Avast Anti-virus may be too zealous

[GrantSP]

There have been a number of reports about MO being unable to run 'such and such' programs. Often the reports contain error messages and they are similar in that they all contain lines like this:

 

DEBUG (15:38:20.0581): findfirstfileex C:\Program Files\AVAST Software: AVAST Software (10) 

 

The most likely cause is the anti-virus checker is getting freaked out by the 'hook.dll' and it halts the operation from continuing.

If you are experiencing this error message then it may be worthwhile setting the 'hook.dll' as an exception.

AVAST has a help page that provides details on how to set this.

 

I do not have this anti-virus so i can not check it but if anyone wishes to try and add a report here that would be good.

More than likely other anti-virus checkers could do this also, so it would work with those too.

Edited December 4, 2014 by GrantSP

[hishutup]

Why do people use that one?

It's the one that has the most issues.

 

I've use Microsoft security essentials for years and haven't had a single issue :/

[GrantSP]

Same here. I did a fairly extensive testing period of all the popular AV packages and after using AVG for many years I switched to MSE and have never had any problems or infections.

Strange as may be Microsoft has actually produced a fairly good package. Add to that MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and a couple of Chrome extensions and I feel fairly safe.

 

* Cue the ominous music and prepare for an onslaught *

[TechAngel85]

I used Avast for years and it was the #1 recommended anti-virus in many of my recent tech books in college. Since then, I've switched to MSE because it's light-weight and gets the job done for those that use best practices. For client computers, I still install Avast though. I've never had any issues with it when it's set up properly and have never had a computer come back to me with virus/malware issues after I installed it for clients. I'd still recommend it for the average user. But for more advanced users, MSE and the protection built into Firefox is all you need. Speaking of which, Firefox is the second thing I install on client computers and then I delete all shortcuts to IE and tell them that, "Firefox is the internet. Just use it when you want to go online."

 

Don't ever touch Norton nor McAfee! Not even with a ten foot pole covered in hazmat protection! If I ever had a computer come to me with virus or malware issues, 9/10 times it had an active subscription to one of those anti-viruses and it declared the computer as "good/clean". You couldn't pay me to use either one of them! If you've ever wondered why some companies like Staples push these crap programs, it's because they get a kickback for every new customer. Staples is specific to Norton. I found this out by working as a Resident Tech for Staples for several months. I eventually quit because the boss was the biggest a**hole I've ever met and I didn't agree with how they handled their tech side of the business nor how I was forced to pressure customers into buy crap they didn't need just to raise the attachment rate for the store and the sales numbers. Staples doesn't care about the customer, they only care about numbers. Never take your computer to Staples and if you know some that has, slap them for me! All the techs in there are idiots. All they do is hook your computer up to the station and run some crap cleaner program from Symantec. If it's something that needs more personal attention, they outsource the work to remote techs that remote into the computer to fix the issue. Monkeys.

 

Wow...that got way off topic but you got me on a rant. Haha!

[hishutup]

I install MSE on ALL family computers.

 

I don't want them being like whats this new thing...

MSE installs and doesn't complain.

 

I dislike AVG because they are bloatware for most installers (who needs a download installer, it seems like it the new thing)

download installers are another deal... Why would I download a 4 MB installer to download a 1MB file? 

 

by the time my pc get slow, I just reinstall windows but I have spare drives laying around that I can store stuff on

[GrantSP]

This is good. We're in agreement then.

Tech, cut back on your caffeine.

But I totally agree with you. As the family techie I do exactly the same thing.

[Nozzer66]

I wouldn't wish McAfee or Kaspersky for that matter on my worst enemy. As for Nortons... I've been told I'm not allowed to say what I'd like to say about that so here's the edited version... $@*($^@*(&^*(@$^&*(@*(^!*(^$*(@$_%!@)(%&!(@*)&%()@%@#&*(% Pile...

 

MSE all the way here. 

Edited December 4, 2014 by Nozzer66

[phazer11]

What's wrong with Kaspersky? McAfee, Norton an AVG are manure. Kaspersky is decent in my experience (especially if you pair it with a good malware scanner like MBAM or something). MSE is decent too. Interesting topic though. Also Norton developers (or at least the ones I know) don't even use Norton, talk about a vote of no confidence.

[Nozzer66]

Kaspersky kept turning itself off for me... I eventually found a dud RAM stick, fixed that and reinstalled it, but still wouldn't stay activated.

[EssArrBee]

MSE = Windows Defender with Windows 8. So having both with that OS is redundant since it's the exact same detection engine. I would just use Defender and install something else on top of that like Panda Cloud or Bitdefender. I've have Bitfender Pro for a while and it seems to work barely even notice it actually, but I only visit a moderate amount shady websites. On Windows 7 do not use MSE, it's crap and M$ is planning on stop development in a couple months, so avoid it and go with something else. I've heard good things about Avira and Avast, but one of those had some kind of spyware built in that would send user's data back to the company. I didn't really read the article, but you should look into it if you are going to use one of those. 

 

Bitdefender's free version is very lightweight and there are not that many features, so if you want the minimalist AV approach give it a try.

 

Check out AV-Test and AV-Comparatives for some great independent tests.

[Aiyen]

Back when I got my last MB, I have a hefty discount price for a one year norton subscription so I tried it out... initially I was actually quite pleased with it. It did its thing, had a nice swift interface and never bothered me. But even during that year they overhauled the UI, and everything else and it ended up a worse (slower, more noticeable) product then when I started using it. 

 

These days.. just MSE, and if a website seems dodgy... disable javascript and move on. Seems to work nicely enough. 

[TechAngel85]

I don't think there are very many of us using Windows 8. If Microsoft stops developing MSE, I'll just switch back to avast most likely. The only thing I've read is that they're ending MSE for XP. Not for anything else. Of course all XP support is being cut off as it's already past its End-of-Life point for Microsoft.

[GrantSP]

...On Windows 7 do not use MSE, it's crap and M$ is planning on stop development in a couple months, so avoid it and go with something else...

Huh! Sorry but I can't agree with that. 'Crap' is a subjective term and there are many tests that could be shown to highlight its success rate, along with a number that show failures. As to its development being stopped. It may have another name change to merge the product lines but it isn't going to stop anytime soon.

At any rate this isn't a 'which AV is better thread' I was just curious if anyone here had the same results that a number of users were reporting.

 

Oh, I chuckled at: "but I only visit a moderate amount shady websites". Searching for that special mod with physics enabled breasts were you?

[EssArrBee]

Japanese and Russian modding sites are a nightmare. It is such a chore to figure out how to even download a mod. Not really worried about boobie mods though, the Nexus and Lovers Lab have plenty of that stuff if I need it.