I am a long time user of Avast Free Antivirus and have been pleased that I personally have not caught a virus on my computer since using it (together With Malwarebytes Antimalware Pro). I keep abreast of the testing done by the team at av-comparatives and have to admit that I was a bit shocked by the poor standing of Avast versus the competition for the latest set of testing results (March - June 2014) - http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/avc_prot_2014a_en.pdf
Not much more to say really other than I do hope this is a temporary glitch in the detection rate. Avast was always the best of the “free” bunch" in my opinion but it looks like some of the other one’s are taking the title??
I appreciate that the Avira product used is the paid version as is bitdefender but nevertheless to see Avast so far behind Avira is a bit of a shock to say the least. The basic detection should not be vastly different between the Avira paid and free. Avast always used to be heads above Avira and especially AVG (which is consistently poor) but not it seems that even AVG has a better protection rate. To be below AVG is saying something.
Also in Avast 2015 (https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=153511.0) there will be Dyna-Gen, NG Machine Technology, improved DeepScreen and something else they do not tell us yet in Beta 2, so Avast should be better in the next Version.
I’m not that concerned since each a/v goes up and then down and then back up again.
One time avast does great the next test not so great. It’s cyclical from test to test.
True… (about being cyclical) the previous cycle of testing showed avast to be on top of AVG and Avira.
Still a bit of a concern for the Avast team though I would have thought. Would be nice to hear what their official take on the result for this quarter is.
In all honesty I can’t get excited about these tests - some of the shield/s activity can’t be replicated in on-demand scans.
I tend to go by my own personal experience of over ten years using avast without infection - whilst I’m pretty well covered by avast and mbam pro, I do have proactive measure also. But I still don’t really get much in the way of alerts, other than when I go looking into sites (checking out things from the viruses and worms forum) that are likely to alert.
Avira has always been famous for high detection rate. I’ll not be surprised to see Avira tops together with BD/BD-OEM products in the tests.
However, take it easy. MBAM is a good addition to any Anti-virus software. A proactive software, e.g. OFP or Comodo, could add another layer of control (if you don’t mind sometimes-too-many popup alerts).
I won’t even think about trusting the test from AV-comparatives. I have been using many antivirus programs some free some paid. Paid are: Norton, McAfee, and Trend Micro. Free are: Microsoft Security Essentials, Panda Free Antivirus, AVG Free, and Ad-Aware. All these antivirus software that I have used I have been using them on and off. Funny thing here is that I haven’t mentioned about Avast! and this is where it gets funny
Not until my younger brother who found out about the very 1st version of Avast!7 via internet and about the cool new features and reading user experience and comments. He then introduced it to me. From that moment on till now my 100% complete trust is still on Avast! He and me installed avast on both of our laptops. Only for the desktop we have AVG 2015 Free installed.
Since the installation of Avast!7 - current when ever we want to scan our downloaded files from our friend’s computer and transfer it to our laptop and we scan it, it detects real threats and detects false alarms Avast! always does the “P” job= “PERFECT” job As long as we don’t go to malicious sites, download dodgy software/program, download pirated games, and etc like me and my brother do. Your laptop/computer will stay malware free. In addition to that we both have including our desktop MBAM FREE and SAS. Stay safe everyone
Avast! performance was pretty poor for my point of view.I am hoping to see better with 2015 version.They improved their reaction times alot over this month so we will see what happens with ahead versions.
669?? but there is more than 50,0000 malware coming out everyday.This is like a drop in the bucket!! So we have like millions and billions of samples for like 1 month and they are testing against a few hundreds for 1 month when 669 or even a few thousands for just 1 day test wont be enough.
If you want to go to suspicious sites, just prepare to be infected anyway and make the precautions as backups and not storing anything even moderately sensitive on your machine.
I have mentioned some flaws about these tests earlier on.The usual points about static testing are:
a) the tests are carried long after the real infection took place, so it’s kind of useless from today’s point of view
b) the tests are carried without any context state information. Such information - if there is file named “document.doc .exe” in email, this is enough to ban the execution
c) the proactive tests are carried only with the signature engines - they don’t test the other generic protection engines the products may have
d) the tests don’t know anything about the relationship of the samples. If you detect the dropper, you don’t have to detect the dropped binary.
After years with MSE + MBAM, I dumped MSE and am now using Avast! + MBAM (Premium) and MBAE. I also get a “second opinion scan” frequently with SuperAntiSpyware.
I also just did another scan with Norton Power Eraser, which found 1 file that it considered “dangerous” – it got rid of it. I highly recommend NPE for a “deep cleaning.”
If I am going to download a dubious program, I’ll put it in the Sandbox.
I clean my machine with CCleaner every evening. I have a clean machine. [Sounds like the lyrics from a Beetles song.]
Unless you’re an expert at cleaning the registry I wouldn’t recommend any program
to the average computer user to do that job. Deep scanning for viruses can be done with
avast but is best done under supervision of a Malware Removal expert.
As many here I’ve been an Avast user for a while and as for the AV-Tests not really interested in them.I’ve learned to trust my own personal experience…Like many here I’m using Avast Free alongside Malwarebytes Premium,Comodo’s Firewall takes Firewall defense.I use MC Shield whenever using USB and quickly on occasion to update ang scan drives. I’d thought Malwarebytes would be the one to flag most website threats but Avast has ruled there completely and has done a fine job so far.I’ve been clean on this system for 6 long years many thanks to Avast there!
With false positives Avast seems to be doing good…I’m getting the few detections that are the “Gen” type on files that I know are clean but of course these files should have been an alert to the average user for sure.
All said very happy so far and from what I’ve seen on this topic…overall looks like Avast has passed. Just hope it continues improving so I can be a happy user for long to come.
I would rate Avast free as the best. It gives all the shield thro which virus rootkit or any PUP attack a computer. I always use AVast . The test may take in to account the common items found in Avs. But there are special items , in which I think that Avast surpasses all the AVs.
I had this stops suspicious url , suspicious mails, dangerous sites from attacking the computer. Of course, there may be still bugs in this program, but comparing the free version, i rate Avast as the best. If it contains the internet security or add on to the free program, then this is the best, as per my rateings are concerned. I used all the AVS including mcafee, norton, avg etc etc, but the real protection, other than some sophisticated malwares, this is the best free program.
Hope to get the internet firewall in AVG 2015. I also would like the programmers to include firefox as a default inclusion in Windows Firewall, which will give best browsing experience
As long as we don’t go to malicious sites, download dodgy software/program, download pirated games, and etc like me and my brother do. Your laptop/computer will stay malware free. In addition to that we both have including our desktop MBAM FREE and SAS. Stay safe everyone