Tag: Antivirus

AVG: Update needs restart solution

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Inf

I was recently having a small problem with AVG Antivirus 8 Free. The problem was that the Update Manager said that the update was successful, but then “The update needs restart”.

However, the problem was that even if I did restart, the thing would just stay there, saying “The update needs restart”. The biggest issue was that the Virus Definitions were not being updated.

I tried adjusting the settings for Update and other stuff, none worked. However, the solution to this problem is quite easy. So follow these lines if you are having the same problem. Tested with AVG8, since it’s only with it that I got the problem.

First, go to AVG and do “Update Now”. The update will seem to complete, but will say “The Update needs restart” as usual.

Now, head to your install directory, which for most of you will be: “C:/Program Files/AVG/AVG8”.

In this directory, you will find a file named “updatecomps.cfg”. What you need to do is to either delete this file (kind of unsafe, untested) or just rename it to something like “updatecomps.cfg_old” or “updatecomps.old” like I did.

Update: Sidjsns says that the “updatecomps.cfg” file is not found under a “server” subdirectory. Thanks!

After that, go back to AVG and do another Update Now. The Update should proceed normally, and it will ask you for another restart. After that restart, things should be ok. Your Virus Definitions and other stuff will be up to date.

I tested the above and it worked for me. I forgot exactly where I got the solution, but I think it must be some forum. Credits to the person who found how to solve this. Hope this helps. 🙂

AVG Free 8.0 Released

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Inf

I know many people are using AVG as an anti-virus solution. Well, you probably know that AVG upgraded to 8.0, but the free version was stuck at 7.5.

Good news! You can now get the 8.0 version of AVG Free. It’s really worth it, considering that the free version now comes bundled with an anti-spyware solution, which is better than 7.5 which didn’t offer anti-spyware.

Go get it here. I personally think AVG is one of the best anti-virus solutions around, specially among the free ones. So 8.0 is worth checking out.

(Wow! That thing is growing in size! 8.0 is a 46MB file now! It was 23MB previously! I just hope it’s not becoming a bloatware!)

Here are some screenshots:

AVG8_1

The interface is much cleaner, pleasing to the eyes and functional. Everything can be known about the state of the antivirus at a glance.

AVG8_2

The number of settings has been increased too. AVG8 is much more customizable than 7.5. In fact, much much more!

AVG8_3

The computer scanning screen is nice and clean. Note the slider at the bottom, where it says automatic scan. That can be changed to slow scan (less resources needed) and fast scan (more resources needed). This is a nice improvement, and I didn’t find that in any other AV I used.

(If you want to bypass the image-overlay, just right-click on the image and click View Image or Open in Background Tab (if you have TabMix) in Firefox)

Overall, I’m impressed with AVG8. It’s lots better than 7.5 and deserves its 46MB file size. Now, I haven’t tested its virus detection and cleaning skills yet. So more on this part later. Give it a try if you need a small, fast (no fuss) and free AV.

EDIT: I found a problem with AVG 8. For some obscure reason, the Link Scanner crashes my Firefox or greatly slows it down. Disabling Link Scanner in AVG itself results in an ugly icon in my notification area, with a big exclamation mark.

If you want to disable AVG’s Link Scanner, go to Tools – Add-ons in Firefox, and disable AVG Safe Search 8.0 there. This doesn’t result in an ugly icon, and returns Firefox to stability.