Avast is slow scanning, system resources hog and horrible user interface?

General Topics
1

I have nothing to say about this misleading review, I think he/she have to learn a lot of things to make a professional review. >:(

Detection Rate: According to Trilobite of Spywareinfo, 80.08%. According to av-comparatives.org, 93.09% (for PRO)

Installation: Installation went relativly easy. You are required to regester and get a key from them by email. They got the email out much faster than AVG. The installation did not ask for the key, only when I started the main program did it ask for it. The installation also gave several more options about customizing the install than AVG or Antivir. Installation required a reboot.

Use: Avast has got to have one of the worst user interfaces i have seen of the antivirus apps. Instead of clear labels, the user is forced to look at pictures and move the mouse cursor over the icons to see what it actually does. It also puts 2 items in the tray, one is called “VRDB” (Virus Recovery Database) and the actual Avast tray icon itself. There is the option, however, to integrate the two. One of the system tray icons is also animated, which can be distracting. However, Avast does appear to offer many customizations to the program itself. It also scans the startup and memory when you start the main application, much like Antivir. One thing to remember about this application is sliders, every setting seems to have a slider as its way of controlling it. It has many different levels of security. It also speaks to you, literally, when it updates.

Performance: Consumes a total of 30.112MB of RAM and uses 4 processes. Takes minutes 28M 18S to do a full system scan on my system. I think we can say that this program should be called aslow. Boots in 1M and 7S.

Pros
Free to the home user
Many customizations

Cons
Somewhat odd user interface compared to others
System resource hog
Slow scanning
2 items appear in tray after install

http://www.schadentech.com/Reviews/Antivirus/avast.htm

2

If the user use the program will know the stupid things talked:

  1. if avast! have many customizations why he(she) could not hide not just one but both icons on system tray? Just change avast4.ini file to do that.

  2. odd interface? Did he(she) tryed other skins? The skinless appearance? Non sense opinion.

  3. System resource hog. Does anybody believes in his(her) test? If so, can he(she) have the same protection with just 1kb of RAM? ;D

  4. Slow scanning? Which options just he(she) check? While he(she) need a fast on-demand scanning? Does he(she) knows that on-access is the protection?

3

ok, let me see.

  • spelled Avast wrong (aVast)
  • No date of testing
  • no info about the system the test was performed on
  • not mentioning what version of Avast was tested
  • not mentioning the settings that where used when testing
  • not mentioning if anything else was running during the test
  • not mentioning how many files (archives) are on the test system
  • definatly not reading the help
  • refering to others for detection rate, not checking theirselfs
  • not mentioning they tested the home version (you can make it up if you look at they saying "got the key from the website, but people who don´t know that will not know if it is the home/proversion)
  • not mentioning anything about the differences between home/pro
  • 30.112MB ??? Sure did not have had his glasses on when looking
  • 30.112Mb, likely take from taskmanger which is not accurate when it comes to giving ram usage.
  • mentioning detection rate of Pro, not mentioning it is the same for Home

Conclusion:
Reliabillity of the test : 100% failed
Ability of the person to test av’s : 100% failed

SchadenTech? Looks more like ShadyTest

4

Maybe that guy was judging from this pic: HTTP://WWW.WINLOAD.DE/DOWNLOAD/30005/UTILITIES/ANTIVIRUS/AVAST!.VERSION.4.-.HOME.EDITION-4.1.389.HTML

:frowning: :o :stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT:
Because you’re getting redirected when you go to that page,
write “avast” in the search option they have.

5

pic

6

Dear bunch, what can we say… There are so many “security experts” out there these days… he is just another self proclaimed security expert who doesn’t know what he is talking about. Those few words marked in red, could be said in a shorter way… let’s say like this:
Another Idiot

7

If this thread were in the Off Topic I’ve already close it… ;D
Useless :stuck_out_tongue:
Thanks Sasha. I can’t add a word to yours 8)

8

Hello gentlemen.

“1) if avast! have many customizations why he(she) could not hide not just one but both icons on system tray? Just change avast4.ini file to do that.”

I was talking about the default.

“2) odd interface? Did he(she) tryed other skins? The skinless appearance? Non sense opinion.”

I was talking about the default.

"3) System resource hog. Does anybody believes in his(her) test? If so, can he(she) have the same protection with just 1kb of RAM? "

Resource hog refers to RAM usage, which i have screenshots of on the review page.

“4) Slow scanning? Which options just he(she) check? While he(she) need a fast on-demand scanning? Does he(she) knows that on-access is the protection?”

The scanning method chosen was mentioned on the opening pages of the roundup.

“- no info about the system the test was performed on”
Look at the first page of the roundup.
http://www.schadentech.com/Reviews/Antivirus/antivirus_roundup.htm

“- not mentioning what version of Avast was tested”
I have screenshots of the program itself. Definition dates are seen there.

“- not mentioning the settings that where used when testing”
See first page of the roundup.

“- not mentioning if anything else was running during the test”
See pictures of Process viewer.

“- not mentioning how many files (archives) are on the test system”
See first page of the roundup.

“- refering to others for detection rate, not checking theirselfs”
Trilobite is a respected member of the Spywareinfo community, one of the leading sources of antimalware help.

“. he is just another self proclaimed security expert”
I am the leading antimalware advisor on the anandtech forums.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=33&threadid=1346173&enterthread=y

Again, thank you all for your critique of my review and i will take your comments into consideration when writing future reviews. Have a great day.

9

As discussed multiple times here, this is exactly the wrong method of checking mem usage. Despite its name, the “Mem Usage” column is not really what you’d call “memory usage” of the process. The “VM Size” column is what you probably want to see.

Aditionally, there are many more “resources” to hog than just memory. Unfortunatelly, they could be rather hard to measure.

10

He’s just one guy starting a hobby site and looking at antivirus from the perspective of the end-user. I neither agree or disagree with his recent reviews, because it’s his opinion. I rate antivirus by my own criteria, as should every professional. He clearly states on his new site:

This is going to be my first ever review, let alone software round up. I will apologize in advance for my lack of writing and/or review skills.

Hardly a self proclaimed security expert. I don’t even call myself an expert, and I’m actually in the security field. If you think his review was in error, perhaps you could communicate that to him directly as constructive criticism instead of indirectly with libel?

At least one good thing came of this; free advertising via the link to his review. :slight_smile:

11

That is a great point about the vm size. Page swaps are even more taxing on a system than the volatile memory usage itself. What kind of memory analysis utility do you suggest when reviewing an antivirus? I’ll keep all these points in mind when I start writing my reviews.

12
"2) odd interface? Did he(she) tryed other skins? The skinless appearance? Non sense opinion."

I was talking about the default

Well there are other skins you could try, you could of mentioned that there are more when you where doing the pros and cons, also i wouldn’t really call it ‘odd’, more of different or stands out.

"- not mentioning what version of Avast was tested" I have screen shots of the program itself. Definition dates are seen there.

Mabey im wrong, but i can’t see it in witting which is pretty important really.

BTW, there’s Version 4.5 now :wink:

Good day :slight_smile:

–lee

13

Well, I rather meant that “Memory Usage” column doesn’t have any sense for most of the people. It actually shows how much of the virtual address space of the process (4GB usually) is used/allocated/mapped. It doesn’t say anything about the memory usage as people understand it. You can map a big file and the “Memory Usage” increases by (for example) 100MB - but you didn’t actually allocate any memory.

Long time ago, Vlk posted more details about it.

The “VM Size” column should be the one to check. But as I said - pure memory consumption is not enough to judge how a program affects your computer.

14

Agreed. A few years ago I went through a review process for our firm, as we were discontinuing our at-the-time antivirus for something new. I spent 4 months comparing a dozen different products, until I picked my favorite 2, and that’s where the real testing began. I don’t remember if I even bothered to consider memory usage although I’m sure I recorded it. I ran an on-demand scan three times, recorded and averaged (some AV like Sophos won’t rescan the same file if it’s hasn’t changed), and then also recorded how many files were actually scanned. I made sure to choose All Files, but even with that the result was different. And then for the real-time scan, I copied a huge amount of files to and from a server making sure that All Files was still enabled. The final test was a real life test - 10 accountants (half win98, half win2k) in one office and 10 accountants in another office ran each AV for a few weeks and commented on their observations. Although my speed tests had shown one to be much better than the other - this last test showed that although the first AV was the fastest, while it was running in the background the rest of the software ran extremely slow. Even with a small footprint, it was the real resource hog.

15

My appologies if I offended anyone with my previous reply (little too harsh I admit it), but it p***s me off when I see such a reviews and people don’t even take some serious time to check all possibilities that program offers… I understand that there are so many different products that needs to be reviewed, and it takes so much time, but that is what reviewing job is all about… that’s not the reason to look at one just 5 minutes and give your opinion just by getting a picture from the first sight… that’s why reviewing is serious job. It needs to be done perfectly as much as it is possible… otherwise, we’ll all get different and non-truthful picture about some certain products.

I’m sure your (author of the review) intention wasn’t to degrade avast! in any way, but reading that review, some people may take it differently…

Cheers and have a nice evening everyone !

16

Schadenfroh, you posted just one and call yourself a security expert…
You tried to answer our questions/points with just one line of quoting your onw statements…

If you’re talking about the default your talking about a closed box that you buy at the supermarket and trying to guess its flavor… Common! Take your time to do a good job :wink:

We just want serious and professional statements… that all :stuck_out_tongue:

17

Amen to that Technical

18

Alot of people use default settings, guys. It’s not like this guys review is total nonsense. See it from a sensible perspective. Some people have problems even checking their emails let alone tweaking an antivirus program.

19

NegeItu, I agree with you… Lots of people use the default but look at Schadenfroh’s post (answers):

"1) if avast! have many customizations why he(she) could not hide not just one but both icons on system tray? Just change avast4.ini file to do that." I was talking about the default.

The user wants more powerful options.
Why don’t it learn avast before asking for them?
Why don’t this guy called Schadenfrohs learn about avast?
He said it’s impossible to hide icons. Stop talking nonsense about avast. Learn it I will say.

"2) odd interface? Did he(she) tryed other skins? The skinless appearance? Non sense opinion." I was talking about the default.

What’s odd with the default silver interface?
Odd?
An adjective? I mean, an opinion… Why the ‘technical’ test messes with opinions?
Does this guy knows about interface?
Why does he post only once here?

"3) System resource hog. Does anybody believes in his(her) test? If so, can he(she) have the same protection with just 1kb of RAM? " Resource hog refers to RAM usage, which i have screenshots of on the review page.

Igor answered this. Forums are plenty of this answers about RAM usage…

20

I appreciate Negeltu’s point… some folks never bother tweaking AV programs etc, because they are either computer illiterate or just plain lazy.

Quite a few of my friends (esp. the older ones or disabled) only know how to use email and a browser (and barely at that). These friends are vunerable to malware because they have a habit of getting suckered into downloading stuff that they shouldn’t (esp. pop-up windows advertising spyware etc). They need (excuse the expression) “idiot proof” software that will protect them to the max, with zero complexity to them–as they would otherwise get overwhelmed.

So I help those friends by installing avast in "idiot proof mode’’ i.e. auto-update and silent mode and also by installing firewalls, script-blocking etc. The simpler, the better. You’d be surprised how many of my friends had previously used other av programs and hadn’t even bothered to set them up to auto-update, or renew their AV subscriptions. (as they didnt know better)… Actually, I think that there must be quite a large market for “idiot proof-all-in-one” security software for these folks–such that the less they have to interact with setting up the software, the better, otherwise they’d screw things up. I guess for them, that’s why AOL etc., exists. It does seem like quite a few ISPs have now picked up on this market by now offering server-side anti-virus filtering for their clients’ emails. Hmmm, I wonder how that translates in a loss of sales of retail boxed AV programs. Must make some dent, I’d imagine.

I think the new avast skinless 1/2/3/4 menu option is a step in the right direction for some of my friends who aren’t tech savy and aren’t able to figure out what the fancy icons mean on some of the skinned panels. Don’t get me wrong though–for the advanced user, the skinned panels with the icons are great (I like them)–but for those who need things spelled out – the simpler the better.

Well, that’s my rant for the day :wink: From a happy avast user!
;D