Avast is vulnerable?

[crabby3]

Avast Internet Security seems to be vulnerable to attack and takeover** but also act like nothing is wrong.  I presume this problem would also be present with any version including the free one. Yesterday I ran this free Kaspersky scan  http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-anti-virus-scan?ICID=INT1676497 and found out Avast was somehow compromised. The firewall, and other protections, were disabled.

Needless to say I was alarmed and didn't finish the free scan. I now have Kaspersky Pure 3.0, their latest, with all the bells and whistles.

takeover** - When I uninstalled Avast I noticed the change during the restart.  The shutdown and restart was much faster/smoother.  The Kaspersky install/restart was fast and smooth as well.  And today, my startup was fast and smooth.  Adios Avast... 

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I know faster and smoother are relative terms but I didn't time the before and after restarts.  I would guess the shutdown went from 30 seconds to 3 and the restart, (preload to desktop) from 60 seconds to 15.  Startup the same... 60 seconds to around 15.

[Renegade]

Interesting... I'll wait for a few more comments before doing anything, but I am very interested.

[dr_andus]

Yesterday I ran this free Kaspersky scan  http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-anti-virus-scan?ICID=INT1676497

Can it be assumed though that these kind of "free" tools are entirely unbiased? Wouldn't it be in their interest to turn up 'false positives' about their rivals?

I'm just playing the devil's advocate. I'm scanning with Kaspersky as we speak 

I also have Avast! free. I have also noticed some significant deterioration in my PC's performance over the last couple of months, and last week I also had a message from Win7 saying my antivirus is not working, even though Avast was saying everything is fine...

[crabby3]

Yesterday I ran this free Kaspersky scan  http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-anti-virus-scan?ICID=INT1676497

Can it be assumed though that these kind of "free" tools are entirely unbiased? Wouldn't it be in their interest to turn up 'false positives' about their rivals?

Trust has to start somewhere.  Where do I draw the line?  Not being an IT-geek I have to rely on my gut feeling and past experiences.  My gut told me this Kaspersky scan could be a fake but it also could be real.

My past experiences with Avast helped me deside.  I couldn't remember the last time an off-line Avast scan found anything.  Plus... a few weeks ago Avast emailed me, warning that their Avast Forum servers had been hacked, saying everyones email addresses and passwords had been compromised.
I didn't mention this because it isn't relevant. This was the ONLY non-product related email I've ever gotten from Avast during the past 4 years.
If you had not joined the Avast Forum you may not have gotten this email.

False positive or not... How can I trust Avast to protect my machine if Avast can't protect my personal info on their own or 3rd-party servers?

Besides... this Kaspersky Pure has many, many more settings, compared to Avast Internet Security, that I can tweak or rollback or play with .. 

p.s.  Today I noticed my Windows Mail screen came up a lot quicker, about 4 seconds and was pre-loaded with all my new emails.  Using Avast, a blank window would open and stay blank for about 10 seconds.  Clicking the top of the window would show '(not responding)'.  Another 10 seconds and the not responding would vanish.  Another 5-10 seconds the read emails would start to appear and the new emails would begin to load.

I'm not foolish enough to think my virus, malware, issue is resolved.  It's just not in control of my current AV protection.  Not yet anyway. 

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BTW:  Did your on-line Kaspersky scan find anything? 

[dr_andus]

BTW:  Did your on-line Kaspersky scan find anything? 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete the scan because it's interfering with my work (slowing down my PC) and it seems to take more than one day to finish. I'll try to run it during the weekend and will let you know.

[crabby3]

Interesting... I'll wait for a few more comments before doing anything, but I am very interested.

FWIW:  I was still in semi Panic Mode, when I started this topic and have since read about others having issues with Avast IS v9.
Some had similar issues while others saw no problems.  I didn't see any problems either.  According to Avast I was 'Protected'.  Not so.

Maybe this is version-specific and does not apply to the rest?

It wouldn't hurt to run an online scan would it?  There are many out there to choose from.

I just included the one I used so others could prove or disprove my results.
I chose Kaspersky because people here seem to like it.  And I was wondering if the paid-for scan-screen was as dorky as the free online screen.  It isn't. 

[crabby3]

@ Anyone  FYI 

My renewal of Avast Internet Security was in May 2014 but: "Unfortunately, we do not issue a partial and pro-rated refund." - per Avast

Shutdowns and startups are still much, much faster than when Avast IS v9 was installed.  Windows Mail still opens w/ new mail in around 5 sec.

Does not seem like the free Kaspersky scan was a false-positive. 

[x16wda]

I also have Avast! free. I have also noticed some significant deterioration in my PC's performance over the last couple of months, and last week I also had a message from Win7 saying my antivirus is not working, even though Avast was saying everything is fine...

Just for comparison, I switched over to Avast! Free for A/V and ditched MSE. I have not noticed any slowdown, slowness in email, etc. I also refuse to get any of the "Internet Security" editions of anything so maybe that is a prevention. :-)

I also get a message about A/V not working, but that is limited to when the engine is updating. If you don't get notification, maybe is the Silent Gaming mode enabled?

[dr_andus]

Just for comparison, I switched over to Avast! Free for A/V and ditched MSE. I have not noticed any slowdown, slowness in email, etc.

Just to be clear, I wasn't making any claims about causal connection between slowdown and Avast! I was just reflecting on the possibility, given the OP's suggestion. I have no evidence one way or another.

I also get a message about A/V not working, but that is limited to when the engine is updating.

That might be it. I only noticed it once or twice, it's not an ongoing thing.

One thing that did break in my Avast! months ago (and I just didn't have the time to investigate) is that I used to be able to right-click on a downloaded file and scan it with Avast from the context menu (in Dopus 10). Now when I do that, it wants to scan the entire drive, and I'm not able to get it to scan just one file. Maybe I just need to reinstall it, but if I do that, I might just as well try a different A/V then...

[Tuxman]

Avast Internet Security seems to be vulnerable

Yes, it is.

[dr_andus]

Here is what the free Kaspersky Security Scan found on my machine. None of this sounds terribly serious to me, though I'm no security expert...

Vulnerabilities ( 8 )

Information about applications and operating system components in which vulnerabilities have been detected.

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Digital Editions 2.0\DigitalEditions.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4.0\program\soffice.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\program\soffice.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QuickTimePlayer.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Safari\Safari.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Story Lite with Java Library\lib\bin\java.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Story Turbo\lib\bin\java.exe
    C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Adobe\Shockwave 12\SwInit.exe

Other issues (15)

Information about vulnerabilities associated with the settings of installed applications and the operating system.

    "System process debugger detected"
    "Process termination timeout is out of admissible values"
    "Service termination timeout is out of admissible values"
    "Autorun from hard drives is allowed"
    "Autorun from network drives is enabled"
    "CD/DVD autorun is enabled"
    "Removable media autorun is enabled"
    "Windows Explorer - show extensions of known file types"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer: clear history of typed URLs"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer - disable caching data received via protected channel"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer: disable sending error reports"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer: clear the list of trusted domains"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer: clear list of pop-up blocker exceptions"
    "Microsoft Internet Explorer: enable cache autocleanup on browser closing"
    "Windows Explorer: display of known file types extensions is disabled"

[crabby3]

@dr_andus

FWIW: I'm no security expert either.  However... having Java pre-installed on my machine brought me this pain in the ass and I have since uninstalled Java.

Even the US Government warned about Java's vulnerabilities and no longer uses it.

Guess I missed their email. 

[crabby3]

*Follow-up*

This is Avast's swamp gas explaination concerning a vulnerability.

Hello,
Thank you for contacting AVAST Software company with your concerns.

the fact that your avast was turned off may be caused by some power outage or other problems not related to a vulnerability issue...

If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me again.

Best Regards


Alfred E. Newman
avast! Technical Support Specialist

Power outage?  Other problems?  Wouldn't these indicate vulnerability? 

[cyberdiva]

I'm probably way off base here, but when I saw AVAST's rather lame explanation was offered by someone named Alfred E. Newman, I wondered whether it was a joke of some sort, remembering that the mascot of MAD magazine was Alfred E. Neuman.

[crabby3]

I'm probably way off base here, but when I saw AVAST's rather lame explanation was offered by someone named Alfred E. Newman, I wondered whether it was a joke of some sort, remembering that the mascot of MAD magazine was Alfred E. Neuman.

The persons name was Richard something.  The rest is actual.

Like most Tech Support I contact... Avast had two people address my issues.  Both sent me answers to questions I did not ask and skipped over the vulnerability.

After I stated that "NO answer is the same as YES" I got the swamp gas. 

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I have gotten a strait answer only 1 time from a tech-support person.  Over the phone with McAfee.  I think I caught her off-guard.