AVG Free 2013 - SUCKS !

L

Lakon

Valued Senior Member
Been using AVG for years. Had 2012 most recently. Got a message to update to 2013 yesterday, thought "Ah, good, like the previous updates .. "

So I went along with it. Fairly big, about 40mb, plus more for subsequent database updates, but anyway ..

Initialised it - new interface looks awful, but anyway ..

Went to do a full scan - surprise surprise, it was over in second .. strange. Did another one - same. In fact, seemed like nothing was happening.

So went to history (or something) to check results of scan. Had the two scans listed, and - ZERO OBJECTS SCANNED on each one.

Strange .. checked around the internet, went to Cnet. In comments section for AVG 2013, folks who have recently downloaded are complaining of the same problem.

Went to AVG 2013 site, onto their AVG 2013 forums, and there's a thread on it about this. Users of 2013 can't do full scan with free version. Responses from what appear to be AVG staff are clearly stonewalling / sidestepping the issue - asking for info, or for complicated actions to be performed, that most people wouldn't have a clue about.

So it looks like AVG has gone miserly by stealth. Yes, it's a free, but my complaint is they should have told folk about this and not gone about it in such a surruptitious manner.

So anyway, I want to roll back to 2012. Nope - impossible - can't be done.

So I want to download AVG 2012 again and then uninstall 2013. Can't be done - all sites default to 2013

So I want to do a systems restore back to a couple of days ago - and for the first time ever, UNABLE TO DO SYSTEMS RESTORE - IT WON'T COMPLETE, AND AVG 2013 IS STILL THERE.

So a warning before other AVG users get sucked in too.

I'm about to unintall it completely.

Anyone got any good alternative suggestions ? I hear Avast is real good but not very private as its aligned to google, thus tells google all about you ?

Any feedback appreciated.
 
I went to AVG's link safety checking site to check on a link so that I could see if it was safe to click on. It said it was safe but when I clicked on it my Avast warned me it was malicious.
 
Been using Avast for a while on my Windows machine. Never had a problem with it, or with anything getting past it.
 
Wow, I hope you get some good suggestions. I'm still using the 2012 version myself and haven't been nudged (yet!) to upgrade.
 
elte said:
I went to AVG's link safety checking site to check on a link so that I could see if it was safe to click on. It said it was safe but when I clicked on it my Avast warned me it was malicious.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Avast might be the go.
 
I've had absolutly no problems with AVG for over 5 years that I've had it so I don't understand why are having that kind of problem.
 
Buddha12 said:
Ever Email AVG and ask them directly about the problem? Did you download the 2013 AVG from here?

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...r4CoCQ&usg=AFQjCNFunb8_9td-lw-8ayvXxUWpBZ4JoA

or here, there own link

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...r4CoCQ&usg=AFQjCNGC_5wf_ZlpTvTBmerEaNG3uLMPgA
Click to expand...

I can't recall the link, but it was a prompt as per a 'usual update' from AVG themselves.

Yes, I emailed their support centre but no response, and I don't really expect one because they say no support unless a paid user. I actually went onto their own forum that was discussing the problem (as mentioned in OP) and tried to post, but of course, had to join up, which I did. That was about 10 hours ago. I'm still waiting for the confirmatory email.
 
Buddha12 said:
I've had absolutly no problems with AVG for over 5 years that I've had it so I don't understand why are having that kind of problem.
Click to expand...

Same here - it's been great for years. But wait till you get prompted to update to 2013. If / when you do, I'd be very interested to hear the result.
 
Hell...right now I'd use anything that could get rid of the new "google-redirect rootkit". Man...that thing is the hardest thing to get rid of I've ever encountered. Nothing, even "Combofix.exe" will get rid of it....and combofix has always gotten rid of everything for me so far. I even tried a manual removal step-by-step I found online...but the filenames didn't match up....so it didn't work. I'm a week into it, and still no luck.
 
Buddha12 said:
But the difference is that I pay for mine. :)
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Agree. No argument there. AVG offered a free product, and are fully entitled NOT to continue to do so. The thing is, and my gripe is, that they did so in a surreptitious manner. They should have just said "AVG Free 2013 is now a streamlined version of 2012, and you can no longer do systems scans .." etc.

Combine this with the facts that;

- you can't roll back to 2012
- systems restore DOES NOT work - for the first time ever, I cannot do a systems restore to a few days ago, just prior to installing 2013. However, I have just discovered that I CAN do one subsequent to it - pretty insidious, eh ?

So I've downloaded Avast, installed it, unistalled AVG - had to download a special file from their site to do so - again, insidious behaviour.

You might say AVG have lost nothing, because I hadn't paid for it in the first place. But in fact, I HAD, over the years, purchased various gridsoft products. Now they have no opportunity to sell me anything in the future, and I no longer trust them, and they've lost my respect.

Had they been honest upfront, this wouldn't be the case.
 
MacGyver1968 said:
Hell...right now I'd use anything that could get rid of the new "google-redirect rootkit". Man...that thing is the hardest thing to get rid of I've ever encountered. Nothing, even "Combofix.exe" will get rid of it....and combofix has always gotten rid of everything for me so far. I even tried a manual removal step-by-step I found online...but the filenames didn't match up....so it didn't work. I'm a week into it, and still no luck.
Click to expand...

Yikes .. I'm almost too afraid to ask .. how does one check if one has it .. and what is it ?
 
elte said:
I've always been glad to have Avast and that has been for a continuous spam getting close to ten years now.
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Yes, I've jst installed Avast and done all the updates, etc. Looks good. A full systems scan took about twice as long as what AVG would have done, but that's not necessarily a bad thing maybe.

One note of interest - with AVG, after my system started up, on every occasion, when it was all loaded and ready to go you'd think, it then froze for about 20 seconds - always. It's now not doing this with Avast however, and generally loads much quicker.
 
Avira or Avast are by far the best choices for free AV. Same with pay versions.

I would never use AVG.
 
Dr Mabuse said:
Avira or Avast are by far the best choices for free AV. Same with pay versions.

I would never use AVG.
Click to expand...

Other than the issue I outlined in the OP, I never had a problem with AVG.

Have now unistalled it and installed Avast. Looks real good. Machine seems to work a lot faster particularly at start up.


Edit to add; I think Gridsoft have let themselves down really badly with the trick they tried to play as outlined in my OP.
 
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