gHacks technology news » antivir http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:14:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Antivir Maker Avira Changes Update System http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/22/antivir-maker-avira-changes-update-system/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/22/antivir-maker-avira-changes-update-system/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:03:44 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=19634 We ran a post in the beginning of this month (read: Avira Antivir Update Hangs)that mentioned a growing problem that users of Avira Antivir were experiencing. The problem these users were experiencing was a permanent update failure during the virus definition update of the antivirus software. Some users were able to fix these difficulties by manually updating their Antivir installation, others were not able to solve the problem and decided to switch to other security software programs instead.

Avira made an announcement a few days ago where they addressed that problem somewhat. They mention that they have realized that “users of the free Avira AntiVir Personal had issues fetching the Updates in time recently”. This is not exactly the same issue but it could very well be related.

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Avira therefor decided to implement the following two changes: Change the virus definition file format and use a content distribution network.

First, we switch from our current virus definition files (called iVDF) to a new format called nVDF. iVDF consists of 4 VDF files, while nVDF uses at least 32 files – we need to transfer less data for updating our virus definitions effectively in the future.

This means that we need to deliver about 25 MByte to every Avira installation starting today for switching to the new update system. This might lead to some delays for some users, especially for the users of our free version Avira AntiVir Personal. Just to get an idea about what we’re talking here: More than 100.000.000 Users are trying to get the update more or less on the same day. That is more than 2.5 Petabytes (or 2,500 Terabytes) of traffic.

The previous format used four files that contained all the virus definitions of the program. The new format splits those virus definitions in at least eight times that number so that it will take less data transfers to update the virus definition files (it theoretically could slow down as well if a majority of the files need to be updated as this would mean that more files need to be transferred than in the old update system, but that’s just speculation as there are no technical information available about the process at this point).

To ease the bandwidth bottleneck, we decided to additionally use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). We were first testing a CDN built up by our current Internet service provider. Shortly after activating the CDN, the redirectors – which redirect the update requests to servers close to the users location – were overloaded and couldn’t answer the requests anymore. The situation was solved a little later on, but the CDN isn’t big enough yet to spread this huge update in time. So we decided to switch to a global player in the CDN market to deliver the update.

The second change is the use of a content delivery network. Avira is building up their own CDN but had to contract a global CDN company to spread the massive update to all Avira users. It is likely that they intend to switch to their own CDN at a later time.

It does sound like a good plan though although the massive data transfer to bring the update to all Avira users could prove to be quite a challenge. Did anyone already receive the update?

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/22/antivir-maker-avira-changes-update-system/feed/ 4 Anti Virus Software Removal Tools Overview http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/16/anti-virus-software-removal-tools-overview/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/16/anti-virus-software-removal-tools-overview/#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:36 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/16/anti-virus-software-removal-tools-overview/ anti virus softwareUninstalling anti virus software on a computer system is sometimes not a trivial task as they tend to add their components deep into the system to provide protection from various threats PC users face these days. The need for anti virus software removal tools arises if the default uninstallation fails. This usually leads to a messed up computer system that could throw all kinds of errors at the user. It could also break other anti virus software either during installation or usage.

So called anti virus removal tools have been created to effectively remove traces of anti virus software from the computer system. They usually run a series of processes that delete files, Registry settings and other parameters or options that have been installed by the antivirus software during installation.

Below is a collection of anti virus software removal tools that have been created by the developers of the programs to aid their users if they encounter difficulties uninstalling it.

anti virus software linux

Did we miss antivirus software uninstallation tools in the list? Let us know in the comments.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/16/anti-virus-software-removal-tools-overview/feed/ 10 Another Antivir free premium promotion http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/12/another-antivir-free-premium-promotion/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/12/another-antivir-free-premium-promotion/#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 06:54:10 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=4096 Polymath send in the tip that another Antivir promotion is available that gives users access to Antivir premium for 180 days free of charge. The promotion form is available in English and German this time because two magazines are currently running the promotion. Computer Active is responsible for the English promotion while German magazine PC Welt for the German one.

It should not be a problem to use the license code in Antivir Premium versions that use a different language. It did work the last time I tried it. The online registration form asks for name, email and country. The information send to the email address is also directly available at the website after registration.

Basically an account at the Avira website is created with a six month license for Antivir Premium. The download link for the premium version and the required HBEDV.KEY is directly available in that account center. If you already have Antivir installed uninstall it before making the installation of Antivir Premium.

The Premium version will ask for the HBEDV.KEY file during installation. Just select it from your hard drive and everything should install just fine and without problems.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/12/another-antivir-free-premium-promotion/feed/ 2 Avira AntiVir Rescue System http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/avira-antivir-rescue-system/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/avira-antivir-rescue-system/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:29:47 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=3725 Users looking for rescue systems distributed on CDs or DVDs have really no shortage of finding one. The major problem that inexperienced users face is the same that they face when asked to pick a Linux distribution for their system. To much choice can lead to severe confusion for the user. Despite the fact Avira decided to produce a Rescue System which is probably a good choice if you suspect that the computer does not boot anymore because of a virus, trojan or other malicious code.

The Avira AntiVir Rescue System gives the user three options on how to handle the situation. It can try to repair a damaged system, rescue data and scan the system for virus infections. The Rescue System file can be burned to a CD by double-clicking the downloaded file.

The Rescue System CD does come in handy as well when a computer needs to be checked for viruses before it boots into the operating system. The virus definition files can be updated after booting from the CD. So, this is not your usual Recovery CD that comes with all sorts of tools but one for a very special purpose only. Still nice to have at hand in case the computer gets infected.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/avira-antivir-rescue-system/feed/ 3 Hide Antivir Scans, Updates and Advertisement http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/20/hide-antivir-scans-updates-and-advertisement/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/20/hide-antivir-scans-updates-and-advertisement/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:46:06 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/20/hide-antivir-scans-updates-and-advertisement/ You might remember that I’m not a huge fan of antivirus software and have none installed on my computer. While some call this foolish it does make sense for me. I did use Antivir for some time to check it out and see what it can do and think it is a fine piece of security software. What bothered me a lot were the update windows and daily scheduled scans that would pop up in inappropriate moments.

The software displays a popup after each update that asks the user to consider upgrading to the premium version of Antivir. If it would popup from time to time fine but this thing is popping up after every update and the updates are scheduled daily.

But before I’m telling you how to disable the advertisement popup i explain how to hide the update and scan windows so that they run silently in the background. Open Antivir and click on the Scheduler tab in the program interface. You see a list of scheduled jobs, by default two jobs are present. One is the daily update and the other a full system scan. Take note of the display mode which is maximized for the system scan and minimized for the update.

Right-click one job and select Edit Job from the menu. Click Next a couple of times until you reach the Display Mode setting. Click on the pulldown menu and select Invisible. Repeat the process for the other job as well.

The popups cannot be deactivated in the software. They are connected to the file avnotify.exe in the Antivir directory. You cannot delete that file because it is downloaded with each update. A working solution is to set a new security rule to disallow the execution of this file.

Right-click the file avnotify.exe and select Properties from the menu. Click on the security tab and mark your user account. Now check Deny on Read & Execute which should disable the popups. I actually have not tested it that way but it should work fine. I did use secpol.msc instead which is unfortunately only available in Windows XP Pro, hence the other method that should work on all versions.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/20/hide-antivir-scans-updates-and-advertisement/feed/ 12 Test Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium for 6 months http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/12/test-avira-antivir-personaledition-premium-for-6-months/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/12/test-avira-antivir-personaledition-premium-for-6-months/#comments Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:41:04 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/12/test-avira-antivir-personaledition-premium-for-6-months/ Giveaways, more giveaways and even more giveaways. Seems we can expect more free software giveaways this year. It’s Avira again with a promotion to test the AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium for six months with no obligations whatsoever. All you have to do is fill out a small form and they will send you a working serial number that is valid for the next six months.

The premium version of AntiVir sells for €19.95 (that’s Euro) usually and adds protection against spyware, adware. pop3 email protection and fast updates through premium servers in comparison to the free version. Both versions protect against viruses, dialers, phishing, worms, trojans and rootkits.

Make sure you fill out the form above and download the Personal Edition Premium from the Avira servers.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/12/test-avira-antivir-personaledition-premium-for-6-months/feed/ 10 Blank Urls in Internet Explorer 7 Favorites http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/10/blank-urls-in-internet-explorer-7-favorites/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/10/blank-urls-in-internet-explorer-7-favorites/#comments Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:43:26 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/10/blank-urls-in-internet-explorer-7-favorites/ A colleague was asking me if I knew of a problem that he experienced after he setup his new computer. He was using the Internet Explorer 7 and witnessed that some of his favorites would apparently lose the url field after a while. The favorites were still there, the description was there but the url was gone and just a blank field remained.

I was a bit puzzled because I never heard about something like that before. After searching for several minutes I found a solution. The antivirus application Antivir is apparently causing the problem and there are several fixes for this issue. The first fix is to download a patch from Microsoft
which apparently fixes the issue.

A second solution would be to download a fix provided by the developers of Antivir which switches the filters in Antivir to avoid the problem that urls are removed in Internet Explorer in the future. I hope I was able to help other users who have the same problems and don’t know what is causing it.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/10/blank-urls-in-internet-explorer-7-favorites/feed/ 1 AVG-Antivirus will continue to be free http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/avg-antivirus-will-continue-to-be-free/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/avg-antivirus-will-continue-to-be-free/#comments Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:47:30 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/avg-antivirus-will-continue-to-be-free/ I received some emails in the last days of visitors to my site who thought that AVG free would cease to exit on 15. of January 2007. I would like to clear the confusion right away by saying that on this date support for AVG free 7.1 will end but AVG free 7.5 by Grisoft will be available and support is guaranteed. Or as the Grisoft themselves announced it:

GRISOFT is announcing a new version of the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. This new 7.5 version with improved performance and full compatibility with the latest Windows Vista version is available. Users that are using AVG Free 7.1 will be provided with a specific dialog, within the next few weeks, with the opportunity to choose the right option fulfilling their needs. AVG Free 7.1 version will be discontinued on 15th of Jan 2007. 

In case that you are still looking for an antivirus solution other than AVG Free I recommend Antivir which is completely free for personal use. I have been using Antivir for some time now and have not encountered serious issues as of now. I would say that a successful solution depends more on the user behind the keys than on the antivirus program that he is using.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/18/avg-antivirus-will-continue-to-be-free/feed/ 2 How to disable the ad popup in AntiVir http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/16/how-to-disable-the-ad-popup-in-antivir/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/16/how-to-disable-the-ad-popup-in-antivir/#comments Sun, 16 Jul 2006 07:23:12 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/16/how-to-disable-the-ad-popup-in-antivir/ AntiVir is probably the best free antivirus software. It´s free for non commercial use and updates its virus definitions regulary just like the professional version. The free version however has the habit to display a advertisment popup after each update, which normally means that you see this ad every single day. It is always the same ad and I don´t see a reason for this at all, once is fine but everyday ?

I show you how to disable this advertisment without tampering with the rest of AntiVir. This workaround is only working in windows xp (pro). Run “secpol.msc” which opens the local security settings. Select software restrictions policy on the left and there additional rules. Right click in the window on the right and chose new path rule. Click on browse and navigate to avnotify.exe. (normally in program files/ AntiVir Personaledition Classic/).

Select disallowed as the security level and hit ok to close the dialog. What we´ve done know is that we forbid the execution of avnotifiy.exe which shows the Ads. This works as long as the producer is not updating avnotify.exe itself and changing its name in the process. If that is the case repeat the steps to disallow the new named exe as well.

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