Is your server being hammered by AVG8?

[JeffM]

After Grisoft forced an upgrade in May (AVG7 is no longer supported),
by default, the new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agent
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24045121

NOTE: All these links are to different points on the same page;
if you drag & drop them onto the original tab/page,
it will hammer Slashdot less.
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24045401
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24045529

Slashdot says this is causing an extra 6 percent load on them
and is screwing up their stats.

Methods have been suggested
for how site owners can deal with the rogue behavior:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24046847
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24046825
..
..
If you run AVG8, you can disable this garbage "feature":
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24044961

For those who require a free AV,
ClamWin(GPL) & Avast are available--and are less bloated
(and less clueless and/or evil).

....and, of course, if you run a Gecko-based browser
with NoScript, AdBlock, FlashBlock, etc.
and use a little common sense, you avoid most of the crap anyway.

 

[Martin Griffith]

After Grisoft forced an upgrade in May (AVG7 is no longer supported),
by default, the new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agent
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24045121

Dumped AVG8 last week, and this seems to work
http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php


martin

 

[Eeyore]

After Grisoft forced an upgrade in May (AVG7 is no longer supported),
by default, the new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agent
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/03/1411254#24045121

The updates to AVG7 are still coming through right now (me being the type to upgrade only when I know something's
stable).

Maybe they realised it was an 'anti-update' so prolonger the updatesa fter the announced date ?

Is it adversely impacting everyday performance ?

Graham


Graham

 

[IanM]

Dumped AVG8 last week, and this seems to work
http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php


martin

I like Avira, been using it for a couple of years. I recently signed up
for this

Get a 6 month free licenses of avira premium for free.
https://license.avira.com/en/promotion-t0q1aatr05zwftftgnqr

The advantage being you get the faster update servers and no ad popping
up every day

 

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

After Grisoft forced an upgrade in May (AVG7 is no longer supported),
by default, the new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**

Next is to tarpit the buggers - make the poor sap using AVG wait for a
looooong time along with the nigerians. Or maybe BOFH at some backbone could
route traffic to/from avg's domain across some wonky modem line.

 

[Eeyore]

AVG8 is advertising itself as IE. I say run all IE users through the
tarpit until they learn a lesson and start using a better browser.

Any suggestions for Opera ?

Graham

 

[Rich Webb]

Any suggestions for Opera ?

I seriously dig Der Ring Des Nibelungen. The James Levine/Metropolitan
Opera complete cycle has been out on DVD for a while and is a solid
traditional interpretation. Siegfried Jerusalem, Hildegard Behrens,
Jessye Norman, James Morris, Matti Salminen. W00T!

Oh, and the Opera browser is pretty good, too.

 

[Eeyore]

I seriously dig Der Ring Des Nibelungen. The James Levine/Metropolitan
Opera complete cycle has been out on DVD for a while and is a solid
traditional interpretation. Siegfried Jerusalem, Hildegard Behrens,
Jessye Norman, James Morris, Matti Salminen. W00T!

Oh, and the Opera browser is pretty good, too.

LOL !

Graham

 

[[email protected]]

After Grisoft forced an upgrade in May (AVG7 is no longer supported),
by default, the new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agenthttp://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?lowbandwidth=1&no_d2=1&mode=nested&...

NOTE: All these links are to different points on the same page;
if you drag & drop them onto the original tab/page,
it will hammer Slashdot less.http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...rticle.pl?lowbandwidth=1&no_d2=1&mode=nested&...

Slashdot says this is causing an extra 6 percent load on them
and is screwing up their stats.

Methods have been suggested
for how site owners can deal with the rogue behavior:http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?l...rticle.pl?lowbandwidth=1&no_d2=1&mode=nested&...
.
.
If you run AVG8, you can disable this garbage "feature":http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?lowbandwidth=1&no_d2=1&mode=nested&...

For those who require a free AV,
ClamWin(GPL) & Avast are available--and are less bloated
(and less clueless and/or evil).

...and, of course, if you run a Gecko-based browser
with NoScript, AdBlock, FlashBlock, etc.
and use a little common sense, you avoid most of the crap anyway.

I've been running avast.
http://www.avast.com/

 

[Rich Webb]

Opera users are already stuck in a tar pit. No sense in adding to their
grief.

I think that you may have misspelled "Internet Explorer."

Seriously, though, please continue bashing Opera. If more people start
using it then it will become a bigger target for the black hat crowd.

 

[IanM]

I recently switched from AVG8 to Avast 4.8 Home. It's amazing to see
how responsive my PIII/933MHz W2K is without AVG loaded. It is
especially evident loading web pages full of URL's such as a Google
search result with 50 results per page and not having LinkScanner
running.

A crude comparison of AVG and Avast timing is how long it takes to
scan 42.1 GBytes of junk on the HD.
AVG 7.5 Approx 3 hours
AVG 8.0 Approx 8 hours in "Auto" mode.
AVG 8.0 Approx 6 hours in "Fast" mode.
Avast 4.8 45 minutes.

Avast also seems to have a feature that disappeared in the transition
from AVG 7.5 to 8.0. It clearly indicates that it is scanning, even
in the background. That's important as users want to know WHY their
machine has suddenly experienced a major performance hit.

It's really difficult to complain about free software. I get what I
pay for, which in this case is nothing. So, on to the next program,
where my total investment is the time to transition perhaps 200
machines from AVG8 to Avast 4.8. I gotta do some more testing, but so
far, it looks like a winner.

Fun test: Try to download all 4 files on this page:
<http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm>
You should get a virus warning. It doesn't prove much, but is useful
for testing if the virus scanner is paying attention.

Avast has a boot time scan you can schedule from the menu - a good feature I
think

IanM

 

[Dirk Bruere at NeoPax]

The updates to AVG7 are still coming through right now (me being the type to upgrade only when I know something's
stable).

Maybe they realised it was an 'anti-update' so prolonger the updatesa fter the announced date ?

Is it adversely impacting everyday performance ?

Just turn off the feature.

 

[JeffM]

[...]Grisoft['s...] new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agent

Is it adversely impacting everyday performance ?

AVG seems to have a recurring habit of shooting itself in the foot
(and screwing their users in the process).
I would have thought that the word would be out on them.

....but I'm not really interested in the *users* of AVG.

I'm wondering whether WEBMASTERS have looked at their stats
and whether SITE OWNERS are taking steps
to deal with AVG's moronic new "feature"
and the backscatter from their imbecilic default configuration
(which AVG users are unlikely to know about--much less turn off)
and the DDoS-like effect that selfish/clueless "feature" produces
WRT increased bandwidth requirements for web sites.

 

[T]

AVG8 is advertising itself as IE. I say run all IE users through the
tarpit until they learn a lesson and start using a better browser.

I had to switch a client to FF3 because IE was just dog slow on his
system. He was amazed how fast FF3 runs on his system. It's quite
something.

 

[JeffM]

[...]Grisoft['s...] new version
**pre-fetches EVERY link on every page users surf to**
and it reports a bogus User Agent

Mention has be made of how
the pre-fetching could endanger an AVG user's freedom:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/06/0522221#24073203
Again:
If you drag & drop the links onto the same tab/page, that's best.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/06/0522221#24073647

Another of Grisoft's bad habits has been mentioned:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/06/0522221#24073779

Here's the big A site that focuses on broadband news & information
(http://whirlpool.net.au ) started a campaign against Grisoft,
recommending that people uninstall AVG and find another AV.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl...ted&threshold=5&sid=08/07/06/0522221#24073473

Grisoft took a powder:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl...&mode=nested&threshold=5&sid=08/07/06/0522221
The brain-dead version has been pulled
and the "feature" will no longer be included.

 

[Eeyore]

No clue how NAV works.

It uses ~ 60% of your PC's resources is how it works.

Avoid like the plague.

Graham

 

[[email protected]]

I recently switched from AVG8 to Avast 4.8 Home.  It's amazing to see
how responsive my PIII/933MHz W2K is without AVG loaded.  It is
especially evident loading web pages full of URL's such as a Google
search result with 50 results per page and not having LinkScanner
running.

A crude comparison of AVG and Avast timing is how long it takes to
scan 42.1 GBytes of junk on the HD.
  AVG 7.5     Approx 3 hours
  AVG 8.0     Approx 8 hours in "Auto" mode.
  AVG 8.0     Approx 6 hours in "Fast" mode.
  Avast 4.8   45 minutes.

Avast also seems to have a feature that disappeared in the transition
from AVG 7.5 to 8.0.  It clearly indicates that it is scanning, even
in the background.  That's important as users want to know WHY their
machine has suddenly experienced a major performance hit.

It's really difficult to complain about free software.  I get what I
pay for, which in this case is nothing.  So, on to the next program,
where my total investment is the time to transition perhaps 200
machines from AVG8 to Avast 4.8.  I gotta do some more testing, but so
far, it looks like a winner.

Fun test:  Try to download all 4 files on this page:
<http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm>
You should get a virus warning.  It doesn't prove much, but is useful
for testing if the virus scanner is paying attention.

--
Jeff Liebermann     [email protected]
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

I got tired of playing that game to find the free AVG file. Avast is
free other than a registration hassle, and that is pretty simple. I
run it on all my windows boxes. It didn't occur to me to check the CPU
efficiency, but I did do a google search about two years ago that had
information on comparing the effectiveness of various antivirus
software, i.e. how well it found viruses, and periodically check how
it currently ranks. Avast comes in at different levels over the
years. Sometimes good, sometimes "standard", which is about as poor
as they rank.,

You can check this source out:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

I have one 64 bit box, so pretty much I need to run avast. And the
price is right. ;-)