AVG Anti-Spware not loading

standbyme

Has anyone noticed their AVG AS hasnt loaded it keeps coming up with some sort of error, its a good thing i've got Spyware blaster as well.

As it seems to be up & down some days not loading?

Enclosed is a pic of it:

BostonB

Mines not autoupdating. Its works fine if you do a manual update. Its done this in the past over the years now and then. I'm sure it will sort itself out eventually.

standbyme

Mine is the free version, as i only update it & use the scanevery so often on it,

But i came across this in bargain alerts about System Mechanic 6 for free, but i couldnt get an answer for this, would it be handy to have it additional or use it just by itself?

Thanks

Thrill

I had trouble with it a few days ago and got a warning to download it again and reinstall. Dont know what the problem was though.

ActorSeeksJob

system mechanic isn't great, and you would be crazy to solely depend on it to keep your PC in working condition.

the update error could be due to the new major update for AVG anti-spyware, they made a lot of changes, I suggest going to their site and dling the new version anyway

standbyme

ActorSeeksJob wrote:

system mechanic isn't great, and you would be crazy to solely depend on it to keep your PC in working condition.

the update error could be due to the new major update for AVG anti-spyware, they made a lot of changes, I suggest going to their site and dling the new version anyway

It hasnt anything to do with AVG anti-spyware, as i havent used it (SM) in 2yrs. AVG A-S seems to be doing this for a while!

I must check where i can get updates for it manually on System Mechanic or maybe go to the website when im thinking of it now!

You're probably right on not depending on it solely as it was tricky to use & read up on the many gadgets it had to be The All-In-One machine its lead to be?

Anyway its taken me a long-time to get good protection for the pc.

So any advice given will be heeded cautiously & thanks.

ActorSeeksJob

I'm familiar with the problems of updating it, but this

I had trouble with it a few days ago and got a warning to download it again and reinstall.

Sounded like the problem a lot of users were having when AVG made a big update for the program there a while ago, there is a new version to download anyway.

All-In-One programs are notorious for being dodgy, System Mechanic is the same to be fair, although it is improving itself over the years, still doesn't warrant having it on your PC free or otherwise(like $70 for a year).


If you want a cleaning program for temp files/browsers/java etc all that, then check out CCleaner or ATF Cleaner.

Need a registry cleaner or an uninstaller program or a startup manager? Get CCleaner

Need real-time protection? Try SpywareGuard

Firewall? Comodo, OutPost, ZoneAlarm

Anti-virus sounds nice, how bout AVG, avast! or Avira?

Spyware scanner go for SUPERAntiSpyware, AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot etc

All the above are free and better than most of the areas in System Mechanic, what else do you neeD?

standbyme

Hi there,

Thanks for the advice:

This is what i've gathered over the past while through advice here & elsewhere

AVG version 7.5.430 and virus db version 268.14.6/535
AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5
Ad-Aware SE Personal
Spybot-S&D
ZoneAlarm version:6.5.737.000
Spyware Blaster v3.51

I have this info in a text file on whenever i have to use it, as it can probably take a while to look for it!

Its just when i saw that offer i thought 'do i need it' but it will probably compromise AVG AV, going on what i read as you can only have one?

ActorSeeksJob

well System Mechanic does come with anti-virus and a firewall as far as I know, however it does give you the option of not installing those features to prevent conflicts with other AV's or FW's you may have. So you can run it just be careful during the installation not to keep clicking next.

The programs you have are quite good, if I could make some recommendations though

You could get rid of these programs
Ad-Aware SE Personal
Spybot-S&D

and replace them instead with the far superious SUPERAntiSpyware. Or you could get the new versions of Ad-Aware and Spybot that are out now, personally SAS is way better though.

I would also get rid of ZoneAlarm and replace it with Comodo or OutPost. Other than that everything looks good

Ruu_Old

Is the new version of Ad-Aware worth downloading? Found the older one pretty poor.

admiralofthefleet

Ruu wrote:

Is the new version of Ad-Aware worth downloading? Found the older one pretty poor.

downloaded it a couple of weeks ago and find it ace, when you open it it tells you whether a new definition file is available or not, as opposed to a manual check in the old version. i did, however, get the free version, ad-watch is still there in the paid version

ActorSeeksJob

na the new version isn't that great Ruu, if you didn't like the previous versions then you wont like the new one. doesnt seem to have any major changes, you would be better off with AVG or SUPERAntiSpyware. There's also a beta version of Spybot out but I wasn't too impressed with that either.

BostonB

ActorSeeksJob can you be more specific about whats not great about these apps. I've never heard of superantispyware before. Whats so great about it.

ActorSeeksJob

Off the top of my head, programs like AVG/SUPERAntiSpyware are far better than Ad-Aware/Spybot due to :

- better GUI, look far nicer(looks do count for something)
- fix a hell of a lot more, and fix the really tough malware that Spybot/Ad-Aware generally cant fix.
- <insert more reasons here when less tired>

AVG is considered the best by most people who know their PC Security, all the rest are quite good but don't compete with AVG. You should check out SUPERAntiSpyware, it is a really excellent program, similar to AVG but uglier.

BostonB

Can you give 1 example of one of these "really tough malware that Spybot/Ad-Aware generally cant fix" I'd like to compare them with some known problems.

AFAIK AVG isn't considered the best. It just good enough for a freeware version. There are AV's that are better. Most AV tests are consistent on that.

ActorSeeksJob

try vundo, smitfraud family, purity, elitum, who knows what else.

There are AV's that are better. Most AV tests are consistent on that.

I'm not talking about AVG anti-virus, im talking bout AVG anti-spyware. AVG anti-spyware is one of the best out there for sure, AVG anti-virus isn't

BostonB

ActorSeeksJob wrote:

try vundo, smitfraud family, purity, elitum, who knows what else.


I'm not talking about AVG anti-virus, im talking bout AVG anti-spyware. AVG anti-spyware is one of the best out there for sure, AVG anti-virus isn't

Indeed, sorry my bad. Bit muddled yesterday.

I find with Anyspyware one product usually finds things other don't so I use more than one. That said I'm not really finding any nasties these days, regardless of what I'm using. adware never really finds things so I don't bother with it. Spybot seems to always dig out cookies it doesn't like and in the past for me its caught a couple of things. AVG anti-spyware is a bit slow scanning would be my only complaint. I've only been using it about year and its not found anything yet for me.

Still I mush prefer these smaller stand alone applications. They are less heavy on system resources than the bigger suites IMO.

ActorSeeksJob

No problem Boston

I find with Anyspyware one product usually finds things other don't so I use more than one

This is very true, the protection I have are : Kaspersky anti-virus, SpywareGuard, SpywareBlaster, AVG anti-spyware(just got rid of), SUPERAnti-Spyware, Dr.Web CureIt, HijackThis.

I only really scan with HijackThis these days as SpywareGuard and SpywareBlaster really keep my PC secure. I can fix most virus problems myself, but having Kaspersky as backup is damn handy

AVG anti-spyware is a bit slow scanning would be my only complaint. I've only been using it about year and its not found anything yet for me.

I'd rather have a program that takes longer to scan that will pick up and remove the tough stuff(AVG) compared to a program that will be faster and wont remove some things(Ad-Aware and Spybot).

Still I mush prefer these smaller stand alone applications

Check out SpywareBlaster in case you haven't already, and definitely check out SpywareGuard if you don't have real-time anti-spyware protection.

BostonB

I'll check it out, but what does it find that the others don't. IE I need something to test it against.

ActorSeeksJob

Well unless you have some really bad infections on your PC then you won't really be able to test it the way you want. If you had the vundo trojan and smitfraud infection you would see the trouble Ad-Aware and Spybot would have in dealing with them(they would just keep coming back once your scan is finished), while AVG and SUPERAntiSpyware would do a far superior job in completely getting rid of them.

I've fixed up so many PC's so I have plenty of experience with security programs, and seen the pro's and con's of a lot of them. The F-Secure Online Scanner is also really good.

BostonB

Virtual PC

ActorSeeksJob

haha touche
you will probably have to run some scans in safe mode to get rid of infections fully, depends how infected you are at first.

have fun!!

standbyme

ActorSeeksJob wrote:

well System Mechanic does come with anti-virus and a firewall as far as I know, however it does give you the option of not installing those features to prevent conflicts with other AV's or FW's you may have. So you can run it just be careful during the installation not to keep clicking next.

Im just back, but OH **** i done that not realising, what should i do?
BTW: its System Mechanic 4 Professional i have, lying dormant all that time on the pc.

The programs you have are quite good, if I could make some recommendations though

You could get rid of these programs
Ad-Aware SE Personal
Spybot-S&D

and replace them instead with the far superious SUPERAntiSpyware. Or you could get the new versions of Ad-Aware and Spybot that are out now, personally SAS is way better though.

I would also get rid of ZoneAlarm and replace it with Comodo or OutPost. Other than that everything looks good

Any links for Comodo?

Thanks.

I'll be back shortly.