AVG 8.0 Problems Galore

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

Anyone else installed AVG 8.0 and having problems?
-It loads a tool bar, sometimes even if you uncheck the option.
-Too many false positives. It quarantined my CrossLoop remote viewing program, and a hotbar removal tool program I have plus many others I've read about.
-It scans cookies (no choice to turn it off) and gives warning messages about many that are legitimate and doesn't seem to be an option to restore them.
- I could not get any of my icons to show in the sys tray, even after stopping AVG from auto loading and shut down of the program. Had to do a system restore to get them back.
-No options to individually turn off the six different types of scans. I want my progies to do one thing and do it well. I prefer separate malware scanners and so on.

Moderators on the AVG board are very defensive rather than helpful.

I'd advise anyone who hasn't installed it to wait till they work some of these issues out.
Just my 2 cents worth.

olop · Joined: Jul 13, 2007 Posts: 1

I had the same problems after updating to AVG ver 8 after they had said 7.5 wouldn't have up dates any longer. The Yahoo toolbar installed itself, even though I told it not to. and everything started running slower. and to go to the internet took like forever. I finally just un-installed the whole thing and cleaned it all out. Then put a copy of V-com I had here on , everything is back to normal now. 8 has a lot of bugs to work out, 7.5 was great in my opinion, not so much on this one. olop

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

It's June 4th and I'm still running v. 7.5 and it's still updating so looks like it's going to continue to work for awhile.

bisclavret · Joined: Jun 07, 2008 Posts: 3

Actually, Grisoft will support AVG 7.5 until the end of December 2008. Hopefully they will have AVG 8.x straightened out by then.

I upgraded from 7.5 to 8.0, and I regretted it from the start. My machine has a Pentium 4, 2.6 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM; but since I upgraded AVG, it runs slower than my old AMD 300 MHz processor with 256 MB RAM.

Like Phylis Sophical said, it seems to take forever for a browser and Web page to open. Also, it takes many times longer to download my e-mail than it did with AVG 7.5.

One of the reasons I went with AVG Anti-virus in the first place was because it did not bog down the machine like Norton did. AVG 8.0 is twice as slow as Norton; and as it stands now, AVG has lots more issues that users have to contend with than does Norton.

For now, I am uninstalling AVG 8.0 and installing AVG 7.5 instead--at least until the end of December.

As is usually the case, AVG, like so many other companies, took a perfectly good product and "new and improved" it to death!

My tuppence worth.

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

bisclavret, where did you hear that v7.5 will work till Dec '08? I've heard that elsewhere, but wondering because the pop-up I'm getting on v7.5 says June 15th. I hope you are right.

alphanumeric · Joined: Jun 02, 2004 Posts: 651

If you go to the manage addons section of IE you can disable the safe search plugin and you browser will return to normal speed. I personally don't install the e-mail scanning function. It's my understanding that the files are scanned anyway when you save them to disk so why scan them twice. No problems here with unwanted toolbars, I unchecked the option and they didn't install. False positives are an annoying problem. Not so much false posititives but keyfinders and password finders. Everytime I try to copy or move one of those files AVG flages it and then windows prompts that its locked and can't be assesed. By the time I hit ignore in AVG the file copy has stopped. Evil or Very Mad

I'm going to try setting an exclusion for that folder/drive.

bisclavret · Joined: Jun 07, 2008 Posts: 3

Phylis Sophical (like the moniker)

I read it on Grisoft's Web site, in the FAQ section. There was a question about AVG 7.5, and the reply from Grisoft was that updates and support will be available for 7.5 until the end of December. Grisoft gave the specific date, whiich was 31 December 2008. Apparently they're starting off 2009 by ending support for that version.

I don't know why you're getting 15 June pop-ups. I never have gotten any pop-ups, but that may be because I have Windows Messenger disabled. Did you purchase your licensed version of AVG 7.5 in June, maybe? That's the only reason I can think of for the pop-up messages.

The URL for the specific FAQ response to which I refer is:

http://www.grisoft.com/us.faq.num-1350#faq_1350

bisclavret · Joined: Jun 07, 2008 Posts: 3

Alphanumeric

Personally, I don't use IE unless I just have to for the 128-bit encryption on certain Web sites.

I use Firefox and Flock browsers almost exclusively now. Even without AVG 8.0's slowing it down to a crawl, IE is just plain slower than Firefox.

Flock is based on the same foundation as Firefox. The problem with Flock browser is that if you're security conscious, you will find it necessary to disable some of Flock's functions. Otherwise, Flock will send out information to everybody and his brother. I only have it on my machine at the moment so I can try it out and learn its pros and cons. Once the splash screen is disabled, the browser opens and responds better than even Firefox. Flock was developed for the same type of people who put their diaries on the Internet for the world to see. If you value your right to privacy, though, I wouldn't recommend it at all.

AVG 7.5 works well and behaves with all four browsers that I have tried: IE7, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, and Flock.

On the other hand, AVG 8.0 doesn't work very well with any of the four, although it doesn't seem to slow down Firefox quite as much as the other three.

As for e-mail scanning, the point of scanning the e-mail is to try to catch the nasties before they can do any harm to the computer. Some infections go to work as soon as data touches storage medium. Also, the e-mail scanner is a done deal; whereas if it's disabled, AVG may not detect a problem until you do a complete scan or remember to scan the directory where your e-mail messages are stored.

The e-mail scanner also scans outgoing mail and attachments. I'm not sure if outgoing e-mails are automatically scanned by the resident shield or not.

Regarding the toolbar, I opted out on that deal. IMHO, it's just another tiny bit of spyware that eats away at one's privacy bit-by-bit and byte-by-byte.

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2274 Location: Central FL, USA

Phylis,

Where ya been hiding? I've not seen you in a coon's age!

My instructions for the install of AVG 8.0 FREE specifically say "DO NOT accept any offers during the install process". But then, I guess you didn't read my instructions. Wink

It just seemed obvious to me, as toolbars are nothing but trouble.
I won't allow ANY Toolbars to install on my PC......ever!

Hot Bar? Heck, that's one of the best known SPYWARE titles out there.
Why on earth would you want to leave that on your computer?
Every anti-spyware program I use, will remove it!

It sounds like you are bellyackin' about a program just doing what it was designed to do. Nothing else!

As for AVG 7.5......it is only an Anti-Virus program that occasionally finds and removes a trojan. It does nothing about Spyware, most Trojans and Rootkits. AVG 8 covers all that malware, and more.

The official word from Grisoft, Inc. is that they will continue to provide updates for AVG 7.5 till 31 Dec 2008. However, they did not say if that was for the FREE program or just the RETAIL version.

I've been testing it almost daily since May 31, on an old Windows 98 PC, and so far the updates continue to download as usual.
I suspect that will continue till 31 DEC.

The new AVG 8 will not install or run under Windows 98 or ME.
XP/SP2 or better, is required.

Nice seeing you again Philis..... lets do lunch Wink

The Doctor Cool

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2274 Location: Central FL, USA

Who's not reading? Probably me......the eyes aren't what they used to be. Rolling Eyes

Somewhere I was reading about AVG 8 showing the auto-updater file for Spyware blaster 4.1 as a baddie. (it's really NOT. )

I downloaded the new version, 4.1 and sho nuff, AVG nailed it!

But, that file is only used if you pay for Spyware Blaster and select the auto-update feature. If you're using the FREE version, there is NO auto-update, so the file does nothing anyway....
so on my computer, I just deleted it. Problem solved.

From now on when I install Spyware Blaster 4.1 on my customers' PC's, I'll just delete that one file and eliminate the problem. None of my customers will ever pay for the program anyway. Only about 10% will even bother to keep it up to date. Twisted Evil

There is NO program anywhere that is right for every person on every computer, so I've had to learn to not get too upset when someone says they are having all sorts of problems with one of my favorite programs.

All I can do is suggest that they stop using it, and use something else.

Nuff Said.....

The Doctor Cool

armlb15 · Joined: Jun 22, 2008 Posts: 2

yeah similar problem AVG 8 deleted my BOOT.INI and various autoruns on hard drives etc. i now have to re install windows

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

armlb15 · Joined: Jun 22, 2008 Posts: 2

Tried hitting restore but it didn't work I think now is the time to move to ubuntu and install wine

easybeesy · Joined: Oct 29, 2008 Posts: 1

I suspect that AVG is esponsible for a considerable drop in Broadband download speed as having installed it - all 40+ mb of it, I have removed it from one pc and the download speed has shot up. Has anyone else had the same experience?

Phylis Sophical · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 247

Interesting to here that it hasn't gotten any better after all these months. I was close to trying it again as I believe Dec is the deadline for v. 7.5. All I remember is that it slowed down surfing quite a bit. Didn't check actual Broadband usage.

bry1050 · Joined: Dec 07, 2008 Posts: 1

I agree. Problems galore. Most irritating are the browsers closings unexpectedly.

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

i'm running avg 8 with no problems ( touch wood)
however I have disabled LINKSCANNER, which, in my opinion was responsible for the slow internet connection that i had initially; since then, as i say, no problems.

sweep1 · Joined: Oct 12, 2009 Posts: 2

I strongly suspect there have been changes at AVG - staff changes, maybe ownership changes. This certainly isn't the software it was in previous years, and the `support' staff either ignore issues or don't read messages properly.

I've used AVG in its different versions for about seven or eight years, and only had problems since version 8. I'm not pleased about the fact that I bought a two year subscription on the basis of the excellence of the previous versions, only to find this version not performing well and the support being basically pathetic.

Among other things I've had problems with it falsely labelling and removing files that have been on my PC for years with no problems before. In one important case one of my important programs was rendered unuseable and it took literally months for AVG to get round to resolving the problem. I sent them the information they requested, and nothing happened. I asked them again. And again, and finally they asked for some new system information. their instructions for getting it were wrong, so I had to speak to them again. I sorted the problem myself and sent them the information. Then they lost it and had to ask me again. They didn't seem the slightest bit bothered about losing information from someone's PC. They needlessly complicated the issue and I had to explain to them what needed to be done. Finally after a ridiculous length of time and a ridiculous number of emails they sorted the problem.

I've just had another issue with them, which is why I googled problems with AVG to see what other people were experiencing.

I certainly won't be renewing my contract with them when this one expires. I'm open to any advice on reliable, useable software with tech support from people who are competent and literate.