Filed under: Business, Security, Symantec, Freeware
Avast responds to Symantec's jaded criticisms of free antivirus
He continues, "But then again why should a firm that makes a billion dollars a year off of paid anti-virus conclude that a free anti-virus product is good..." Many of you echoed that sentiment in the comments.
Steckler has plenty of good counterpoints, which you would expect from a guy that works for a free AV provider.
Hall slammed free programs for lacking targeted indentity theft protection. Not so fast, says Steckler. "Malware focused on stealing identity information is just malware." What about that "big gap" between the changing threat landscape and the defense provided by free apps? "[Hall] is wrongly assuming that antivirus products do the same as what they did 10 years ago," but they don't.
Yes, Mr. Symantec, Even free antivirus like Avast and AVG now use much more sophisticated methods to thwart potential threats.
And what about the expense of maintaining research staff to keep definitions current? There's just no way a free provider can compete on that front, said Hall. Steckler, however, points out that Avast isn't pouring millions of dollars into marketing as Symantec does. "While those firms may have hundreds of people in their marketing and sales organizations, we have just a few." He's confident their research resources are comparable to those of pay-only providers.
In closing, Steckler offers further reassurance for those who choose free protection:
"Our paid version does have some additional features-but the core security protection is very similar. Our upcoming Version 5 will also have additional features. But we do believe all users should have access to top notch security even if they can't or won't pay for it. That is why we have the free product.
So, don't worry that paid security companies claim your free protection is not good enough. It is."
I'm inclined to agree. What about you?So, don't worry that paid security companies claim your free protection is not good enough. It is."
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Richard said 12:32PM on 8-05-2009
He's probably right but if that is the Avast user interface then I'm avoiding it completely.
I don't want my antivirus software to be bloated up with an interface designed to try and make it look like a car stereo - what is wrong with the standard Windows GUI elements?
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Jayayess1190 said 12:36PM on 8-05-2009
This is Avast 5: http://blog.avast.com/2009/07/20/avast-5-is-coming-soon/
ZeRo said 12:48PM on 8-05-2009
@ Jayayess1190
Hey thanks, maybe I'll give avast another try in the future. It was just so hard to take a security company securely when their products look like car stereos as mentioned earlier.
Sanskrit said 12:59PM on 8-05-2009
I agree with Richard. I use avast on my laptop, but the fact that it looks like a Winamp skin has always made me want to gag.
hazard said 7:59PM on 8-05-2009
I've never liked the GUI but it's a small price to pay for industrial grade software.
Avast is brilliant. Their business model is commendable and their products top notch. A number of my collegues use the Avast free version for personal usage and have been so impressed by it we now use the commercial version in the office.
David Hall's rant the other day was an excellent piece of FUD. Probably brought a tear to Ballmer's eye.
gtnconcept said 7:56AM on 8-06-2009
The skinned interface can actually be completely disabled during the installation process.
tjdouglas said 8:08AM on 8-06-2009
As with most software, you can disable the skins/themes when you install, or later in the 'preferences' tab.
I'm an AVG guy, but Avast is an excellent product.
dwayne.hale said 12:46PM on 8-05-2009
The saddest part is Symantec/McAfee often overlook (or can't detect) many rootkits. I've had Avast and Avira pick up things that McAfee and both Symantec/Norton have missed (on multiple scans). So when they can start catching as many threats as the "free and in-efficient" anti-viruses maybe I'll buy their crap ware. Hall's argument would be that these detections were false positives....not really when once the free anti-virus removed the suspected rootkit/virus the machine ran so much faster and many of the services returned.
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The Gnome Inc. said 12:49PM on 8-05-2009
I've been using avast! since 2005 o 2006, it's awesome. The big boys can say what they want, avast! is one of best free antivirus out there.
@Richard
I hate that interface too, but you can change it to something like this.
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1919/avasto.png
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dave.ward said 1:23PM on 8-05-2009
I use avast and install it on my customers computers and have NEVER have had a bug get by Avast. Norton has become bloatware.
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Dan Houser said 12:56PM on 8-05-2009
LOL everything that Symantec / Norton makes is complete TRASH.
over the years, i've had 100s of computers come to me with viruses. my 1st question to them is always "what kind of AntiVirus software did you have?" they say "Norton AV with the latest updates, i dont get it" and i say "you're right, and neither does Norton."
Norton FAILS so badly at everything it claims it does, I dont know how they can even MAKE insane statements like that! unless they have to, or have been forced to resort to that because they're losing so much money to "inferier" free AV like AntiVir.
Symantec, you worthless piece of dog shit, I piss on you!
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216 said 1:08PM on 8-05-2009
You kno while most people hate Avast's user interface, I doubt if they realize that if you turn off skin support, you get a nice, clean, and simple (non winamp) looking interface by default. Something closer to MSE's interface
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ippapyttu_454 said 1:18PM on 8-05-2009
@ Dan House
>>
Symantec, you worthless piece of dog shit, I piss on you!
>>
So tell us how you really feel, hmm? ;-)
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blogward said 2:22PM on 8-05-2009
Norton is for the people that actually believe those popups that say "Your Computer Is Infected With Spyware! Click Here!!" and then PAY for the fake AV that gets installed, and for the IT directors of multinationals whose sole purpose in the job is to cover their asses long enough to collect severance. The rest of us long ago learnt to back up, be careful, and not rely on one AV solution. And certainly not Norton.
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lalala.. said 2:39PM on 8-05-2009
@Rich
I agree. The car stereo outlook of AVG is a fkn' joke.
Luckily there are more skins. I'm using Vista skin for example and it looks much better than most of other av GUIs do.
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Brandon said 3:02PM on 8-05-2009
I wouldn't use a Symantec product even if it were free. Too much bloated crap. I'm happy with AVG, Avast, Avira or even MS Security Essentials that I have on this machine.
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sybgtwy said 3:37PM on 8-05-2009
Oh, we're doing the "product A caught viruses product B didn't" thing again?
NOD32 catches viruses that Avira, AVG, and Avast miss. And vice-versa. Got it?
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Kenn.keeper said 3:55PM on 8-05-2009
I used Avast4Free for many years before I was lucky to be one of the first to get MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). Avast has a total of seven scanners that you can set, I used only four of them and never had a problem on my computer ever since I started to use it. To this day I still recomend their free version over any other free and paid Anti-Virus programs.
Free is Good
Kenn.....
PS: Don't knock MSE yet,,,,,It will be a great Free program for those who wish to use it
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Neoprimal said 6:22PM on 8-05-2009
Avast is very, very good but I've seen malware sneak through (mind you, nothing horrible), ironically I've seen more viruses sneak through Norton/Symantec home products so that isn't saying much.
I believe in some of these free products....some of these companies are no different than Symantec they just have resources going elsewhere. Symantec has paid deals to put their trial AV software into many OEM installs. They have deals with companies like Best Buy to be promoted and installed by Geek Squad and they have huge marketing campaigns in magazines, etc. so yes, they're using considerable budget to promote/spread their product.
Avira, Avast and AVG on the other hand, simply give away core software and I believe that's THE best thing to do. Protect the user and give them the option to move their security up eventually - don't give them a trial that turns off leaving them unprotected if they don't want to pay for it. The good thing is that with MSE released, noone will ever be completely unprotected again. I only wish that MS at some point is able to have it co-exist with other AV software.
I personally use and would recommend up and down and around, Eset AV. I've been using it for 4 years and have never, ever gotten any kind of infection. If I absolutely had to move to something free then I think I'd go to Avira, or Avast.
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polobunny said 11:35PM on 8-05-2009
A-V-I-R-A.
Nuff said.
(I'm dead serious, that's not my kind of post but any antivirus comparatives will tell you Avira is in the lead for free antivirus solutions even taking on the "big dogs" such as Norton. Better than Avast and AVG, too. I'd say on par with Kaspersky, and much less resource intensive.)
You make your own conclusions, but as long as Avira Personal Edition is around I don't plan on paying for an antivirus.
Regarding anti-phishing protection and the likes... if that's a problem for you what you need isn't an antivirus but basic knowledge on web safety.
Don't know this mail author? Delete.
Link to a file? Don't download it.
Ads? Never click them.
Porn? Sounds silly, but just buy a freaking 1 year subscription for $30.00. on whatever website. You're nearly sure not to get infected. Searching for "hot naked girls" on google is a surefire way to find unreliable/compromised websites.
It's dead simple, but from all the years I've worked as a computer tech it's stuff you see daily. It's much better losing another of those email with a funny video from your great aunt spending most of her retirement getting used to computers by deleting an email you doubt of than getting your passwords, PINs or personal information stolen.
For some reason (don't ask me why), people lose whatever small part of logic they have when they surf the internet.
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