I had an unintentional BOFH moment the other day...

[demented-pants.livejournal.com]

Some old computer-phobic guy calls, wanting to know about free options for virus-scanning that are worth having.

I suggested Avast.

Comments

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

Well, it's less bastardly than suggesting free AV is no good and pointing him towards McAfee or Symantec. There's a good chance his machine will still run (albeit slowly) after installing Avast.

AVG FTW

[demented-pants.livejournal.com]

I work for a university so we have a software agreement that allows a free download of Symantec Endpoint, but there was no way his computer was going to run it.

Mostly I was just afraid that the first time Avast decides something is malware or a virus he's going to have a heart attack.

[tallanvor.livejournal.com]

It's not perfect, sure, but it beats the hell out of AVG, and anything is still better than McAfee!

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

I personally didn't like AVG as much because it constantly wants system reboots due to detection engine updates. Also, from what I've heard (but don't know firsthand) Avast has better detection heuristics than AVG.

[tortoises.livejournal.com]

AVG never asks me to reboot my system. :( (Don't ask me why I'm using AVG. Just... don't.)

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

Guess I'm just lucky then.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Same here, I've been using it for a couple of years now, I can't remember a single AVG reboot. (It was recommended to me when I was a good bit more clueless than I am now. And...well, I've never had a problem, or a virus. so it seems to be doing the trick.)

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

AVG never asks me for reboots - and Avast kept scaring the everliving crap out of me with the talking. That's what I'd be more worried about with an old dude, actually.

[demented-pants.livejournal.com]

That was where I was going with this.

[jjjiii]

You can configure it not to talk to you. Once I learned that, I was really happy with it. AVG started to annoy me with version 8's new user interface.

[jecook]

+1.

I've been migrating to Avast from AVG, because I just want AV. I do not require a "Do-All, Be-all" package.

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

Yup. Haven't looked back.

[snyperwolf.livejournal.com]

I've had the same problem. AVG asks me if it can reboot almost every day.

[tallanvor.livejournal.com]

I'm not overly concerned with spyware, although for the average user it is more of a concern. --Avast doesn't do that great of a job either, but it's a lot better than what AVG does.

AVG has a smaller memory footprint which may be important on older computers, but Avast isn't exactly a hog either, so that's usually not going to be a concern.

Avast does a significantly better job of detection, however, and pushes updates out more frequently (although generally having more than one update a day isn't likely to make a difference).

AntiVir is supposed to be ok as well, although I've never used it.

[kostika.livejournal.com]

You can schedule Avira to do a daily scan and I think it does it on defualt but at an odd random time. Which may be why you haven't seen it.

I've been using Avira for a few years now and I love it to bits.

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

That's a deal-breaker for me - I want to know when my AV is running, and I want to be able to schedule it when I want.

[kostika.livejournal.com]

But you can schedule it. Didn't you read my comment?

[kostika.livejournal.com]

I've been using Avira for a few years now and I prefer it above anything else. It knows the difference between a program and a virus and it's easy to understand and set up. I would definitely suggest it to anyone looking for a good AV prog.

AVG on the other hand sucks. I've used it a couple times way back in the mists of time and I think it has something against games cause it always thought they were viruses. It just never felt very user friendly to me. It may have gotten better over the years, but my view is forever tainted.

[preserver3.livejournal.com]

ClamWin

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

Clamwin is win for - GOOD - techs, but it's utter and complete fail for end-users.

[preserver3.livejournal.com]

I agree, why I suggested it for this comment.

Imagine an end user trying to use it.

I take it someone's read the latest XKCD!

[superbus.livejournal.com]

Re: I take it someone's read the latest XKCD!

[superbus.livejournal.com]

I broke into UNIX based systems with FreeBSD. My first time installing anything other than Windows was because a Linuxvangelist recommended it. "Fuck Ubuntu, it sucks ass". Of course, he didn't want to help me when I ran into multiple, MULTIPLE problems. It almost scared me off of Linux for good.

(Which is ironic, because now, my view is somewhat like his; Ubuntu sucks, but instead of fucking around with BSD, I usually send people to OpenSuSE)

Re: I take it someone's read the latest XKCD!

[tallanvor.livejournal.com]

Er... FreeBSD <> Linux... Just saying.

And FreeBSD was my first free OS as well... It's also still my first choice of an OS for a server.

Re: I take it someone's read the latest XKCD!

[superbus.livejournal.com]

That's my point. I was interested in Linux, and was thrown into something completely different.

As a server... well, I cut my teeth on Red Hat, so it's hard to get away from that. But I'd be interested in trying it, at least.

Re: I take it someone's read the latest XKCD!

[pikaporeon.livejournal.com]

did it lead to a shark attack?

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

No, the REAL BOFH answer would be to tell him that windows has its own built-in virus protection, and walk him through wiping all the data on his hard drive, either via the Disk Management console, del, or good ol' Format.

When he complains that all his data is gone, inform him sorrowfully that the Virus Protection is rather militant, and every file in his computer must've been infected. Shame, really, and did he have a backup? Surely you had a backup...

[taleya.livejournal.com]

You forgot to tell him to put a condom over his RJ jack and cram the CD slot with antibiotics

[taiki.livejournal.com]

OS/2 Warp

he won't have to worry about pesky things like drivers either..

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

The real BOFH would have him installing Trendfire...

ok, it's a really snazzy system and it's A.I is 'death from above' to viruses... but it's worse than Crysis when it comes to being a system hog, and when it crashes it's ugly!

I've seen what it does to older systems, and by the time it's finished crashing you might as well just buy a new hard-drive. because even a professional data recovery expert is going to have screaming fits trying to fix that!

[10001110101.livejournal.com]

For Real Ultimate BOFH-dom:

XP Antivirus 2008, ftw.

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

That's not BOFH; that's satanic.

[muddyroad.livejournal.com]

Wrong.

Not even SATAN would go there.

(I love it.)