AVG Good for Networks? 2

[Zych]

Hey All,

I am thinking of selling AVG to one of my customers. I have heard to many problems that Norton is slowing down systems way too much. I also never liked McAfee. It is probably better now but it used to be worse than a virus. I have been using the free version of AVG on my home system for awhile now and I like it. I do have one major complaint which may or may not be a problem with the paid version. That problem is that it seems that the update servers are filled to the capacity. Sometimes my system will not update but if I try later in the day manually it works OK. Does the paid version have this same problem? I don't want to receive calls from the customer saying it will not update. I am hoping that the paid version uses different servers than the free one.

- Zych

 

[LloydSev]

the paid version uses seperate update servers which do not have a capacity problem.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[Zych]

Perfect! Thank you!

 

[kmcferrin]

If you're trying to decide what to sell, I would recommend getting an evaluation copy of the various products and testing them out. Our company was due for our antivirus license renewal, so we were looking at a couple of different products to see what worked well. We were already running McAfee and I got free eval versions of Symantec's and Trend Micro's security suites. We're probably going to go with Trend, but the point here is that with most vendors you can try before you buy a corporate/enterprise product.

 

[Zych]

This company is small and cheap. They only have about 8 employees and they don't like spending money.

I do like the Trend Micro but I had some issues where it did not like to update on some of the XP systems. I had to do these manually and the answer they gave me did not work correctly. Luckily this issue only affected about 3 systems out of the 80 this customer had. I have a new vendor which is supposed to have great pricing on this so I was planning on buying one out to try it at my house. At that point I will do a comparison.

Thanks,

Zych

 

[johngoebel]

I have been using the commercial(paid)version on 14 computers for about a year and have been very pleased. I have had no problems with updates, either automated or manual, and it seems to be much less load on the machines than Norton was.

John

 

[stussy]

I've got it on 20+ PC's here, a mix of win2k and XP. Not had any problems with the program at all, and it seems to use virtually no resources.

The server program leaves a little to be desired - functional but the interface is clunky.

The only thing I am not sure of is the frequency of updates - sophos can send me multiple reminders of new activity each day, but 99% of the time AVG is happy to carry on until the next day. This let us down once, when a new variant of a network worm came out, and AVG did not know about it. For this reason I will be replacing AVG with sophos when our two years contract is up, despite a 250% price increase - I just want to be as up-to-date as possible, and sophos seem the most on top of it.

 

[Zych]

How does sophos do on the resources compared to AVG? Virus protection is necessary but not at the expense of the computers useability. That is the reason I am trying to get away from Norton, McAfee, etc. They seem to like adding on more features that do nothing but slow a system down. They look great but the computer becomes less and less useable.

- Zych

 

[LloydSev]

Something to keep in mind..

Symantec, McAfee and CA antivirus products have all had critical security vulnerabilities this year.

AVG is cheap and works well

TrendMicro does not compare well to other AVs.

Sophos does well, but costs 250% more than AVG(Per stussy).

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[schase]

I would recommend two anti-virus's on any server. One with real-time checking and the other doing regular scans nightly.

Set the virus update frequency to every 4 hours or so if you can.

For home use or workstation use - I've found AVG to be very good indeed. On my workstations I have a mix of AVG and Norton. If one picks up a virus I can scan the other workstations or try to manually update definations.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[kmcferrin]

Zych,

I understand the problems of small businesses, but security is the one area where being cheap will definitely cost you more in the long run. For example, if your vendor takes an extra 24 hours to provide an updated definition file when a hot new virus/worm is discovered, your network may be infested before the update is even available. At that point most businessmen will wish they had spent the extra money on a better solution. I'm not saying that AVG isn't any good. All I'm saying is that some products are definitely better than others, even though they may cost more.

Lloyd,

I'm interested in what you have to say about Trend. Can you provide any more information other than "Doesn't compare well to other AVs"? Are you talking about the consumer edition (PC-Cillin) or the enterprise products? Which enterprise products? Which revision? What specific problems had you seen? Like I said earlier, we're finishing up evaluating a number of products, and so far Trend looks like the clear leader. I'd hate to spend $25,000 on a solution and find out that it doesn't do the job because I missed something in testing.

 

[schase]

IMHO, if you only put one anti-virus software on your network, than you are putting your eggs in one basket. Something I would avoid at all cost.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[bccedal]

I am new to AVG and the controling of viruses. In the past I sent my computer to the "shop" and had it fixed. My questions will seem very basic but here goes. How often should the virus vault be emptied? Should all items in the virus vault be deleted?

 

[schase]

my practice - I get rid of em as soon as they go in there.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[bccedal]

I delete all of the "temporary intrnet flies" that I am aware of, but when AVG does a complete scan I see there are more of this type of file. What else should I look for?

 

[schase]

the files are in the quarantine or is AVG detecting virus's in your temp files?

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[sggaunt]

bccedal.
AVG looks in temp folders, recycled and compressed archives you may still see deleted stuff.
But you should start a new thread for this topic.


Steve

Life is like a Grapefruit, sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle, it's got pips inside too. Oh and some people have half a one for breakfast. Ford Prefect.

Want to do more with TGML Download Star

 

[aquias]

Schase I can understand the desire to have redundancy on your network, especially when it comes to protection but running dual antivirus clients can cause several problems that I see.

1. Slow downs on network due to updated definitions moving across the network and multiple systems polling.

2. System conflicts.

3. Resource bottlenecks on PC's and servers.

These are just off the top of my head. In addition you're still dealing with how fast a vendor can release an update versus how well protected you are. Even for running dual virus clients you're still as exposed as the next shop, you've just earned a bit of extra overhead.

There are enough free resources out there to allow you to compensate and utilize a "second" client if/when the need arises that one should suffice for most environments.

Now, I'm not trying to attack the idea or what you're saying (believe me I thought about doing the same thing before). I've just learned more than I can say by having people point out gaps and possible flaws in my environment. That's all I'm trying to accomplish, is to give a new perspective.

 

[schase]

I did run into what you are talking about. When I was running Norton and AVG at the same time. The way around it is to only have one provide real-time system protection.

The secondary just performs nightly scans a couple hours after the primary does.

Since I switched to that - zero problems. I have had a few instances where one picked up something that the other one didn't. No particuliar this one always did it while the other didn't.

So in practice, I have to quibble a bit over being as exposed. Granted each product has to update when the new threat is discovered. I'd rather bank on two companies all the time, than just one until I am infected. So far, it's worked and worked well.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[Grenage]

Yes, it's always a good idea to use more than one AV product if possible, we use AVG Network on our desktops and 2 other brands for email - the biggest threat.