Just a general query

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I did post on this forum several months ago asking about Avast’s use with a dial up connection. I will need to change my anti virus program soon as updates for this one I’m currently using (Avira AntiVir 9) will be ending toward the end of this year, so in a few weeks. I have no desire to use their version 10 or 2012 as their forum seems to have been filled with problems regarding one or the other, plus both seem to be bundled with stuff I don’t want, like a toolbar or something if I remember correctly?

Avast is the only other free anti virus program I know of as we use the latest free version on our PCs at work (we are a charity by the way). It seems to work well enough there, but it’s a completely different operating system (Windows 7) and we use a broadband connection. I know I have to completely remove AntiVir off first before installing Avast and I have got instructions from the Avira site as to what to do, but it’s after that that’s a bit of an unknown as I’ve not changed between anti virus program providers before.

I just wondered if there had been any recent problems with the latest Avast version on Windows XP Home SP3? I only ask as I don’t really want too much fuss in changing from one anti virus program to another. I’m not particularly very technical with PCs(!)

My system’s hardware:
Windows XP Home SP3 (32 bit I think - can’t see anything about 64 bit being mentioned in System Properties)
AMD Athlon II X2 260 Processor / 3.21 GHz / 2GB of RAM installed (I think?) but 1.75 GB of RAM is available / 500GB hard drive and 452GB is available

I do have a couple of other security programs already installed and wondered about the compatibility of those with Avast too…

Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6.2808 (yes, I know this is an extremely old firewall that’s no longer updated, and hasn’t been updated for quite some time, but it’s worked OK for me for many years and it’s been fairly simple to use, which I do like)
SpywareBlaster 4.6
Spybot S&D 1.6.2 (no Teatimer or SD resident installed - I just update the program once a week and use the scanner whenever I want to plus the Immunize feature)
These along with AntiVir 9 are the only security programs that I’ve ever installed on this PC (I got it as new in July 2011 when my very old one went up the creek!)

I have also seen that Visual C++ is needed for certain programs to run and I believe this includes anti virus programs, so probably includes Avast? I don’t really understand what Visual C++ does, but anyway, I see I have this version of it on my system in my add/remove programs: 2008 Redistributable x86 9.0.30729.17. Do I need a new version of this (if there is one as Windows Update hasn’t told me otherwise?) for the latest Avast to install and run properly?

Lastly, is there anywhere else that I can download the Avast installer from? I see that on the official site, it’s based on CNet and I never like downloading anything from that site.

Sorry for the essay (and probably silly questions!)

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Spybot S&D 1.6.2 (no Teatimer or SD resident installed - I just update the program once a week and use the scanner whenever I want to plus the Immunize feature)
spybot is waste of disk space..... http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=109902.0

replace it with Malwarebytes http://filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/

Lastly, is there anywhere else that I can download the Avast installer from? I see that on the official site, it's based on CNet and I never like downloading anything from that site.
Filehippo.com
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http://www.avast.com/index

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and that goes to the CNET link he/she dont like :wink:

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I think I downloaded Avast from webattack.com

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Thanks for that recommendation :slight_smile: I have seen MalwareBytes mentioned before on other forums, but never really thought to go out and get it!

Oh and I’m a she by the way not a he :wink: ;D

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I used SyGate Firewall for a number of years and was happy with it. It hasn’t been updated for quite a while and is considered abandonware since the publisher was purchased by (I believe) Symantec. I moved to Online Armor Free Firewall http://download11.emsisoft.com/OnlineArmorSetup.exe and was pleasantly surprised with it. It’s quite easy to use and can be updated thru it’s internal updater.

When Avast had a special offer for AIS, I switched to it. Otherwise, I’d still be using it.

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Hello em1500uk!

The Visual C++ component will be installed automatically by avast! itself, no problems are expected on this side.

The correct “direct links”:
http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe (avast! Free)
http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup.exe (avast! Pro)
http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe (avast! Internet Security)

INGBEAN

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Thanks for that, but I did notice that another user had an issue with the Visual C++ install in the Avast’s set up here, although they say they’re using XP SP2, so maybe that made a difference?

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There would be no difference in the requirement for C++ with XP SP2 or SP3 or other OS for that matter as the requirement is needed for avast.

What may or may not be an issue is if C++ is already installed on the system or not. From your first post you appear to have the correct version as the build number is the same as mine except for the last to digits .17 mine has 4 digits after the 2008 Redistributable x86 9.0.30729.

That said if you didn’t have the correct version then I would expect you to be getting C++ related errors displayed - this is commonly the ‘Side-By-Side Configuration is Incorrect’ Error.

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Is it wise to go out and find the latest update of the Visual C ++ version that I have and install it before attempting to install Avast? As I’m on dial up at home, I do have to go elsewhere to download installation files etc as mostly the file size is too large to cope with. As soon as I remove my current AV, I just want to install Avast there and then without having to go without having an AV on my PC for several days… I’d like to have all the necessary Visual C++ fille there to install separately just in case I encounter any problems.

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Avast should typically install visual C++ during the install which will be the x86 9.0.30729.4148 version, after installation if you perform a windows update then version x86 9.0.30729.6161 will be installed, once that is installed you can then uninstall all the visual C++ 9 versions prior to the last installed, you only need the latest version of each number.

Edited for the visual C++ numbers that I previously forgot :slight_smile:

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@ em1500uk
Well I honestly don’t believe that will be a problem if your installation of C++ is the 2008 SP1 redistributable version, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to download it and save it to your hard disk just in case.

You need 2008 SP1 - this is the one:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update and you should download the x86 version (vcredist_x86.exe).

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hi em1500uk,

I’ve noted two things:

[ol]- No link was provided for vendor uninstall tools for a specific a/v vendor. You can get these tools you need here: http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/ As it appears you are planning ahead for this move to Avast!, that is only proper. First step in removing the old a/v is to use Add/Remove to uninstall it, then reboot, and then run the vendor uninstall tool, and reboot once again.

  • You can get the version of Avast! where a listing is posted for all versions of Avast! here, including the Endpoint versions: http://www.avast.com/download-software
    Here, at least, with this link, you can see what you are getting when you click without having to go to c|net downloads to get it (I avoid c|net downloads totally, always go to the vendor page only).[/ol]

Suggest running the vendor tool at least twice to ensure all old remnants are removed, reboot after each time. A run with sfc /scannow will not hurt either before installing the new a/v.

As for the C++ version, craigb and DavidR has you sorted out.

EDIT: You can also ask here about the newest version of Avast.edu, which is free. I personally do not know where this link is, but someone else here will know.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks very much. It is only precautionary as I sat to save waiting for a few days.

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Cheers - I have uninstallation instructions from the Avira site and I have a link to get their registry cleaner directly from them, so hopefully in that area I should be OK :slight_smile: Glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t bother with CNet. I’ve not been to that site for downloads in many years. Normally go to FileHippo or the vendor site these days anyway.

Two questions with regards to your post: one what on earth is sfc /scannow (guessing it’s a command prompt thing, but I don’t really know how to use that) and two what is Avast.edu all about? Obviously it’s another version as you say, but I’ve never even heard of it!

Another thing that has worried me about moving from Avira to Avast is wondering whether Avast will grind my PC to a halt so it’s unusable and wondering whether or not I will be able to receive the updates for it due to the fact that I have a dial up connection :-\ My connection speeds lately (over the last month or so) have been 44kbps or 45.2kbps but for some time before then they’ve been up and down, lowest being about 21.6kbps. I take it that the cloud services that are included in version 7 will have to be disabled and I’ll have to do updates manually, as I’m presuming the cloud services will be no use to me due to my connection speed and not being online all the time? I don’t mind setting off an update myself as that’s what I do with Avira currently and it manages it, but the updates most of the time now are really small, like 200kb or so, but that’s probably cos my mum checks for updates several times during the day when she’s in. Sometimes a big update gets released and it struggles and I have to download a file via a broadband connection, then bring it home and perform a separate update using the file and that works. I’m just curious to know what an optimum set up for someone on dial up would be?

I am very sorry for all these silly questions, but I’m only an average PC user and this is the only PC I have and just don’t like the idea of things going wrong. I know some things (but not a lot!) and despise having to sort problems out with it. Guess I just want an easy life ;D

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Any replies to my last post would be good… Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

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Avast is relatively light on resources.

I have never used avira, so I don’t know exactly what areas it covers. I have had avast for over eight and a half years now and have only had broadband for the last two, so I’m well aware of the difficulties with dial-up, but that wasn’t a problem for me and using avast.

Avast does incremental updates so the updates are measured in KBs and not MBs, probably averaging out at about 100KB. There are on average two auto updates for virus definitions during the day, avast also uses streaming updates so that more urgent signature updates are released rather than waiting for the next auto update. These are generally very small so far today I have received 23 of those ranging in size between 1KB and 35KB. Most of these were delivered shortly after I booted earlier today.

There really isn’t much optimising to do in relation to do with dial-up, I would leave it on the default settings and see how you get on with those.

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Thanks for the reply DavidR :slight_smile: I’m only concerned as I feel that Avast is my only best option for an AV program right now and I don’t want to be left with no AV program on my system at all, or left with one that I can’t update. I simply refuse to go on to Avira’s version 10 or the newer 2012 version as both seem riddled with problems these days and I’m not familiar with AVG, but apparently that’s rubbish and I don’t know of any other free AV programs that I could use, hence why I’m considering a move to Avast very soon.

You say a lot of the streaming update files were picked up on your PC starting up, will this affect my system loading time and will having the cloud services and automatic updates on affect my internet speed/browsing due to the connection speed being so slow in the first place?

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As you can see from the image a bunch of them (which were available but my system was off) about 9 from 1KB - 6KB which shouldn’t be much of an issue.

The regular auto update check happens shortly after boot and that is likely to be more resource intensive (CPU and RAM than internet connection), if your system has a reasonable CPU and qty of RAM (which it does seem to be reasonable) that shouldn’t be a problem. If it proves to be an issue there are manual changes to settings to delay it until later after the boot. But lets not get tied down with that right now unless we need to cross that bridge later.