AVG - Please, stop it.

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Mick

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Just spent a wasted hour with an old client I've worked for for ages. Get a call: "Help - the Internet has broken." Sure enough, on arrival Edge is saying that that virtually every site he tries to visit isn't safe because it has a duff SSL cert. Even places like the BBC. Tried with Chrome/FF. Same thing. Checked all the usual stuff, cleared caches, reset router etc Was just thinking about randomly running MBAM for laughs when I notice that he - or some well-meaning fool - has installed AVG Anti-Track. And it's a subscription, fully-paid up. Hop into settings and turn off pretty much everything I can find. Hey Presto - the Internet is no longer broken! I've never liked AVG but this confirms it for me. From now on, nuking that POS on sight is going to be my first option. Hope this helps save someone some time...
 
There are many reasons I refuse to use or recommend any third-party security suites anymore. Even if they offer marginally better (and that's all it ever is) protection in certain specific tests it's not worth the hassle that they cause, and seem to be causing more frequently as the years go by.

Windows Security as implemented under Windows 8/8.1 and 10 is a way more than "just adequate" option for any environment.
 
I use two AV suits...

Emsisoft AV, or Windows Defender. The latter has the advanced security upgrade that can be had via an appropriate Azure (O365) subscription, and has some rather nice toys when fully integrated with inTune (Microsoft 365 Business).

But the bulk of my junk is just users on boxes they don't have admin rights on, using Defender. And I have to connect to each one, once every six months to tune Defender with the new toys MS adds with the feature releases.

Combine that with solid content control and I haven't had a real virus in ages.
 
Oh... Intel is selling off the dud brand eh?

McAfee is Intel at the moment... for those that didn't know...

Symantec... ugh... can't believe that mess is still around.
 
britechguy said:
There are many reasons I refuse to use or recommend any third-party security suites anymore. Even if they offer marginally better (and that's all it ever is) protection in certain specific tests it's not worth the hassle that they cause, and seem to be causing more frequently as the years go by.

Windows Security as implemented under Windows 8/8.1 and 10 is a way more than "just adequate" option for any environment.
Click to expand...

Quite. And besides that AVG has always been my personal most hated AV software evah.
 
Home user speaking, The biggest reason anyone here uses paid 3rd solutions on Win 10 is it is the only way to make some money on the shrinking flow of support customers especally those doing break-fix.
It is just another "selling" point to move to MSP for home users and have recurring income.
 
Porthos said:
It is just another "selling" point to move to MSP for home users and have recurring income.
Click to expand...

Yes we sell Trend here for the recurring income. As a customer though I use windows defender and comodo free firewall with a few tweaks found in this video.


I found that this seems to be just as good or better than paid subscriptions.
 
Avast Business Pro did it to one of my clients the other day. Could not scan to wireless printer. Networking stuck on 'Public'. Would not change. Tried everything including disabling Avast Business Pro firewall. Still stuck on 'Public'. Uninstall Avast and POOF! All works. I never recommend any AV product with firewalls, or anti-whatever except anti-virus. Malwarebytes has been good in conjunction with the Windows Firewall. Rarely have an issue that way.
 
It really does seem to me that we are at a "transition point" where the intent to make things more secure is just constantly breaking critical functionality of Windows and where the additional security is negligible because it targets very, very rarely occurring attacks.

Like in so many areas of life, and excess of caution is often the cause of far more grief than being slightly (and I do mean slightly, not hugely) cavalier does.

I loved this quotation, and it certainly applies these days:

In the computer security field, we often say that one doesn't need Fort Knox to safeguard a broken bicycle.
~ Glenn Glazer, M.S. ’07 UCLA Security & Cryptography,
April 25, 2019, in Message on Groups.io Beta Group

Simply having a routine, cyclic backup protocol is better than trying to create a Fort Knox type situation on most computers if it's data you're trying to protect. If you couple that with end user training about what not to do, and specifically what not to panic about as far as attempts to get you to download malware, you're covered for probably 99% or more of attack surfaces.
 
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