before the old one expired, I de-installed it and installed the new version.

[spamcan61]

I find AVG Free messier and messier every update so I've switched to Microsoft Security Essentials which is equally free and has less nagware attached. (yes I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth)

 

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

[Wherry Lines]

My dad had several problems with his anti-virus software, with threw a complete wobbly. After some attention at a local computer store, the chap recommended Bullguard. From what Ive seen, it looks very good, and doesn't seem to harm the performance too much.

[RedgateModels]

I bought a new copy of Norton Internet Security 2010 a month ago from Amazon for less that 20 quid delivered. Installed it on the day my current licence expired (just entered the new code when prompted)

 

A couple of days later got a message that I could download a free update to NIS 2011 - well over 40 quids worth at current prices

[fozzy280472]

If anyone banks online with Barclays , Kaspersky internet security is FREE to download from the Barclays online site , its good for 3 computers , is valid for a year and is renewable free of charge every year as long as you stay banking with Barclays , saving around £40 a year.

Kaspersky was voted #2 in a computer security top 10 , just behind AVG.

I have it installed on both my laptop and net book , and both seem to run faster than with the Norton i used to use.

Hope this helps ,

regards

Paul.

 

p.s. maybe this should be in the bargain hunters thread, sorry mods if you decide to move post.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Ian, I used to have AVG on my laptop. Along with Vista, the whole thing conspired to give a slow, clunky, unreliable performance made all the worse by those irritating pop-ups.

 

Eventually the whole thing became unworkable and I took the drastic step of completely dumping Vista and installing 7.The only antivirus I've used since then is Microsoft security essentials and the whole shebang has gone like a sewing machine since, with absolutely no trouble whatsoever.

In fact, the nearly 4 year old Dell has worked better over the ensuing seven months than it did at any time in its life.

 

I swear by MSE; I swore at AVG!

 

Dave.

[S.A.C Martin]

Kaspersky is probably the best I've seen, I had AVG prior to that company for a long time. That said, no longer need to worry too much because of my Macbook...!

[Oldddudders]

Well, thanks - I hardly expected my rant against AVG to bear such positive fruit! I'm most grateful for this collection of personal findings, which I will need to quickly distill into a decision!

 

Ta muchly, chaps!

[meil]

give a look at TREND quite good and you get three licences. One or two grogles over the years but nothing that couldn't be sorted quickly.

[griffgriff]

I find AVG Free messier and messier every update so I've switched to Microsoft Security Essentials which is equally free and has less nagware attached. (yes I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth)

 

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

I'm a happy user of MSSE - they use four virus search engines (that's a good thing I think ). I used to use McAfee but got very irritated with the constant downloads Everytime I turned on, scratched my nose, looked out the window, sneezed etc

[Xerces Fobe2]

I gave up with AVG after a year it's OK it's free so you really can't complain. I use Norton OK it has had its issues in the past but overall it is a good product and IMO well worth the money. Another option is Kaspersky anti-virus which Barclays give you for free if you use their on-line banking! (yes something free from a bank!)

 

 

 

 

Xerces Fobe

 

 

 

[DJH584]

My machine which uses XP, has 2gb RAM and a decent 2.0ghz Intel processor. and is only used for home use.

 

When I first got it, it had Bullguard installed. I got rid of that and installed free AVG. Fine. Then after a while, the machine started slowing down. Checking the processes, I found that AVG was hogging the system.

I updated to the latest version but found that it was still hogging the system. So I ripped that out and did a fresh install of the latest free version.

After a while the machine started slowing down again, so I repeated the rip out and did the latest install. This cycle started to get a bit repetitive.

 

I took out AVG entirely and installed MS Essentials. After a while the system slowed down again (presumably due to Microsoft bloat) and despite cleaning out the PC registry and reinstalling, matters were no better. In the end, I got free Avast and this was two months ago.

 

So far it has been good. There is no slowing down of the machine and I sincerely hope it stays that way.

 

In respect of Norton and McAfee, I have always found that those programs always want to take over your computer and have a detrimental effect on its performance.

Personally, I have no time for them whatsoever.

I am all for PC security but not at the expense of dragging down the performance of my PC.

 

Regards

 

David

[OldSutt]

I use Mcafee and have done so for many years without many problems until last year when they bumped up the renewal subscription. A call to their marketing support, asking why I should not change to something cheaper produced a hefty discount. My annual subscription is again due to be renewed. Time to change?

 

I think its like any renewal of Insurance etc. you have to change to a different supplier to get the reduced introductory price. They always try it on the following year. When are they going to learn?

 

 

[beast66606]

I am all for PC security but not at the expense of dragging down the performance of my PC.

 

I can assure you, get a real virus and you will wish you had been more patient on those "slow" moments.

[old smokey]

Hi there oldddudders

 

I have had same experience years ago with norton/mcafee antivirus.

 

ihave also tried avg free but have now been using avast version 5 free for last five years and not had any problems.

 

the only time i hear from them is when licence runs out every two years but all i do is re-register-takes one minute at most.

 

it is usually the case you get what you pay for, and in the case of anti-virus programmes the best ones are free.

 

colin alias-old smokey:rolleyes:

[beast66606]

it is usually the case you get what you pay for, and in the case of anti-virus programmes the best ones are free.

 

colin alias-old smokey:rolleyes:

 

Be careful with that advice, some of the best ones are free - but not all free ones are what they appear to be

[beast66606]

My distant recollection is that one of the first principles of computing is that the same data need never be entered twice. So why doesn't AVG know all my details from last year? I suspect I'm not now dealing with AVG at all - but a "reseller", to whom AVG entrusts the trivial task of collecting my renewal, but does not include the customer details. AVG have the customer on the hook, no need to flatter them further.

 

Well, tough. Unless you fill in the form for me, AVG, I'm off to McAfee!

 

There is always the alternate view that your personal details aren't being held - I know which I prefer

[Butler Henderson]

I've always stuck to Norton - you get a free update to the latest version, its got far less memory hungry in recent versions (tried the Kaspersky from Barclays and it stopped the computer dead). You can renew with any unused validation code so I buy a copy cheap in a sale during the year and keep it until needed.

[hollywoodfoundry]

I used to pay a hefty yearly subscription to Trend, but after a friend told me that he had switched his entire company system to Microsoft Security Essential for free, I decided to do the same. I find it does the job quietly, does not download half the world, and does not try to take over my computer all the time like Trend used to.

 

In my view, if Microsoft are getting into anti-virus, it can only be a good thing.

 

 

[Red Baron]

I'm a happy user of MSSE - they use four virus search engines (that's a good thing I think ). I used to use McAfee but got very irritated with the constant downloads Everytime I turned on, scratched my nose, looked out the window, sneezed etc

 

 

MSSE is a top product. For free it is excellent. AVG has lost its way big time.