Filed under: Google, Search, Humor
Google suggest proves that a lot of people want Norton, McAffee, and AVG off their PCs
Google suggest - sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's way off the mark. For the guys at Sophos, it's a source of mild amusement. Why?
Well, take a look at the YouTube clip they generously shared with the world. Among the top suggestions when you type "remove" in for the first word of your query? Apart from annoying pests like Antivirus 360 and Antivirus 2009 (both fake antivirus malware) you'll also notice AVG, McAfee, and Norton.
What does it all mean? Obviously a lot of people are searching for information on how to get rid of those programs. Norton and McAfee - well, those two are apps we love to hate. But AVG? Really?
Sure. It's a not-uncommon problem with AVG that something gets bunged up with the installer and you need to remove your current version completely in order to install the new version.
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 1)
johnhee said 5:42PM on 8-20-2009
AVG - Not anything to do with its removal after yet another bout of malware, and a move to a better product?
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Molly said 5:47PM on 8-20-2009
since AVG started installing a browser toolbar and a more than questionable linkscanner, their software is outright malicious in my books.
not overly surprised that folks just want to get rid of it :)
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Demodave said 5:50PM on 8-20-2009
Norton has really cleaned up its act with NAV 2009. Small installer....light on resources...and it seems to be rated very well in independent tests of AV suites. I used Norton many years ago, but stopped when it became so friggin' bloated a few years ago. I tried it on my laptop and am very impressed.
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nidx said 6:18PM on 8-20-2009
Microsoft Security Essentials has become my new standard, had to believe it has anything to do with Microsoft defender or OneCare
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Tripp said 7:03PM on 8-20-2009
I think this has to do as well with a known problem with AVG not uninstalling properly. Lots of users will put AVG on a PC to "have something" and then when they get Kaspersky or whatever to upgrade to, AVG won't come off properly.
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RoyalKnight said 7:24PM on 8-20-2009
A lot of my AVG woes have been about uninstalling and reinstalling the product, but I've also been getting a fair amount of complaints about AVG being a horrid on system resources, particularly on the older, XP-era machines.
I myself am not happy with it, either, and that doesn't even count LinkScanner. While all AVs have an impact on performance, some are better about it than others.
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Karl said 7:44PM on 8-20-2009
I stopped using AVG this year, after being loyal to it for the last 6 or so.
It really kills systems. If you don't believe me, take a fresh netbook, reboot it a couple of times to get a good "feel", then install AVG. Your effective boot time (time from pressing power button to being able to actually USE the computer) will close to double.
Sure, on most PC's you won't see this kind of impact. But why keep AVG around when there are lighter, faster alternatives that offer the same protection?
I switched to Avast. I know the GUI is a lot more frilly and fluffy than necessary, and that kept me away for a long time. But Avast barely makes a dent in my system performance.
I also tried Avira, but I didn't like the fact that all it does is try to get you to purchase the "full" version (also like AVG... another reason I dumped it).
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Molly said 8:58PM on 8-20-2009
Avira's nag screen can be subdued easily via GPE, firewall or some little application, Brad was posting recently (just can't think of the name. it wasn't called NagMeNot, or was it? :)
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Mason said 11:56PM on 8-20-2009
It has nothing to do with removing AVG, or Norton. Those are "Virus REMOVAL tools."
Aside from them advertising that they REMOVE viruses, if people use the keywords "Program Remove Virus," they'll most often click the avg link, or the norton link, and that information will be sent off to Google's secret statistics and "personal data analysis" department, via their top secret spy satellites.
They aren't looking for ways to remove AVG, most of the time... they are looking up AVG to remove malware.
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Mason said 12:02AM on 8-21-2009
On that note, you forget that Google is not intelligent. It doesn't even have any Artificial Intelligence. Google is an indexing service much like every other search engine in the web. It crawls the web, looking for keywords, namely in the meta tags of most websites. It then archives that little data, and users punch in keywords to have the data displayed. That's why if you search "How can I show hidden files?", it will most often then not, show you a page with information about the two main keywords, "Hidden, Files." The words "How, Can, and I" are automatically disregarded, unless you type the query with quotations. However, you know how Google works, just a reminder.
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Gary said 12:02PM on 8-21-2009
For what its worth, IBM Global Services forbids AVG antivirus for all employees and contractors. In case anyone is wondering, that's the only AV they forbid.
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Jim said 12:17PM on 8-21-2009
^^^^^^^ maybe because AVG free is for private use only
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