| Author |
Message |
    
jasper
Citizen
Username: Jasper
Post Number: 373
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 9:28 am: |     |
Does anyone use this product? I recently switched to it from Norton, and while I was initially satisfied, I'm finding lately that it prompts me to download definitions at least daily, sometimes twice a day, and it now often tells me I need to restart my machine for the updates to take effect.
I personally find it hard to believe that there could be substantive changes that often, and that they should require a reboot.
I called tech support, but the woman I spoke with was a typical support drone who kept repeating the same three sentences over and over, and she would not forward my call to someone with an actual brain.
Does anyone understand why this type of software would require a reboot? Does it need to be started first before other programs so that it can get a handle to them to intervene with virus protection, such as with email programs? Still, it seems to me that it should be able to read new virus definitions on the fly. How often could they possibly be updating the actual software itself? The whole thing seems ridiculous to me. I don't ever remember having to reboot my machine with NAV. Or am I losing my mind from all the aggravation of having to close down all my apps to reboot?
I'm also finding that my machine just chugs and chugs upon restart, so it takes forever to get going again. Ugh! |
Earlster
Supporter
Username: Earlster
Post Number: 1397
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 10:08 am: | |
I'm using AVAST (which is free for home use). The last few days it seems, that whenever I start my computer there are some new definitions for it to download. Might be that the recent flood of Sober clones is causing this.
However, I don't need to re-boot. That would seriously tick me off. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11165
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 10:15 am: | |
That would tick me off.
I don't use the same product you use, but at work, we use the corporate edition from the same company. I don't even know how often it sends definition updates to my corporate-owned laptop. It never asks me to reboot.
Do you have the option to reboot later? If so, you could be a day or a half-day out of date and keep running. That sounds quite reasonable.
Come to think of it, I don't see why a virus definition update should require a reboot at all. I do know a lot of software requires a reboot because the authors think it's necessary when it really isn't. It's a problem with the culture of Windows, not the actual technical design.
|
jasper
Citizen
Username: Jasper
Post Number: 374
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 12:55 pm: | |
Yes, it gives you the option to delay rebooting, but I still find the whole thing annoying, and I agree that software updates should not generally require a reboot, but no matter how many times I tried to explain that to the ding-dong on the phone, she just kept repeating answer A. I'm convinced that these people have three stock answers: If the question is X, provide answer A. If the question is Y, provide answer B. For all other questions, provide answer C. Repeat.
The other thing I find idiotic is that in the settings, the least frequent interval they allow for checking for updates is 12 hours! In my opinion, I should be able to set it in terms of days, like every day, every other day, etc. Then I would expect to be notified if there were a true emergency update as a result of a major virus infection going around. It almost reaches a point where the cure is worse than the disease. And we pay for this privilege! |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 1942
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 2:35 pm: | |
often, the reasons for rebooting are that there is an update to the software itself, perhaps because it is the target of an attack. Attacks on protection software (anti-virus, anti-spyware and and anti-adware, as well as firewall software) have been on the rise lately. Often these kinds of updates ask for a reboot, when all you really need to do is restart the application (i.e. close the AV software completely, and then start it again). I think it's more for idiot-proofing than a real need.
There has been rash of new variants of a couple of viruses lately, and that might be causing the frequent updates as well.
But as Tom points out, updating the definitions should not require a reboot. Bizarre. |
jasper
Citizen
Username: Jasper
Post Number: 377
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 5:53 pm: | |
Interesting point about the attacks on the protection software itself. Indeed, it seems clear that they are updating their software as well as virus definitions.
I consider myself a non-idiot most of the time, and therefore resent idiot-proofing (i.e. lowest common denominator), except when I need it :-) Still, even idiots shouldn't have to shut down their computer every time Trend Micro sneezes. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1650
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 5:58 pm: | |
I prefer Grisofts's "AVG Free",http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
mixed with heaping spoonfull of "Ewido Security Suite", http://www.ewido.net/en/, followed up by a 2AM nightcap of "Microsofts Antispyware", http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx .
|
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 1952
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 6:41 pm: | |
Monster, that's exactly the combination I'm using right now. Though I also have Spybot and Adaware on my PC, I rarely use them. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1652
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 7:08 pm: | |
My pc seems to think it tastes good, and it believes as you do Rastro, that an occasional snack of Spybot & Adaware makes for a great snack when it needs a little comfort food. |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page