Mark Piaskiewicz1

Q: Any opinions re Avast vs ClamXav?

Any opinions? I've been using ClamXav for a long  time and it never seemed to do anything. Avast has flagged emails and found a virus in my Parallels Win 7 file that my Windows AV software eventually cleaned. Avast seems good, any downsides?

 

Mark

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 15" 2.7GHz, 16GB, 512GB

Posted on Jul 14, 2013 7:53 AM

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Q: Any opinions re Avast vs ClamXav?

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  • by idink,

    idink idink Sep 3, 2014 4:21 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2014 4:21 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Many years ago I used Avast on my windows machines and it was fine.

     

    A few months ago I was fooled by all the reviews about it and I installed it on my Mac. Until today:

     

    Today I found out that despite everything working fine, (could connect to two separate networks), all the settings were good, etc. I couldn't open any website on either of Safari, Chrome, or Firefox. I reset everything and I finally called AppleCare. During the call, I thought maybe it was caused by Avast. I uninstalled it and my troubles went away... for some time, then came back. I had to install Avast again, and uninstall it again, and manually remove all the extensions it had added to my browsers to be able to connect to the internet.

     

    Avast is now officially on my list of "Anti viruses which cause more pain than actual viruses".
    I wish I had read Linc Davis's comment here before I installed Avast.

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 Sep 3, 2014 8:03 PM in response to idink
    Level 5 (4,791 points)
    Sep 3, 2014 8:03 PM in response to idink

    idink wrote:

     

     

    Avast is now officially on my list of "Anti viruses which cause more pain than actual viruses".

    Here's more on this new Avast! "feature" and how to avoid it Avast installs adware!. Obviously all these A-V developers aren't able to provide their products to Mac users free forever, so we are starting to see a shift in the marketplace. Intego completely removed their Virus Barrier Express (although still supporting existing users) from the AppStore with the promise of something better in the future, but will it still be free? Dr.Web Light isn't free any more. Avast! is trying the adware approach to pay the bills.

     

    There are some other factors with Avast! that users should consider:

     

    - It routinely leads competitors in tests of the ability to detected infected Mac malware files. That's the good news.

    - It also leads all others in it's ability to declare "false positives" including an OS X file on a system that contains nothing else. Be certain that anything it detects is actually malware and not something needed by the OS or a clean application.

    - It has been pretty well established here in the forum that it's responsible for running the battery down overnight in laptops that have been put to sleep without being connected to the charger.

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