21 replies to this topic

[KS-FINN]

I'm using AVG Anti-spyware 7.5 trial version and considering purchasing it but first I would like to get your ratings opion on this software. Please place your ratings on a scale of 1-10.

[rridgely]

11
Its one of the best if not the best around right now. Its an amazing program.

You do know that you can still use the scanner after the trial right? The auto updates and realtime shield are just disabled.
If I was going to pay for a antispy program it would be AVG though.

[hazelnut]

AVG antispy is good, it's as simple as that.

Works for me and I have bought it 2 years running (this year with a discount for renewing, only cost me £11 or 21 US dollars)

[slowday444]

This is what I can tell you about it! I purchased ewido about 14 months ago (back when trojans and worms weren't being delt with by other apps) and renewed it a couple of months ago.. It (ewido) found, removed and blocked Tacoda cookies from deep inside my Firefox profile. The only app at the time that found and removed them. Since it was purchased (and changed to) by AVG I've reformatted and posed the question as to whether it can still do that but no one has been able to verify that it can.
From reviews I have read, it does a reasonably good job of blocking and finding malware, but it is not as good at removing malware as Spy Sweeper or Spyware Doctor. I will say this for it, it seems to update signatures several times a day.
It's greatest feature (my opinion!), however, is its ability to release RAM from other apps that have leaked it or not returned it after use. I'm not very knowledgeable about computers so accept that explanation for what it's worth. In practical terms, if you are using 500MB of RAM and you only scan memory with AVG A-S, which takes about two minute or less, your RAM usage will be returned to around 300MB or even less. That is the sole reason I repurchased it! Hope this helps.

[Eldmannen]

I've used it some, it seems to be decent. It's alright.
But why buy it, the trial version doesn't really expire. Maybe the active protection does, but that just slows down the system and eats resources anyways, better disable the active protection, and then do manual scanning which afaik, will still be possible even after it expire if it does that.

I have used it and could considering using it again, but I would never to pay for it.

[JDPower]

Eldmannen, on Jan 21 2007, 06:58 PM, said:

But why buy it, the trial version doesn't really expire. Maybe the active protection does, but that just slows down the system and eats resources anyways

What he said.

I'd give it a 9/10 - one dropped mark for the high CPU usage when running a scan and its pretty slow when running anything else at same time. Having said that I wouldn't be without it as an on demand scanner.

[incy wincy]

I would give it a 10 without a doubt.

[KS-FINN]

Thanks for everyone's input. I think that once the trial version runs out I will just use the free version.

[Capman]

I like it, but I always disable the extra features that are present in the trial version from the word go.
I figure that if you are not going to have them after 30 days or whatever, then you might as well not have them at all.

Besides, why pay for anything these days when free alternatives do the job just as good, if not better.

[cackhandedchimp]

I found it really difficult to stop it from autostarting on startup. It was OK the first time I had it installed, but when I re-installed it (after needlessly unintstalling it!) I couldn't stop it from autostarting, so I had to get rid of it!

[Eldmannen]

An interesting stuff is reviews, on download sites such as download.com, people will praise and give 5 stars to pretty much anything.

[XanaTos112]

i quite liked avg also,but im happier using spybot,ad-aware,and spywareblaster

[Woody]

XanaTos112, on Jan 22 2007, 08:58 PM, said:

i quite liked avg also,but im happier using spybot,ad-aware,and spywareblaster

I agree that spywareblaster should be installed on every computer. I also like Adaware and Spybot S&D, but I think AVG 7.5 (ewido) has the edge over both of them. It finds things that most other apps. do not.

[Eldmannen]

Woody, on Jan 23 2007, 02:13 AM, said:

I agree that spywareblaster should be installed on every computer. I also like Adaware and Spybot S&D, but I think AVG 7.5 (ewido) has the edge over both of them. It finds things that most other apps. do not.

I am not so found of SpywareBlaster. You see, the idea of blacklisting every single malware website and put that huge list into my registry doesn't really appeal to me.

[Andavari]

rridgely, on Jan 21 2007, 12:26 PM, said:

11

I'd rate it off the scale too.

[Andavari]

Eldmannen, on Jan 22 2007, 07:49 PM, said:

I am not so found of SpywareBlaster. You see, the idea of blacklisting every single malware website and put that huge list into my registry doesn't really appeal to me.

It surely beats accidentally visiting one of those rogue sites to have them blocked from the get go, think of it like an antivirus definition but instead for bad websites.

[rridgely]

Andavari, on Jan 22 2007, 08:52 PM, said:

I'd rate it off the scale too.

Hey... This one goes to 11.

[rridgely]

Oh and I forgot this...
One thing I don't see many of you mention is IESPYAD. This is a fantastic little program and will block most ads from IE.(but it blocks other stuff too).

http://www.spywarewa...rce.htm#IESPYAD

[RexB]

KS-FINN, on Jan 21 2007, 10:19 AM, said:

I'm using AVG Anti-spyware 7.5 trial version and considering purchasing it but first I would like to get your ratings opion on this software. Please place your ratings on a scale of 1-10.

#8 for effectiveness
#10 for light resource usage

Bought AVG 7.5 IS suite three months ago and haven't looked back. It's Antispy scanware, formerly the excellent Ewido, uses 40-85 percent resources on this rig while actively scanning, just as they all do and less than some products. It's light antivirus and firewall resource usage don't slow this down like the other IS suites I bought in the past: Norton System Works and it's brother Symantec IS, and Zone Alarm Pro.

All together AVG IS suite uses about 51MB of RAM here when not scanning, that's real good.

A couple of other antivirus like Kaspersky and NOD32 may be higher rated, but using AVG antivirus free, and now paid for, for 3 years has never let me get infected, it's pretty durn good.

AVG 7.5 Firewall is basic and easy to set up and use -- real "Danger-Surfers" might like a firewall with more options but this one suits me fine, no intrusions.

My only complaint is the eMail scanner is a little slow, it takes two or three seconds for each.

I use SuperAntiSpyware as a second scanner because one will catch what the other might miss.

Overall it's very good, you'll like it


-----------
AdAware Pro, SpyBot, SpywareBlaster

[papajoe]

I also used the AVG trial version 7.5, but I found that it let some tracking junk through. So I switched to NOD32, and I find it a lot more effective at catching thngs. I also used Spysweeper, and with the two of these programs, I never have any problems at all.

However, based on my experience, and everything that I have read, I think that AVG and NOD32 are the top two programs on the market.