AV & Firewalls

LMTC · Mar 19, 2010

Looking for firsthand experience again, as I know there are many tech-savvy users on this forum as well as a few true heavy hitters (network guys ;>). Been using AVG and Zone Alarm (free versions) for probably 4 years, maybe 5. I know when I ditched Norton I saw a tremendous improvement in my PC's performance.

Last few updates, particularly the latest, seem to have caused me problems. Just upgraded to AVG 9-something about 10 days ago, and have had lots of pages hang on my browsers (both IE and Firefox), and some just plain not load. I have two PCs, nearly identical hardware, both with XP Media Center as an OS, and similar software. Both started acting weird in other ways....mostly just being unresponsive at times. Then after a few days one of the PCs crashed. I was able to restore the OS with the recovery option, and I assumed it's misbehavior might have been due to a pending crash (i.e. corrput files). But that didn't explain the other PC, and both continue to perform poorly on the net, and the one that crashed seems worse (perception and it consistently tests slower on speed tests now).

I've tried a different router/modem, changed wireless adapters, and am about convinced that one of these programs, or both in tandem, are causing my problems. Anyone else having recent problems with AVG free or ZA? What are some other favorites for AV and firewall? Thanks for all input.

mostly_gas · Mar 19, 2010

Running AVG9 on the laptop(XP SP3) but not Zone Alarm. current ver. is 9.0.790 Virus defs are 271.1.1/2745. Have not had a problem since I ditched IE8. Two thoughts come to mind, 1) you are having a fight between ZA and AV or memory usage is now causing too much paging.

DavidVT · Mar 19, 2010

I've used AVG free privately and AVG paid at work for many years.

Much to my regret, I do see that performance is starting to take a hit. While they keep adding features to stay competitive, the reason I went with them (low footprint and minimal disturbance) is loosing ground.
I see the same thing on the work computers and all my hobby boxes.

Now can I prove that the zillions of Microsoft updates have no effect on the systems, oh no.

I feel your pain with regards to performance hits.

My Firefox is doing the same thing. After some goggling I found some evidence that AVG and Firefox do not play nice always.

I suggest you go into the AVG control panel and turn off all the fluff and then see if you get a different experience.

Google Firefox performance or slow down and you will perhaps find the links i did that talk to AVG settings that can help. Shut down AVG for a few reboots and see how things behave. Do the same thing with zone alarm.

I have stopped using a local firewall like zone alarm and let windows take care of that part. My work has a very aggressive security firewall and at home I have a fairly good gate-keeping firewall router myself.

Consider a more powerful process monitor and learn to read what is running on your system. This is one I like: Process Hacker | Get Process Hacker at SourceForge.net
The information can be a bit overwhelming, but once you see how to sort the columns and look at what is going on within your network connection, it starts to make some sense. Whatever you do, don't start deleting strange looking programs without doing your homework on the web. Many an eager computer user has dived into the running process list and deleted too many things. Stop or Terminate is ok, worst thing is you might reboot the computer or stop a file being saved. However delete... bad...

I am trying Chrome and Opera to see if my browsing experience can be made any better. I keep my Knoppix disk close for when Microsoft ticks me off too much. Running it as a live-CD is great for proving your hardware is just fine and the software is killing you. Running it from a vmware session lets you keep working on the stuff at work while browsing the web from a Linux Firefox session. (which is surprisingly faster for some strange reason......)

Perhaps the real network experts will bring some depth to this discussion. I only consider myself experienced but not an expert.

oh look, AVG wants me to reboot for an update again.

timswi · Mar 19, 2010

I have Noton Internet Security..Believe it or not, with Win7 it has no performance impact at all, unlike days of old. I can't tell when it is doing a full scan. Not sure what Symantic did to improve the software, but it worked this time...Picks up intruders on the run too.

aczlan · Mar 20, 2010

Look at AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Main-Tests for some GREAT comparisons of different AV products. I use Kaspersky at home (I got a license for free) and would use that or Microsoft Security Essentials on my computers.
Programs that I would avoid:
AVG: I have had too many bad expierences with it
ESET NOD32: GREAT PROGRAM, but I will not use it until they fix their uninstall bug (you have to use the uninstall link from the start menu to remove the program, if you use add-remove programs to try to remove it the program is left half installed).
G Data: It is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW to update (or it was when I tested it at work).

Aaron Z

Chuck52 · Mar 20, 2010

Is MicroSoft Security Essentials free or did I just get it free from work? That's how much I know about computer security. The University IT folks said to get the MicroSoft product and dump the Symantec stuff they used to support.

Chuck

aczlan · Mar 20, 2010

The Microsoft product is free for home or home based office use according to the EULA.

Aaron Z

MrDig · Mar 20, 2010

LMTC said:
Looking for firsthand experience again, as I know there are many tech-savvy users on this forum as well as a few true heavy hitters (network guys ;>). Been using AVG and Zone Alarm (free versions) for probably 4 years, maybe 5. I know when I ditched Norton I saw a tremendous improvement in my PC's performance.

Last few updates, particularly the latest, seem to have caused me problems. Just upgraded to AVG 9-something about 10 days ago, and have had lots of pages hang on my browsers (both IE and Firefox), and some just plain not load. I have two PCs, nearly identical hardware, both with XP Media Center as an OS, and similar software. Both started acting weird in other ways....mostly just being unresponsive at times. Then after a few days one of the PCs crashed. I was able to restore the OS with the recovery option, and I assumed it's misbehavior might have been due to a pending crash (i.e. corrput files). But that didn't explain the other PC, and both continue to perform poorly on the net, and the one that crashed seems worse (perception and it consistently tests slower on speed tests now).

I've tried a different router/modem, changed wireless adapters, and am about convinced that one of these programs, or both in tandem, are causing my problems. Anyone else having recent problems with AVG free or ZA? What are some other favorites for AV and firewall? Thanks for all input.

Hey LMTC,

The latest update from AVG has caused many users the problems you have experienced. I spent a whole day of troubleshooting here this week, with malware, firewall, Comcast, etc., all under suspicion. When a 2nd, then 3rd, machine here refused to respond after the latest AVG update, it became obvious what the problem was.

I uninstalled AVG on the 3 machines, all problems solved. I then checked out the AVG forum, found we are not alone. It applies to users with both ZA & AVG.

After the headache it caused me, I'm done with AVG. I then installed Avira on all machines, everything running smoothly, I'm happy as a clam.